The NRA is coming to Emeryville...and boy are they pissed!
On Tuesday night at City Hall, the council will consider a new ordinance that will regulate gun shops in town, just like how other businesses are regulated. The problem is the National Rifle Association caught wind of it and they're planning a big mobilization for our town. The richest and most powerful lobbying group in the US has alerted their troops from across California. They have started a mass letter writing campaign and they say they'll show up en mass Tuesday in our little council chamber.
The Ordinance, Chapter 30 of Title 5 of the Emeryville Municipal Code will regulate firearms dealers and ammunition sellers much like how the Oaks Club card room is regulated. This ordinance calls for the following measures:
- background checks of personnel
- security measures
- sales records to be kept
- no used guns
- no minors permitted in the stores
The ordinance is fully supported by Chief of Police Ken James.
The southern California based gun group Calguns.net is calling on members in the Bay Area and even from the south land to descend on Emeryville with cameras to intimidate any council members or even members of the public who may support the ordinance. They're directing their minions to lay the intimidation on us.
Any actual Emeryville resident that feels we should be able to craft our town to our liking should make their voices heard, regardless of any gun enthusiasts' threats. We currently have regulation about a host of businesses in our town from adult book stores to fast food restaurants. Residents who are not intimidated will be heard at 7:15 at City Hall at 1333 Park Avenue.
The issue is whether the city can regulate something that is already regulated under state law. Gun shops are HIGHLY regulated already under state law. These proposed laws are therefore preempted by state law.
ReplyDeleteSan Francisco already tried something similar, and lost, costing the tax payers of SF almost 1/2 million dollars in attorney's fees. If you feel comfortable spending your tax money to fund a lawsuit, then by all means, support these laws.
I feel you have skipped over many of the details, of how LCAV is attempting to get local cities to pass illegal ordinances. Please refer to this letter to fully understand the facts:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.calgunlaws.com/images/sto...%20vendors.pdf
That firearm you have pictured is illegal under California law (and likely federal law), and is irrelevant to the discussion about the proposed ordinance. The picture is a good propaganda image though; since you can only scare people into thinking those will be all over the streets of Emeryville if this ordinance does not pass.
ReplyDeleteI find it laughable (although sad) that you consider people peacefully assembling to voice their opinion on what they consider to be their God-given right (i.e., self-defense) as intimidation. Please provide one example of pro-gun rights groups intimidating someone who disagreed with them. I'm sure if it were people organizing to voice support of the health care bill you would not view it as such.
Whether you agree with these people or not, you should address their arguments and avoid the ad hominem attacks; they are really getting old.
And, you mistate what the ordinance does. You omit that it requires a $1 million insurance policy and prohibits those under 21 (not 18) who have a right under state and federal law to buy rifles and shotguns. Many of its provisions are also preempted by state law.
Do your homework before you spout off with your propaganda, and try to make a rational argument as to why this ordinance makes sense. But I bet you can't.
You might or might not find it interesting that the ordinance was not created by Emeryville's police chief, city attorney, city council, mayor, or city manager but by LCAV. I doubt any LCAV leaders live in Emeryville. I know some of Emeryville's city officials supporting the LCAV ordinance don't live in Emeryville.
ReplyDeleteLCAV likes to use urban communities as pawns in its game. LCAV pushes these ordinances and leaves the cities holding the bag. SF recently lost a court case involving similar gun control legislation and is looking at a six figure legal bill. Santa Clara County was smart enough to defeat a similar ordinance and avoid a costly legal fight. Oakland chose to forge ahead despite its own budget difficulties and will soon add to those difficulties.
Emerville faces a budget shortfall. The proposed ordinance will bring a costly legal fight which Emeryville will lose. Emeryville will pay its own staff and pay opposing counsel as well. Is this a good use of taxpayer money? Wouldn't the money be better spent on schools, libraries, or on the ever increasing public safety budget? Why should LCAV outsiders with a dubious agenda push Emeryville over an expensive cliff?
By the way, I live in Berkeley. I shop in Emeryville. I would shop at a gun store in Emeryville.
OK, is everybody ready? Let's unleash the gun kooks!
ReplyDeleteAnd here they are....
Yeah, it sure is kooky to use facts in your argument.
ReplyDeleteRecently, an innocent 2-year-old girl was shot dead by her 8-year-old brother in Vacaville. That pint-sized thug is claiming it was an "accident." The truth is that if that poor, precious 2-year-old had received the proper training and her own firearm, that entire tragedy would have been avoided. The NRA should insist on mandatory training for all in-utero-Americans so that this never happens again. http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=76604
ReplyDeleteIt's not illegal (yet) to take pictures of people at public meetings just like it's not illegal (yet) to bear arms. So we're going to take any pictures we want and there's nothing you can do to stop us. We'll collect them all and make a 'catalog of traitor idiots' to be handed out to Americans.
ReplyDeleteThe zombies have already taken Vacaville! And, they're moving in on the Presidio!
ReplyDeleteLet's all get guns and stop 'em at the Bay Bridge toll plaza!
I guess that I qualify as one of those "gun kooks" - or "civil rights kooks" or something like that.
ReplyDeleteMr. Donahue - I'd invite you to read the proposed ordinance and think about it for a little bit.
It would prohibit minors from entering stores that sell guns or ammunition. That means that children couldn't enter a Big 5 or a Sportmart to buy soccer cleats or baseball gloves. I'm not quite sure how that makes Emeryville a better place.
It calls these same stores (Big 5, Sportmart) "immediate threat[s] to the community". Yet it gives cardrooms, bars and liquor stores a pass. When was the last time you had to provide a thumbprint, undergo a background check and wait 10 days for a beer?
This ordinance isn't about safety. It's about racism. It's a bunch of rich white folks from Atherton and Palo Alto who are afraid of people with a little color in their skin - and are terrified that they might have guns to protect themselves. It's the same logic that was used to justify Jim Crow and judicial abominations like Cruikshank (do some reading - learn something).
In the end, it doesn't really matter what the City Council decides. They'll lose. They'll lose like Washington DC did in Heller v. DC (which cost the City $3.5 million). They'll loose the way San Francisco did with Prop. H (which cost the City $380,000). They'll lose like Chicago is going to in McDonald v. Chicago. And Emeryville will have learned again, the hard way, that they can't just violate the civil rights of their residents.
So, Mr. Donahue, you need to decide where you want your very scarce tax money to go.
Do you want to pay for librarians or lawyers?
Yeah, racism, that's it...people that want to regulate card rooms, fast food restaurants, massage parlors or gun dealers are racists. Hitler was racist and so are Emeryville people....silly racists.
ReplyDeleteHitler certainly took away citizens guns, their way to defend themselves. Gun control is a giant leap towards tyranny.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your skepticism, Mr. Anonymous. It's not the City Council of Emeryville that deserves the rotten vegetables. They've simply been tricked, duped, bamboozled. Hoodwinked by idealogues who, in spite of extensive legal training and knowledge, willfully dismiss the teachings of Constitutional law.
ReplyDeleteLet's take a look at the municipalities that LCAV is focusing on.
Oakland
Richmond
East Palo Alto
San Francisco
Emeryville
We can also learn from the ones that they're neglecting.
Alameda
San Leandro
Atherton
Santa Clara
Napa
Marin
Tiburon
I guess, if you looked, you could probably see some sort of pattern there.
LCAV is quick to use Emeryville, Oakland and similarly distressed cities as testing grounds for Constitutionally bankrupt theories that carry only the promise of expensive litigation and the squandering of taxpayer funds.
So pick. Libraries or litigation.
California gun dealers are one of the most regulated groups in the country. LCAV wants to "regulate" them out of existance.
ReplyDeleteEmeryville taxpayers would be very foolish to be used as pawn in LCAV's game, unless they have that kind money to burn in legal fees. Then hey, have at it.
As joking around about gun control laws being racist, learn your history. Here's a couple of good videos to start with:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nckgyfGbdnU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g7TbxkJuqA&feature=related
To all you Emeryville people-
ReplyDeleteIf you make a move to try to have ANY REGULATION AT ALL on gun dealers in your town, WE WILL BURY YOU. It matters not that you regulate all kinds of other businesses, the gun dealers and their proxies WILL NOT ACCEPT the likes of Emeryville putting your noses where they don't belong. We will have our way with you and will operate as we please in your town. So pick: libraries or litigation.
Warning: we will destroy you. You have been warned.
Recently, an innocent 2-year-old girl was shot dead by her 8-year-old brother in Vacaville. That pint-sized thug is claiming it was an "accident." The truth is that if that poor, precious 2-year-old had received the proper training and her own firearm, that entire tragedy would have been avoided. The NRA should insist on mandatory training for all in-utero-Americans so that this never happens again. http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=76604
ReplyDelete--
This snippet isn't relative to the discussion. This has to do with a gun owner that did not follow the law as required in keeping their firearms safely stored. This is no different then parents letting being negligent and letting their kids drink. It's also no different then parents that leave perscriptions of painkillers at home for their children to get into. The entire situation could have been avoided with proper parenting. Don't use the government and laws as an excuse to correct poor parenting skills.
Would you call it "regulation" if a city tried to pass a law making it onerously difficult or impossible for people to open hairdressing businesses? No, you would call a spade a spade and correctly surmise that the city was trying to prevent people from opening hairdressing establishments and push existing ones out of business. This is no different.
ReplyDeleteRegulation is one thing. Destroying businesses because you don't agree with the products they sell is another one entirely.
Dear Anonymous,
ReplyDeletePlease troll with more subtlety. Wield your trollish ways like a surgeon wields a scalpel.
Your churlish ways brings shame to all the internet trolls who post anonymously.
To the people of Emeryville,
1. This ordinance sounds great on paper but terrible in practice. Read the ordinance throughly and other supporting cases as JDBerger mentioned.
2. Pass this and prepared to be sued and loose in court.
I want to add my voice to those who have correctly identified this as racism. That's really what it's about. If Emeryville passes any regulation on gun dealers in your town, then you will forever be branded with the epithet racist. By the way I don't agree with the other guy who said if you regulate card rooms then you're racist, that guy is ridiculous. This only applies to gun dealers. Gun dealers are anti-racists and if you have any in your town you've got bragging rights: it shows everyone in the clearest manner possible that you're not racist.
ReplyDeleteI have a problem with the racism logic being bantered about in these comments. Some appear to be jokes, but I'm not sure...there are all types in the world. The argument would have one believe all the places without gun shop regulations are not racist like Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and the like while places that DO regulate gun dealers like New York California and such ARE racist. It seems to me to be the opposite of the real world.
ReplyDeleteThe racist charge is a bull s*** red herring. Racism has nothing whatsoever to do with any of this. It's like the notion that only gun dealers are exempt from any regulation they are pushing. These people will use anything they can, ANYTHING to impose their will on common sense legislation.
ReplyDeleteHey Brian Donahue:
ReplyDeleteAs a member of the NRA, a military veteran, and a former police officer, I take issue with your city elitists calling a legitimate business that sells firearms "a blight on the community". Quite frankly, if you have adult book stores that cater to sexual perverts, I would be more inclined to view that as a blight on your community. Most gun owners are are among the most law abiding of any group. Labeling a store with a pejorative is nothing less than bigotry. As for the people that intend to show up at your "little meeting", they've seen how your elitists have treated legitimate business owners who are simply providing goods and services to gun owners in your community. So, this proposed ordinance is not about public safety, it's about crafting an ordinance that discriminates against people who own firearms, it makes doing business in Emeryville a losing proposition, and makes hoplophobes like you, feel good.
As for the police chief supporting the bill, he does so either because:
1. He wants to renew his contract and keep his job.
OR
2. He's as antigun as the other elitists, and knows this ordinance will do nothing to decrease violence in Emeryville.
In either case, just because the Chief of Police endorses a bad ordinance, it's no indication that it's reasonable.
What's common sense about this ordinance? It sure isn't he section that bars adults 18-20 from entering a store that sells handguns among the other merchandise. Those 18-20 can legally purchase rifles, ammuniton, and non gun merchandise. They can even legally own a handgun. That would be like barring adults 18-20 from entering a store that sells booze even if they only want to buy a dirty magazine or junk food.
ReplyDeleteFYI - I'm a gun owner so I'm not sure what sort of reasoning 'California Cop' (above) is using when he calls my a hoplophobe. To the uninitiated, a hoplophobe is one with an irrational fear of firearms. Interesting that he knows about this irrational fear of mine. I guess he's both a cop and a psychiatrist. Still, wouldn't you think I'd get rid of my guns?
ReplyDeleteThese guys do have a point. It looks like this legislation is written by an anti-gun interest group, with enough onerous regulations to essentially prevent any retailer from offering firearms.
ReplyDeleteSince firearms are generally sold by sporting goods stores, banning anyone under 21 from a store selling guns, seems designed to force such sporting goods stores to stop selling firearms----because it would prevent 80% of their customers from walking in the door. Personally, I am not aware of ANY retailer selling firearms in Emeryville anyway. If these anti-gun activists want to ban guns, that's fine with me, but this appears to be a punitive proposal aimed at bringing to bear the coercive power of the state to add regulations that won't solve a real problem.
"common sense legislation"
ReplyDeleteTo most anti-gun proponents, an outright ban on handguns like Washington DC had and Chicago still has (for another 3 months anyway) were "common sense legislation" as well.
It is no secret that the ultimate aim for groups like the Brady Campaign and LCAV is a complete and total disarmament of every citizen in this country except for the police. That is "common sense" and "reasonable" to them. To them, nobody should be allowed self defense via firearm and will use any means possible to achieve that goal, including trying to dupe cities like Emeryville into adapting un-constitutional ordinances that are going to get reversed in court at a very high expense to the city and taxpayers. They also won’t shed any tears for you and your city when you’re left holding the bag. They’ll just move on to the next city to mislead.
In regards to the racism being BS just because we're in an "enlightened" progressive state like New York or CA, you couldn't be further from the truth. NY and CA are just as racist as any other state, only they aren't quite as open as some of the southern states are.
The very creation of gun control laws in CA were due to the Black Panther movement and how uncomfortable they made white lawmakers and police feel for standing up to racist police brutality.
The only reason they continue to be pushed is to make the law abiding citizens feel more at the mercy of criminals who are getting caught and released at an alarmingly increasing rate in CA, only to commit more crimes in a relentless viscous cycle.
This helplessness causes more dependence on the police, more tax payer money funding for police, more civil liberties taken from the public in the name of "public safety", until you eventually live in a police state as a helpless subject of the government. The police have no financial interest in creating a low crime environment for you, it’s a conflict of interest. A group of citizens that can protect themselves from violent criminals means less job security for them. Less money.
A couple of facts on this issue:
ReplyDeleteCalguns.net is a web site, not a group, and is not "southern California based".
The LCAV is attempting to push unworkable laws onto the residents of Emeryville, in an attempt to thwart their right to self-defense.
The citizens of Emeryville who are not intimidated will stand up to the LCAV and their minions in the city council.
Bad legislation like this ordinance will be very expensive for Emeryville. The LCAV cannot make good on their promise to absorb the cost of the inevitable lawsuits.
The council and the Chief should find something useful to do with the city's time and money. This is not it.
Speaking personally, I find this talk of gun regulation to be an affront on American values. If you don't like our country, then take off for your commie countries like Russia and Cuba!
ReplyDeleteI encourage the Emeryville City Council and police to adapt regulations like Wyoming recently adapted - any gun sold in the city is not subject to federal regulations. No federal tax, no gun checks, no nothing! Let's bring this city back to real Americans and away from those tax and spend liberals like those in Sacramento and Washington.
Go Sarah Palin!
America, love it or leave it.
ReplyDeleteWow these gun people are true patriots. The rest of us hate America I guess.
Go Sarah Palin!
First off, I am a former resident of Pacific Park Plaza, Emerybay apts, and Bridgecourt. I have lived 10 years in Emeryville, moving away in 2008. I am also a member of Calguns.
ReplyDeleteActions of cities do not occur in a vacuum and have effects on residents of surrounding cities and the state.
Emeryville, by attempting to regulate ammunition sales is setting the wrong precedent for the direction which we as a state and nation should look at crime.
Having friends and family as city council members throughout the state I find they are often woe-fully miseducated about firearm crimes and how the bad guys obtain firearms.
Bad guys (I have met a few in my day) typically do not go through the 10 day waiting period, back ground checks, and present ID when buying ammunition or firearms.
In reality ammunition and firearms sales restrictions only hurt law-abiding citizens. The "bad guys" typicaly have one gun and maybe 20 rounds of ammunition - that is more than enough to commit a crime and hurt a victim. Us law-abiding gun owners on the other hand own thousands of rounds of ammunition (read ONE range day).
An ammunition law is very similar to limiting the speed of all automobiles to California's maximum speed - 70mph. I'm certan a 70mph speed limitor on all vehicles may save some lives. But at what cost? Yes every life is worth saving just as every crime is worth stopping. But when does one begin to erode the freedoms, privileges, and happiness of all just to save a few? I propose that this line is not worth crossing as the harm it causes to law-abiding citizens outweighs the marginal benefits.
FYI - I'm a gun owner so I'm not sure what sort of reasoning 'California Cop' (above) is using when he calls my a hoplophobe. To the uninitiated, a hoplophobe is one with an irrational fear of firearms. Interesting that he knows about this irrational fear of mine. I guess he's both a cop and a psychiatrist. Still, wouldn't you think I'd get rid of my guns?
ReplyDeleteIs that right? Well, You'd have to prove that, I have serious doubts.