Mixed reactions to Brown’s stance on gun bills
By David Siders, Sacramento Bee
Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Friday banning the use of lead ammunition in hunting in California, but he vetoed the most controversial gun control bill the Legislature sent to him this year, a proposal to ban the sale of certain semi-automatic rifles.
In mixed action on a high-profile package of gun control bills, the Democratic governor signed legislation requiring buyers of long guns to obtain firearm safety certificates, but he vetoed measures to limit the transfer of unsafe handguns and to let Oakland enact its own, more restrictive, gun control regulations.
While environmentalists claimed a victory on the lead ammunition ban and the National Rifle Association took heart in Brown’s veto of the semi-automatic rifle bill, gun control activists were crestfallen.
I’ve never been much of a fan of Jerry Brown; I first met him in the sixties when I was active in the Eugene McCarthy campaign (immediately after closing out my Air Force service) and was not particularly impressed.
But I think he’s taken a somewhat courageous stand in refusing to go along with the most radical of the anti-gun nuts. I’ve been a “progressive” all my life, which, nature continues to remind me, is a long damn time, but not only have I owned guns since I was 14, and have some law enforcement background, I doubt very much if California gun owners, or those in any state, would cross the line and start disposing of their defense weapons, regardless of the law.
Pretty good job, Jerry – and you won’t often hear that from me. Not that you pay attention to much input from Lake Tahoe News. Sorry Kae.