Free Republic

Its called the open carry law, and its now the law in California - when it comes to handguns. Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill into law that bans 'unloaded handguns in public.' It went on the books on earlier this month. (January 1st.) With the new law, California residents can no longer carry an unloaded handgun in public. Now, Democratic Assemblyman Anthony Portantino wants to expand that ban to rifles. Portantino says he wants another law because some California residents are now showing up in public with unloaded shotguns and rifles. So, he wants another law...

A fight broke out Wednesday on the Assembly floor as Assemblyman Warren Furutani confronted Assemblyman Don Wagner over comments deemed offensive. The two members jawed angrily in each other's faces before Furutani appeared to give Wagner a shove, prompting several colleagues to separate them in the final minutes of Wednesday's budget session. The dispute brought the house to a standstill for a couple minutes during debate over a controversial redevelopment plan. The two-bill proposal compels redevelopment agencies to backfill state coffers and give money to local governments under threat of elimination. Wagner, R-Irvine, testified that it was comparable to a...

Accusations of a Sopranos-style shakedown. Two men exchanging words, chest to chest, as others work to pull them apart. It sounds like a movie, but it was actually the action on the state Assembly floor this afternoon, after Assemblyman Don Wagner, R-Irvine angered his colleagues with comments about Italians. Here's what happened: Wagner was talking about a bill that would eliminate redevelopment agencies and replace them with an alternative program (the alternative would allow cities to retain the economic development program but only if they agreed to give a portion of their money to schools and other programs). After he...

Lawmakers seeking to revive two controversial gun bills made progress Tuesday, as an Assembly committee approved proposals targeting the "open carry" protest movement and requiring records on long gun sales. Assembly Bill 144, by Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge, would make it a crime to openly carry an unloaded handgun in public. A number of circumstances and activities would be exempt from the ban, including some ceremonies, hunting and gun shows. "Open carrying of weapons is something that belongs on a Hollywood movie set, not on Main Street or Starbucks," Portantino said in testimony to the Assembly Public Safety...

A Southern California lawmaker has introduced a new bill to prohibit the "open carry" of unloaded handguns in public places, taking up where Democrats left off last year. "We have laws to license weapons in California and this bill will improve them. It keeps guns out of public places by individuals who are not properly and legally licensed to carry weapons," Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge, said Friday in a news release announcing his AB 144. "Certainly, most folks would not want people walking down the grocery aisle or sitting in a public park displaying weapons. There's a proper...