Cabelas to stop selling ammo in CA
Cabela’s recently circulated a letter stating that if Governor Schwarzenegger doesn’t veto pending legislation in California, Cabela’s will no longer sell ammunition to California customers.
Cabela’s has no retail outlets in California. California Assembly Bill 962, which Schwarzenegger must veto by October 11, states that ammunition can only be sold “in a face-to-face transaction.” Cabella’s has been shipping to California customers via remote transactions (internet, phone, etc.)
A source at Cabela’s declined to say how much ammunition normally ships to California, but said they have “many good customers” there.
The only good news is that this ammunition will be redirected to states which still recognize that the Second Amendment is about functioning firearms: guns with ammunition. So there may be some easing of the persistent shortage elsewhere.
Beginning on February 1, 2011, AB 962 requires retailers to create a registry of all ammunition buyers–and therefore all gun owners–by doing such things as:
· Obtain the buyer’s thumbprint.
· Record the buyer’s driver’s license information.
· Transaction records must be kept by retailer “for a period of not less than five years from the date of the recorded transfer.”
· Records “shall be subject to inspection at any time during normal business hours by any peace officer…”
This bill admits that its purpose is to create new crimes.
The Brady Campaign claims this is bill “seeks to prevent gun violence by reducing the easy access to ammunition by criminals, gang members, the dangerously mentally ill and other persons prohibited form [sic] possessing firearms and ammunition.” As with all gun control, this about being seen to be “doing something about crime.”
This is very curious, because the next article will show that California stands among the few remaining criminal-friendly states by ensuring that decent folk can’t defend themselves.
California’s “assault weapons” law, passed in 1989, resulted in confiscation of heretofore legal guns owned by heretofore law-abiding citizens. So California already has a history of using registration records to unilaterally initiate confiscation. Australia and the United Kingdom used registration records to confiscate firearms, following enactment of their gun bans.
AB 962 won’t stop drug gangs–which have established, successful smuggling conduits into the state–from simply adding ammunition to their shopping lists. The United Kingdom, surrounded by ocean, has seen an increase in “gun crime” since enacting a nearly-total gun ban in 1997. It’s hard to see how California can secure its borders better than the UK.
For those still battling to turn the tide of anti-self defense proponents in California, please contact Governor Schwarzenegger.
Phone: (916) 445-2841
Fax: (916) 558-3160
Email: Visit http://gov.ca.gov/interact
