San Diego County Gun Owners (SDCGO) Executive Director Michael Schwartz and his wife Laura were in Wisconsin recently visiting family. While they were out of California visiting America they decided to check out some of the local gun shops. They were amazed at the variety of handguns available in America as opposed to what we see in California gun shops. That got me thinking about the Roster of Handguns Certified for Sale maintained by the state of California.
For those of you that are not familiar with the roster let me explain. This list was enacted in 2001 as part of the state’s expansive safety requirements for handguns. The alleged intent was to require handgun manufacturers wishing to do business in California to show that their products were safe. This was accomplished by the manufacturer providing three test pieces along with a fee for each model they wished to sell in the state. If the model was accepted and added to the roster it could be sold in the state. The model could remain on the roster provided the manufacturer pays a fee each year.
The bad impact of this bad law was exacerbated by the implementation of the Unsafe Handgun Act (look for a future post on how the left makes up misleading nonsense names for bad laws). This law introduced the micro-stamping requirement that requires an individual ID code be micro-stamped on each handgun and that ID code be imprinted on each shell casing as the round is fired through the handgun. The technology doesn’t currently exist to accomplish this nevertheless we have the requirement. Look for a future post on the state of this law. In the mean time you can find information on the current status of the law here.
The desired negative impact of these laws is that we as law-abiding citizens of California have an ever-dwindling supply of handguns from which to choose (your right to keep and bear arms is being infringed). Take a look at the following numbers:
- Number of handgun models currently authorized for sale in California 767
- Number of handgun models removed from the roster in 2017 38
- Number of handgun models recently added to the roster 1
- Number of handgun models removed in the past five years 778
- Number of handgun models removed from the roster since 2001 1369
According to Calguns, of the 767 models on the roster, many are duplicate versions with just aesthetic differences between them so our choices are actually much fewer. I’d like to invite gun shop owners, collectors, and other knowledgeable people to offer their estimate of the number of handgun models available in the United States. My guess is the total number is significantly greater than 767.
Yesterday I looked through a gun magazine and as I saw a handgun ad I looked up that gun to see if it was on the roster. I found the following:
- Ruger American Pistol No
- Kimber K6 (in .357) Yes
- Kimber Micro 9 No
- FN America FN 509 No
- Walther PPS M2 No
- Smith & Wesson M&P 2.0 No
- Canik TP9SFX No
- STI 2011 No
- Sig Sauer P320 No
Some manufacturers choose not to participate. If you choose to buy a Glock handgun in California, unless you are law enforcement, it will be a Gen 3 (a 20 year old design) In most of America, stores are stocked with Gen 4s and the Gen 5s will be out shortly (they’ll be out in America, not in California).
The effect this is having on gun shops is devastating and intentional. At the rate handguns are disappearing from the list its reasonable to believe that in five to ten years we may have as few as ten handgun models legal to sell in California.
Stores will have fewer handguns and rifles to sell making it increasingly difficult to stay in business effectively eroding our ability to exercise our second amendment rights. This is the intended impact of California’s left leaning anti-second amendment politicians.
What can you do? First spread the word. Share this post, educate yourself, and tell everyone that you can. Tell your shooting buddies; strike up conversations in gun shops and at the range. Let your state and local representatives know how you feel. These politicians do this in secret, under the radar and without the knowledge of the people. This is a covert war on the second amendment and they will win if we don’t care.
Finally I would encourage you to join SDCGO and help us fight for our rights. If you don’t have time to actively participate just your membership will help us work to change the current situation. In addition, consider joining CRPA and the NRA. Together we will win.
©2017 Joseph T Drammissi
This article and more of Joe’s work covering the Second Amendment as well as other topics can be found on Substack at https://getagrip.substack.com
Comments