California AG Becerra And Cal DOJ Served With Petition By Firearms Policy Coalition

I'll say right off the bat that I don't understand policies and procedures in California. While it is a beautiful state with bad roads and even worse gun laws, their legal and administrative procedures are a bit of a mystery to me. When I received the notice below from the Firearms Policy Coalition, I wondered why a petition with signatures was being served on the attorney general. After I started to read the petition - written by a North Carolina lawyer no less! - I started to understand that citizens and groups in California use petitions to put government officials on legal notice about their action. In this case, it has to do with underground and unpublished firearms regulations that the California Court of Appeals had enjoined AG Xavier Becerra (D-CA) from enforcing.

You can read the release along with the link to the petition below:

SACRAMENTO, CA (May 23, 2018) — Today, civil rights advocates at Firearms Policy Coalition have issued the following statement:

 

Recently, Attorney General Becerra said, “Here in California, we respect the Constitution and follow the law.” But neither is true. 

 

This morning, our Legislative Advocate, Craig DeLuz, served on California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and his Department of Justice a petition challenging their illegal underground regulation. This petition was also sent to the Office of Administrative Law, the state’s regulatory watchdog agency.

 

In spite of an unanimously-decided Court of Appeal published opinion issued in February, and a permanent injunction issued weeks ago, Becerra’s DOJ continues to promulgate and enforce that same illegal underground regulation. Their stunning and troubling disregard for lawful court orders is contrary to the rule of law. 

 

Becerra’s weaponized Department of Justice regularly attacks the fundamental rights and property of law-abiding gun owners in law enforcement actions, their lobbying of the Legislature, and litigation. 

 

Indeed, Becerra and his army of anti-gun DOJ lawyers and special agents ignore the text of the Constitution and California’s statutes, forcing their anti-gun agenda on millions of people—the law and civil rights be damned.

 

Becerra also recently said that, “in California, we believe our communities are safest when we have trust between our law enforcement & the communities they serve.” But such trust is impossible, and undeserved, when the state’s top law enforcement officer shows a total lack of regard for the People, their rights, and the laws he has a duty to follow and enforce fairly. 

 

If Attorney General Becerra and the Department of Justice want to build trust and be respected, they should start by being trust-worthy and giving respect to law-abiding gun owners and their fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms.