Thread by @skepticaliblog

California paradox

✅CA has the strictest gun laws in the nation
✅CA also loathes imprisoning criminals—felons with illegal guns are given very light sentences

Solution?

Local police are now going straight to federal authorities to prosecute gun crimes
calmatters.org/gun-violence/2…

He seemed like a perfect candidate for prosecution under California’s "tough" gun control laws.

A long rap sheet dating to 2007—including being a felon in possession of a firearm (his *first* gun arrest)

But when he was arrested again—with a stolen gun—police turned to the feds

California "gun control" hypocrisy exposed:

Under CA law, felons caught in possession of a firearm could face up to 3 years in prison

That sentence could be reduced by half for good behavior

Some felons caught with guns end up doing time in county jails
calmatters.org/gun-violence/2…

California police are circumventing soft-on-gun-criminal Democrats and going *directly* to the feds—and getting better results

Under federal law felons caught in possession of a firearm face 10 years in prison, and must serve at least 85% of that sentence
calmatters.org/gun-violence/2…

Democrats ONLY want to punish *legal* gun owners with new laws—and increase barriers to legal ownership

As for punishing real felons caught with ILLEGAL guns?

Well, the *unstoppable force* of gun crime control runs into the *immovable object* of social justice/criminal reform

Assemblywoman Catharine Baker introduced legislation to increase sentencing under CA law for being a felon in possession of a firearm to a maximum of 6 years

Her bills never got far

The ACLU & public defenders opposed them—citing need to keep prison populations from increasing

“If we’re going to regulate the use of guns, why wouldn’t we regulate guns to the best of our ability? It’s almost like an oxymoron”—Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert

“We are talking about very dangerous people”

California *already* has THE toughest gun laws in the nation

Q. So why did Newsom sign 15 *more* into law?

A: Because he—like most Democrat "gun control" advocates
—is a virtue-signaling hypocrite engaging in performative legislative masturbation; with ZERO effect on gun crime

No state out-regulates CA when it comes to quantity of gun laws—a top spot held since 1991, the year Boston University researchers started counting

The Giffords Law Center To Prevent Gun Violence awarded CA its only A grade in its state gun law scorecard
calmatters.org/explainers/cal…

But this blizzard of CA regulations and gun restrictions resulted in … only the 24th lowest gun homicide rate

The elephant in the room is the reluctance of "gun control" politicians to actually *enforce* those laws when broken—especially by dangerous criminals and gang members

The political "juice" for Newsom & Democrats is to Quixotically tilt at distant NRA windmills in order to further their careers—and pretend more laws = more safety

Whilst ignoring local gun crime—and felons on their doorstep with illegal guns

Exhibit A:
sfgate.com/crime/article/…

In the state with the TOUGHEST gun laws in the nation, a felon with a long rap sheet—on probation—is caught with illegal guns (plural!)

He was RELEASED on a "pretrial diversion program"🤨

And just days later he *checks notes* murders a 71-year-old in an armed robbery

cc @StephenGutowski @AmySwearer

Would love to hear your views on the discrepancy between

✅"More Gun Laws Desperately Needed" = accepted Media Narrative

vs.

❌"Existing Gun Laws Desperately Under-Enforced or Ignored for Criminals" = Reality overlooked by most of media