Here's a link to the legislative abomination that Yee's using to maintain his career.
I'm going to hit this two ways, from a common sense stand point and from a legal constitutional standpoint. But first let me explain what these kits are. They're commonly reffered to as "bullet buttons" what they are is a little button or tab that can be pushed down with a screwdriver, punch or bullet (hur hur bullet button) that allows the magazine to be released. They are too small to be pushed with a finger, and require a tool so technically the rifle will still have a fixed magazine. Now California's gun laws make no sense because people inexperienced with firearms are the ones who keep writing the laws, but that's a rant for later. Anyway the reason this is a big deal is because in California you cannot have a rifle with a pistol grip (IE the AR-15 or variants of the AK-47) AND a detachable magazines. This comes from laws being made by people who's definition of "assault weapon" comes from watching Hollywood movies and M rated video games.
So why does this law lack any common sense. Well first, who are the only people who care about installing a bullet button? People who want to comply with the law. If you were going to break the law would you care if your gun complies with the law? Of course not. So then how would this law stop someone from illegally obtaining a weapon though black market means (which would have full auto-capability) or though out right theft? It doesn't. This law is just another piece of feel-good legislation that solves a problem that isn't there. These aren't kits that convert a semi-automatic (one pull of the trigger, one shot) into full auto. Any such kit is already illegal anyway.
Here's the other thing, the law seems to ignore a lot of other rifles that function in a similar, if not the SAME EXACT way, only difference is appearance. Let me introduce you to this Kalashnikov variant.
As you can see this version of the AK-103, the 7.62x39 Saiga made by IZHMASH Russia. It was designed for hunting the saiga antelope (hence the name "Saiga") and used the AK as a base to provide hunters with a proven and reliable design. This is purely a sporting rifle, the Russian military doesn't use this rifle, and IZHMASH makes no attempt to market it as a military rifle. This rifle is semi-automatic, has picatinny accessory rails in the upper forward handguard (you see those ridges on the top?) along with the Russian style side rail (not visible, on the left side of the rifle) where the scope is, along with a detachable magazine. But there's something else different about this one. No mounts for a bayonet, no pistol grip no "evil features", because of that this Kalashnikov gets a free pass. Sporting AKs with pistol grips functions NO DIFFERENTLY than this benign looking one. They might look like their military cousins, but they are different animals altogether.
Lets take a look at another rifle, one that's home grown and made in America. The M-1A.
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So then... what does this law really accomplish then? You can reconfigure your rifle to comply to it without affecting the function what so ever. It isn't as if SB249 is preventing you from owning a machine gun, you can't own one anyway without getting the Federal government's approval, and that entails some serious hoop to jump though and serious money to pay. SB249 really doesn't accomplish anything aside from making a law abiding citizen a criminal. Perhaps that's what this is about, not public safety, but control?
There seems to be this obsession with "assault weapons" in the media and in politics. Simply put there is no such thing as an "assault weapon" the definitions used for "assault weapon" rely exclusively on appearance and not on function. Appearances can be changed while function remains the same. I can dress up like Jason Vorhees or Micheal Myers one day, and my three piece suit on the next and still be the same person despite what I wear.
Now the constitutional part of the show.
The digest at the begging mentions this:
This Bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specific reason.
This language is kind of vague and even I don't quite get it. BUT it is possible that it would allow a person's rifle to be taken away without just compensation. Check out the text of the 5th Amendment.
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or
public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
The bolded part there is commonly referred to as the Takings Clause. Subsequent judicial rulings have interpreted this as the government can't take your stuff or run you off your land without compensation. So Yee wants to take your rifle without compensation, the Constitution won't let him.
So at the end of the day who does this law really protect? Who does it serve? Leland Yee's interests I would think.
UPDATE: In light of the two shootings in Colorado and Wisconsin (condolences to all the victims and their families), I felt it necessary to update this as Yee and his chief of staff Adam Keigwin continue their jihad against rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution. It is important to point out that the AR-15 the shooter in Colorado used DID NOT use a "bullet button". In fact, a bullet button actually slows down the reload speed of these rifles.
The media calls bullet buttons a "loophole" but they isn't the case, they were created to comply with California law. Yee's chief of staff Adam Keigwin commented that you can simply weld the magazine to the receiver. For one thing, many magazines are plastic and plastic doesn't weld to metal. Secondly by doing this, you are creating a dangerous object. ARs and AKs are not designed to function this way, if they haven't been manufactured that way. Welding the magazine would make it difficult and extremely dangerous to remove a jam where two bullets are loaded into the chamber (called a double feed) and in some cases, the nose of one bullet is resting on the primer (what discharges the bullet) which may cause the first bullet to unintentionally discharge. The bullet button was a modification to comply with California law, while still maintaining the safe operation of the weapon.
There have been two U.S. Supreme Court cases, the first, District of Colombia v. Heller, and the second, McDonald v. City of Chicago, Ill. Things will get a little long winded here, but it's important to break down these two case to understand the 2nd Amendment and how SB249 violates it.
First, lets look at D.C. v. Heller.
We think that Miller 's “ordinary military equipment” language must be read in tandem with what comes after: “[O]rdinarily when called for [militia] service [able-bodied] men were expected to appear bearing arms supplied by themselves and of the kind in common use at the time.” 307 U.S., at 179, 59 S.Ct. 816. The traditional militia was formed from a pool of men bringing arms “in common use at the time” for lawful purposes like self-defense. “In the colonial *625and revolutionary war era, [small-arms] weapons used by militiamen and weapons used in defense of person and home were one and the same.” State v. Kessler, 289 Ore. 359, 368, 614 P.2d 94, 98 (1980)(citing G. Neumann, Swords and Blades of the American Revolution 6–15, 252–254 (1973)). Indeed, that is precisely the way in which the Second Amendment's operative clause furthers the purpose announced in its preface. Words of Justice Scalia, writing for the majority.
Here I'll point out that variants of the AR-10 and AR-15, as well as semi-auto only variants of the AK-47/74 are some of the most popular rifles in the United States. I've seen one or the other in literally every gunshop and every Big 5 sporting goods store I've been too. I've seen their ammunition sold even in Wal-Marts. Aside from possibly WWII surplus, you don't really get more common use than ARs and AKs.
...the inherent right of self-defense has been central to the Second Amendment right.
Many gun control proponents argue that the 2nd Amendment applies to a militia. While I'll agree, and yes there is NO mention of self-defense anywhere in the 2nd Amendment, but because of the way our legal system works, judicial rulings are every bit law as the Constitution so long as they are not contrary to the Constitution. Here the SCOTUS is expanding the 2nd Amendment, not constricting or violating it. As it stands now, the SCOTUS has found that self-defense is included in the 2nd.
The handgun ban amounts to a prohibition of an entire class of “arms” that is overwhelmingly chosen by American society for that lawful purpose.
While I myself wouldn't recommend it, some people use rifles and carbines for home defense, mainly for the added power. Most bullet proof vests on the market won't stop a rifle round a close range. So if a robber came in with a bullet proof vest, the home owner would still have the power to stop him. Secondly handguns are expensive, a Czech Cz-75 9mm semi-auto pistol will run you about $500 after taxes, a Mosin-Nagant carbine will run you in the area of $150-200 after taxes. If you're poor, odds are you buy one gun that has cheap ammo and make it pull double duty of sporting and home defense.
Shooting for sport is also a lawful purpose, in fact there are even shooting events at the Olympics. Since many rifles on the market feature pistol grips, SB249 comes dangerously close to banning an entire class. Furthermore it has been reported that Yee wishes to amend SB249 to include all rifles with "easily detachable" magazines. As technology has progressed, modern rifles overwhelmingly have detachable magazines. The most modern rifle/carbine I can think of off the top of my head with an internal (non-detachable) magazine is the Russian SKS-45 designed in 1945. If Yee has his way he will most certainly be banning an entire class of arms that is overwhelmingly chosen by American society for a lawful purpose.
Essentially, what it appears here is that the SCOTUS has said that the 2nd Amendment applies to self-defense, and that the 2nd Amendment does not allow for total bans of any class of arms. Furthermore Scalia points out that the 2nd Amendment is an individual right, not a group right.
The next case we have up is McDonald v. City of Chicago. The issue here was whether the Bill of Rights, specifically the 2nd Amendment applies to the States, or just the Federal government.
We therefore hold that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the Second Amendment right recognized in Heller.
Here basically what the court is saying is that under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment, the 2nd Amendment applies to the States as well as the Federal government. Meaning that States cannot enact total gun bans.
Leland Yee and Adam Keigwin are on the wrong side of the law here. And this isn't the first time. Previously Yee attempted to pass legislation regulating violent video games which was slammed down by the SCOTUS as a violation of the 1st Amendment.
Futhermore, banning the sale of ARs and AKs will have a significant and adverse affect on businesses. Many gunshops are locally owned small businesses. Banning these rifles would hurt their sales. They wouldn't be able to sell a popular product, and sales of ammunition would likely drop. It's very possible that small businesses across the state would be forced to close down.
This next part is just my personal opinions, as opposed to the commentary I try to do though a legal education lens. So if this kind of stuff makes you butthurt, then stop reading.
My personal opinion is that Leland Yee has never read the Constitution of the United States of America even once throughout his political career. Instead of working to uphold the Constitution, he instead builds his political career on fear mongering and capitalizing on that fear he builds up. In short he poisons the minds of California residents and then turns and sells them snake oil. He attempts to pass laws that would fail Constitutional muster and as a result forces California to defend these indefensible laws in federal court at the financial expense of California.
By using the Colorado and Wisconsin shootings for political gain shows what a morally bankrupt individual Leland Yee and Adam Keigwin are.
Yee in my opinion is also a hypocrite. He opposed a ban on shark fining, the practice of catching sharks, removing the fin to be used in soups, and releasing the shark, stating "another example in a long line of examples of insensitivity to the culture and traditions of the Asian American community." Well, target shooting and hunting have long been parts of the culture and traditions of many American communities, and Yee has been attacking gun owners for quite some time now. Yee clearly has no respect for communities that have been in this nation since the start. I'm also Asian American and I don't care for the shark finning tradition.
Yee is also quoted as saying "It is extremely important that individuals in the state of California do not own assault weapons. I mean that is just so crystal clear, there is no debate, no discussion." Several things with this. There is no such thing as "assault weapons" I've covered this in my entry Assault Rifles, Assault Weapons, Assault... what?" Secondly, those are the words of a dictator, not a representative. In a democratic system there is almost always room for debate and discussion. It's what separates a democratic system from a totalitarian one. Leland Yee has NO RIGHT to be in any leadership position in the United States of America. He has no understanding of our Constitution or our traditions. He may be naturalized, but Leland Yee is still an outsider.
Leland Yee and people on his staff like Adam Keigwin will continue their fear mongering and snake oil sales. To that, I leave this quote:
"Don't give in to the fear. When you give in to the fear, that's when the darkness comes." - Peter Stillman, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
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