CA Proposition 63 – Background Checks to Buy Ammunition

This is a breakdown of each CA Proposition as researched by Debra Dowdy.  She has taken the time to research the facts as given by the Ballot Initiatives and information available on ballotpedia.org.  At the end of the description, she and I give our vote for each Proposition.  There is also a linkable list of Propositions at the bottom of the post. We hope this will help you learn more about these important initiatives.  Please leave a comment with your thoughts and vote!

CA Prop. 63. Background Checks to Buy Ammunition.

To reverse this initiative, it would be necessary to take it back to the voters, so consider this one carefully.

A yes vote would result in the following:
1) People wishing to buy ammunition would have to pass a background check first. State could charge up to $50 for the check.
2) Businesses wanting to sell ammo would have to get a license to do so each year.
3) Ban large-capacity magazines (i.e., any magazine that holds 10 bullets or more).
4) We banned large-capacity magazines in 2000, but people who already had them were allowed to keep them. Under this law, those individuals would be required to give them to the State or be charged with an infraction.
5) Courts will be required to tell people who are prohibited from owning a gun that they must give their gun(s) to the police or sell them. Probation officers would check on them to see that they did it. (New York tried this but gave up because it was too expensive. Guess the felons didn’t cooperate.)
6) Ammo dealers will be required to report theft of loss of ammo within 48 hours or be charged with an infraction.
7) Individuals will be required to report theft or loss of ammo within 5 days or be charged with an infraction.
8) Prop. 47 made it a misdemeanor rather than a felony to steal anything valued less than $950. Stealing a gun would be an exception to that.
9) Ammo sellers’ employees must provide a certificate of eligibility from the Dept. of Justice.
10) Ammo sellers will be fined if they sell ammo and they had cause to believe the buyer will be selling or giving the ammo to someone else.
11) Ammo sales must be face-to-face.
12) Most ammo sales will have to be made through a licensed ammo dealer and reported to the Dept. of Justice.
13) Ammo dealers would have to post new signage.
14) Californian’s can’t bring any ammo into California that was purchased outside the state unless it is delivered to a licensed dealer first.
15) The Dept. of Justice will share information about prohibited persons with the federal National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

This may cost “tens of millions” of dollars annually to enforce the part about convicted people having to turn in their guns, etc. (Let’s take the “tens of millions” we save on Prop 57 and apply it to this bill!)

Democrats and unions support this. They raised $4.2 million. Opposition mostly consists of law enforcement and the NRA. They raised $450,000.

The actually law lists 14 reasons we should pass this. They start off stating that from 2002 to 2013, 38,576 Californians lost their lives to gun violence. I dug into California’s own statistics on homicides with a gun and found they fudged a bit on the number. The actual number was 18,377. Other than the odd self-defense, police shooting or hunting accident; the rest were suicides. When they start of stretching the truth like this, I’m dubious about the rest.

For me it boils down to this: If someone is buying ammo, that means they own a gun. If they own a gun, they already passed a background check. So why do we need another one? Why do we need to duplicate all the bureaucracy and expense?

This is a work-around to the right to bear arms. We’ll let you bear arms, but we’ll ban the ammo. (I exaggerate, but you get the idea.)

Debra Dowdy is voting – No

Chris Dowdy is voting – No

Links to all other CA Proposition for the 2016 Ballot:

Proposition 51 – School Bonds

Proposition 52 – Medi-Cal Hospital Fee Program

Proposition 53 – Revenue Bonds

Proposition 54 – Legislative…Proceedings

Proposition 55 – Tax Extension to Fund Education and Healthcare

Proposition 56 – Cigarette Tax

Proposition 57 – Criminal sentences and parole

Proposition 58 – Multilingual Education

Proposition 59 – Corporations and Political Spending

Proposition 60 – The Condom One

Proposition 61 – Limiting prices on medications State buys

Proposition 62 – Repealing the Death Penalty

Proposition 63 – Background Checks to Buy Ammunition

Proposition 64 – Legalizing Marijuana

Proposition 65 – Plastic bags

Proposition 66 – The other death penalty initiative

Proposition 67 – Plastic bags

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About Dirty Dowdy

Host of The Dirty Dowdy Podcast on Wednesday nights 7-9 PM Host of The Kick on Monday nights 7-9 PM Occasional DJ other nights Sound boy for The Open Mic Podcast on Tuesday nights 7-9 PM

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