Even the politicians in Sacramento failed to pass a bill that was so grotesque that it could not even be considered for passage.
Parents would have been required to provide information about their gun ownership under the proposed legislation to their children’s schools. A committee finally killed it last week
According to SD Rostra, State Senator Anthony J Portantino (D-25), a strong proponent of gun control, introduced the bill. Parental disclosure would have required parents to disclose information about guns they own and how they store them. Schools would have been mandated to request this information from parents if the bill had passed.
It was never passed out of committee since only two out of seven members voted to move it forward. As well as several law enforcement groups, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Rifle Association (NRA) opposed the bill. Senators felt that the bill overstepped civil liberties and failed to address student mental health.
The failed bill will be seen as a victory for many Californians. Furthermore, many will ask why the proposed legislation was not voted on in committee, passed by the Senate and Assembly, and signed into law by the Governor? It is true that powerful groups opposed the legislation, but Sacramento politicians have in the past shown little concern for such groups. In particular, this was true for anything that violated a citizen’s rights, such as bills against the Second Amendment (2A).
Portantino used all of the usual anti-2A arguments to support his bill. For example, he proposed it to save lives. The congressman also used the outrageous distortions often employed by anti-gun control groups, such as stating that there have been over 1,300 school shootings since 1970, more than 160 of them in California. One source reports 22 school shootings in California between 1903 and 2018, with 17 of them occurring since 1990.
Nonetheless, a win is a win and Californians will take it. It remains to be seen whether this is just an anomaly during an election year or a sign of change.
