“‘Independance’” Day? Really?

I realize that I am supposed to be taking a break from the blogs to defrag and enjoy my family but today is traditionally a family day.  Today I am experiencing, for the first time in my life, the loss of a holiday.

Today I “’celebrate’” what was once my favorite and most anticipated annual holiday…A day that recognized our “’Independence’” from a controlling government and our “’Freedom’” as a people and our “’Sovereignty’” as a nation.

Did you notice all of the quotations in the first paragraph? I call those Sarcastiquotes. Imagine that each time one of those words is spoken, it is accompanied with a full set of sarcastically gestured air-quotes that emphasize my displeasure with the unwilling change that has been forced upon those words.

Let’s take a quick look at a few of these words and focus a moment upon the changes that have taken place in just a few short months.

Air-quotes “’Celebrate’”. Today I “celebrate”…

Today, I celebrate NOTHING. What only a year ago, still fostered immense pride and thankfulness as a citizen, is now going to be Dronefest. If anyone goes out and pretends that we are living in a sovereign, independent, free country….YOU ARE A DRONE…A SHEEP. Wake up!

• A federal excuse to take the day off and go to the lake? Yes.
• A reason to Bar-B-Q with family and / or friends? Yes.
• A memorial of Independence, freedom and sovereignty past? Perhaps.

But a celebration of actual, existing “independence”….No.

No…not with the subversive, power-hungry, corrupt, anti-American government that “‘we the people’” have brought upon ourselves.

Not while the Constitution is being quite intentionally and systematically ripped, page after page, and thrown into the fire.

Air-quotes “’Independence’”. …”Independence” from a controlling government…

Are you freakin kidding me? This IS the most controlling government in the history of the United States of America. At least Brittan was open and honest about their abusive control and their taxes. Now we have actual dictators that think we need to slow down or we will end up to the left of them. There is no longer anything “independent” about this country other than maybe the government itself…It is functioning completely independently of the Constitution as well as the will of the people which it is supposed to represent.

Air-quotes “’Freedom’”….our “freedom” as a people…

How can ANYONE, who is not in a coma, believe that we are still a free people? Where have you been? Do you not have a TV, a radio, eyes, ears….a brain?

EVERY….SINGLE….DAY, the “’media’” tells us about a new “’plan’” that was put in place…or a new “’czar’”…or a new “’investment’” in the future….or a new bill that was passed in the dark of the night by politicians that not only did not read the bill, but have no idea what is in the bill. BUT, of course, it’s absolutely imperative that it’s passed immediately to avoid the next impending “’crisis’”. It’s all “’for our own good’”.  Wow….even more Sacarcastiquotes?  What is real any more?

Air-quotes “’Sovereignty’”. ….our ”Sovereignty” as a nation.

Sovereignty? Webster defines sovereignty as:  Freedom from external control.

OH YEAH…WE’RE “’SOVEREIGN’”. Just ask NATO

I am sad. I am scared and don’t feel particularly festive.

To many of us, at the very least….to ME, July 4th is now Re-dependence Day and will be the day that commemorates the loss of my “independence”, “freedom” and “sovereignty”.

I want my holiday back…and everything that it once represented.

THE Last….MY Last Post

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

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First, let me tell you that I LOVE MY COUNTRY!  I served my country, my family and my fellow man.  Over the last couple of years, I have become consumed by research.

I have become consumed by learning about my government and I have become absolutely consumed by the fact that my country and my freedom are being stolen from me, my family, my friends, my fellow Americans and most importantly, my children.  My quest for knowlege has grown into something that controls every non-working waking hour of my day.  Now, in addition to my ongoing research, I frequent and post at several blogs as well as edit two blogs of my own…This one, which was my first and a Political blog that was born from the fruits of a zillion hours of research and self education.  I wanted to provide access to targeted information that I felt was important for people to be aware of.

Unfortunately, my children are paying the highest price because not only will they not be able to grow up with the same freedoms and opportunities that I enjoyed…Not only has the economic prosperity of their futures been condemned to that of certain struggle, but they have also been deprived of their Dad.  My obsession with research, knowlege and getting involved, has all but removed me from their daily lives.

It is time for me to make a choice and frankly the choice is an easy one.  This will be the final post on the …shall not be infringed blog.  I will never be able to protect my natural, individual, Constitutionally protected, 2nd Amendment right to keep (own) and bear (carry) arms…all by myself, through the words and pictures of a small internet blog.  It is going to take an uprising of FREE, patriotic, God-fearing, America-loving, Constitution-believing American citizens.  Those citizens will ALL have to get involved at every level and vote.  Demand your rights.  Demand your freedom.  Demand your country back.

I want to thank all of the many people who have contacted me through my blogs as well as through e-mail.  I also want to thank all of the contributors that either posted information or responses to my words, or that provided links to their important views and allowing me to include their information in my blogs.  I have made some very good friends through this experience.

I looked very carefully for exactly the right final piece of information to leave you with that will give you a feel for just how very important our ability to protect ourselves actually is.  My good friend Gio at Giovanni’s World has provided just that perfect piece of information.

Do yourself and your country a favor and put aside one hour of your life to watch the documentary below.  It is graphic and it is frightening…But it is real…AND IT IS POSSIBLE.

I wil leave you with one of my favorite quotes as well as with a piece of text taken from the California 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ recent opinion written on the Nordyke vs King case.  Read them and think about them.

“”The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.” — (Thomas Jefferson)”

“We, (The California 9th Circuit Court of Appeals), therefore conclude that the right to keep and bear arms is “deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition.” Colonial revolutionaries, the Founders, and a host of commentators and lawmakers living during the first one hundred years of the Republic all insisted on the fundamental nature of the right. It has long been regarded as the “true palladium of liberty.” Colonists relied on it to assert and to win their independence, and the victorious Union sought to prevent a recalcitrant South from abridging it less than a century later. The crucial role this deeply rooted right has played in our birth and history compels us to recognize that it is indeed fundamental, that it is necessary to the Anglo-American conception of ordered liberty that we have inherited.17 We are therefore persuaded that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the Second Amendment and applies it against the states and local governments.”

PLEASE WATCH THIS DOCUMENTARY——-> Innocents Betrayed <——–

God Bless,

- Bryan

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Author Pulls “Smart Guns” Bill from Committee Schedule

Senate Bill 697 was scheduled to be heard on Tuesday, April 28 in the Senate Public Safety Committee.  Yesterday, SB697 was pulled from the committee schedule at the request of the sponsor, State Senator Mark DeSaulnier (D-7).  

SB697 would prohibit the sale of handguns other than “owner-authorized (or ‘smart’) handguns” — that is, handguns with a permanent, programmable biometric feature that renders the firearm useless unless activated by the authorized user.  No proven, viable handgun of this type has ever been developed.  The bill would require the California Attorney General to report to the Governor and Legislature on the availability of owner-authorized handguns; once the Attorney General finds that these guns are available, only “owner-authorized” handguns could be approved for sale in California.

While this development is a solid step towards defeating SB697, the bill still poses a threat.  Please continue checking your email and www.NRAILA.org for updates.

Final Update: AB357

 

Assembly Bill 357 was voted down yesterday in a 5 to 1 vote. Every Democrat voted NO with the lone Republican member voting in the affirmative. Support and Opposition was as follows:

 

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION

Support

American Justice Center
California Association of Firearms Retailers
California Rifle and Pistol Association
Gun Owners of California
Hi-Caliber Investigations
National Rifle Association
Stutchman Forensic Laboratory
469 Private Citizens

Opposition

California Chapters of the Brady Campaign
California Peace Officers Association
California Police Chiefs Association
California State Sheriffs’ Association
Legal Community Against Violence
Sheriff, Alameda County
Sheriff, Butte County
Sheriff, Del Norte County
Sheriff, Santa Barbara County
Sheriff, Santa Cruz County
Sheriff, Shasta County
Sheriff, Ventura County
Sheriff’s Office, Tuolumne County

It is amazing to me that so many sheriffs and Law Enforcement personnel were present. The SCOTUS decided that police do not have the responsibility to protect the public and the LEO’s don’t want us to be able to do it ourselves.  What is left?  Please go to Assemblymember Steve Knight’s website and voice your support.  Get involved.  The assembly agreed to hear the bill again in the future.  We would like to go into the next hearing with 100,000 signatures.

-QB

9th Circuit Court INCORPORATES 14TH AMENDMENT!

WOW!  Great Job 9th!  I read the entire opinion and it was extremely well written and explained.  This will hopefully be the launching pad for the strengthening of the 2nd Amendment here in California.  We have several more battles ahead of us which include ab357 which will make California a “SHALL Issue” state, as well as well as fighting against our federal government signing unconstitutional treaties with the United Nations that will effectively hold a blowtorch to our Constitution and Freedom.

-QB

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Fairfax, Va. – Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit marked a milestone in Second Amendment history by ruling that the Second Amendment limits state and local government infringements on our right to keep and bear arms through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. NRA has been involved in, and supportive of, this case for the past ten years and has filed several amicus briefs in the case.

“The historic Heller decision was a major victory for law-abiding gun owners and recognized that the federal government could not infringe on our right to keep and bear arms,” said Chris W. Cox, NRA chief lobbyist. “Today’s decision, which applies to the states in the Ninth Circuit, ensures that the fundamental freedoms affirmed in Heller are not just limited to the residents of Washington, D.C.”

In 1999, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance that made it a misdemeanor to possess a firearm on county property, effectively banning gun shows. This ordinance affected a local business, owned by Russell and Sallie Nordyke, which promotes gun shows throughout California. In an attempt to continue holding their gun shows on the Alameda county fairgrounds property, the Nordykes filed suit to strike down the ordinance.

The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the ordinance banning guns on county property, but found, consistent with the views of most Second Amendment scholars, that the Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms for all law-abiding Americans. NRA is also pursuing litigation on that issue in Chicago and Oak Park, Illinois. That case is currently pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

“The NRA shares the Nordykes’ disappointment with the ruling on the county ordinance, as gun shows should not be discriminated against by local government entities. The incorporation portion of the decision, however, is a major step forward in enshrining our Second Amendment freedoms,” said Cox.

“This decision brings us closer to seeing Heller applied throughout the land,” concluded Cox. “After nearly 10 years of litigation, the hard work of the Nordykes, their attorneys, Donald Kilmer and Don Kates, and NRA’s legal team has resulted in today’s historic decision.”

-NRA-

AB357 to be introduced Tuesday

NATASHA LINDSTROM

VICTORVILLE • Assemblyman Steve Knight spent Thursday afternoon visiting local gun shops to promote his proposed legislation to streamline the concealed weapons permitting process. “It’s an equality issue…” said Knight, R-Palmdale. “If you go through the process fully and you complete your firearm training class, complete the paperwork, pay the fees and pass your background checks, you should be allowed to carry a (concealed carry weapon) — clean and simple.” Currently, law enforcement agencies “may issue” concealed weapons permits at their discretion. But Knight’s proposal, Assembly Bill 357, changes the law to state that law enforcement agencies “shall issue” concealed weapons permits to residents who meet certain criteria. Lisa Carlson, co-owner of Victor Valley Shooters firearm and paintball shop in Apple Valley, supports Knight’s bill, which she said would reduce discriminatory permit distribution. “I think California should loosen up on the good ones with guns and start tightening up on the bad ones with guns,” Carlson said. Knight said he will introduce his bill on Tuesday to the Assembly Committee on Public Safety, which includes members that tend to be “more liberal-faced” on gun control issues.

UPDATE: AB357

I spoke today with Larry Grooms - District Director for Assemblyman Steve Knight, about the status of AB357. First, let me say that I was impressed by, and pleasently surprised at the open and friendly professionalism with which I was treated.  Mr. Grooms was knowledgable about the subject and open to the idea that the language of the bill may be flawed.  As today is Good Friday, the Capital Office is closed but I was directed to a location that I could call next week where my question could be posed.  Mr. Grooms advised that Assemblyman Knight requested a postponement to gather more support and better prepare for the hearing.  The hearing is rescheduled for early May.  The Director  also took my information and promised to speak with the Assemblyman tomorrow as he would be seeing him.  I hope to have more information next week after speaking with team members or the Assemblyman himself.

-B

90 Percent? Not just a myth…But a LIE

Just as in nearly every anti-gun ad published on line as well as on television, that shows a “toothless Hillbilly” firing a fully automatic machine gun and calling it an assault weapon that can be purchased by anyone…the left has very carefully manufactured false and dangerous statistics regarding the number of illegal assault weapons that are being daily smuggled into Mexico from various American border locations.  This lie will be used against the law-abiding American citizens as well as the Constitution of the United States, when Hiliary Clinton, under guidance from Obama, Holder and others, meets with the United Nations to discuss international gun control.  Their goal is an eventual global ban on all civilian gun ownership.  Obama and Clinton can and will bypass our Constitutionally protected rights and through the uses of treaties that need not be ratified by Congress.

WE CANNOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN!

Please inform yourselves and get involved.

-QB

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EXCLUSIVE: You’ve heard this shocking “fact” before — on TV and radio, in newspapers, on the Internet and from the highest politicians in the land: 90 percent of the weapons used to commit crimes in Mexico come from the United States.

• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it to reporters on a flight to Mexico City.
• CBS newsman Bob Schieffer referred to it while interviewing President Obama.
• California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said at a Senate hearing: “It is unacceptable to have 90 percent of the guns that are picked up in Mexico and used to shoot judges, police officers and mayors … come from the United States.”
• William Hoover, assistant director for field operations at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, testified in the House of Representatives that “there is more than enough evidence to indicate that over 90 percent of the firearms that have either been recovered in, or interdicted in transport to Mexico, originated from various sources within the United States.”

There’s just one problem with the 90 percent “statistic” and it’s a big one:

It’s just not true.  [It is a subversive LIE]

In fact, it’s not even close. The fact is, only 17 percent of guns found at Mexican crime scenes have been traced to the U.S.

What’s true, an ATF spokeswoman told FOXNews.com, in a clarification of the statistic used by her own agency’s assistant director, “is that over 90 percent of the tracedfirearms originate from the U.S.”

But a large percentage of the guns recovered in Mexico do not get sent back to the U.S. for tracing, because it is obvious from their markings that they do not come from the U.S.

“Not every weapon seized in Mexico has a serial number on it that would make it traceable, and the U.S. effort to trace weapons really only extends to weapons that have been in the U.S. market,” Matt Allen, special agent of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told FOX News.

Video:Click here to watch more.

A Look at the Numbers

In 2007-2008, according to ATF Special Agent William Newell, Mexico submitted 11,000 guns to the ATF for tracing. Close to 6,000 were successfully traced — and of those, 90 percent — 5,114 to be exact, according to testimony in Congress by William Hoover — were found to have come from the U.S.

But in those same two years, according to the Mexican government, 29,000 guns were recovered at crime scenes.

In other words, 68 percent of the guns that were recovered were never submitted for tracing. And when you weed out the roughly 6,000 guns that could not be traced from the remaining 32 percent, it means 83 percent of the guns found at crime scenes in Mexico could not be traced to the U.S.

So, if not from the U.S., where do they come from? There are a variety of sources:

• The Black Market. Mexico is a virtual arms bazaar, with fragmentation grenades from South Korea, AK-47s from China, and shoulder-fired rocket launchers from Spain, Israel and former Soviet bloc manufacturers.
• Russian crime organizations. Interpol says Russian Mafia groups such as Poldolskaya and Moscow-based Solntsevskaya are actively trafficking drugs and arms in Mexico.
• South America. During the late 1990s, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) established a clandestine arms smuggling and drug trafficking partnership with the Tijuana cartel, according to the Federal Research Division report from the Library of Congress.
• Asia. According to a 2006 Amnesty International Report, China has provided arms to countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Chinese assault weapons and Korean explosives have been recovered in Mexico.
• The Mexican Army. More than 150,000 soldiers deserted in the last six years, according to Mexican Congressman Robert Badillo. Many took their weapons with them, including the standard issue M-16 assault rifle made in Belgium.
• Guatemala. U.S. intelligence agencies say traffickers move immigrants, stolen cars, guns and drugs, including most of America’s cocaine, along the porous Mexican-Guatemalan border. On March 27, La Hora, a Guatemalan newspaper, reported that police seized 500 grenades and a load of AK-47s on the border. Police say the cache was transported by a Mexican drug cartel operating out of Ixcan, a border town.

‘These Don’t Come From El Paso’

Ed Head, a firearms instructor in Arizona who spent 24 years with the U.S. Border Patrol, recently displayed an array of weapons considered “assault rifles” that are similar to those recovered in Mexico, but are unavailable for sale in the U.S.

“These kinds of guns — the auto versions of these guns — they are not coming from El Paso,” he said. “They are coming from other sources. They are brought in from Guatemala. They are brought in from places like China. They are being diverted from the military. But you don’t get these guns from the U.S.”

Some guns, he said, “are legitimately shipped to the government of Mexico, by Colt, for example, in the United States. They are approved by the U.S. government for use by the Mexican military service. The guns end up in Mexico that way — the fully auto versions — they are not smuggled in across the river.”

Many of the fully automatic weapons that have been seized in Mexico cannot be found in the U.S., but they are not uncommon in the Third World.

The Mexican government said it has seized 2,239 grenades in the last two years — but those grenades and the rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) are unavailable in U.S. gun shops. The ones used in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey in October and a TV station in January were made in South Korea. Almost 70 similar grenades were seized in February in the bottom of a truck entering Mexico from Guatemala.

“Most of these weapons are being smuggled from Central American countries or by sea, eluding U.S. and Mexican monitors who are focused on the smuggling of semi-automatic and conventional weapons purchased from dealers in the U.S. border states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California,” according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

Boatloads of Weapons

So why would the Mexican drug cartels, which last year grossed between $17 billion and $38 billion, bother buying single-shot rifles, and force thousands of unknown “straw” buyers in the U.S. through a government background check, when they can buy boatloads of fully automatic M-16s and assault rifles from China, Israel or South Africa?

Alberto Islas, a security consultant who advises the Mexican government, says the drug cartels are using the Guatemalan border to move black market weapons. Some are left over from the Central American wars the United States helped fight; others, like the grenades and launchers, are South Korean, Israeli and Spanish. Some were legally supplied to the Mexican government; others were sold by corrupt military officers or officials.

The exaggeration of United States “responsibility” for the lawlessness in Mexico extends even beyond the “90-percent” falsehood…and some Second Amendment activists believe it’s designed to promote more restrictive gun-control laws in the U.S.

In a remarkable claim, Auturo Sarukhan, the Mexican ambassador to the U.S., said Mexico seizes 2,000 guns a day from the United States — 730,000 a year. That’s a far cry from the official statistic from the Mexican attorney general’s office, which says Mexico seized 29,000 weapons in all of 2007 and 2008.

Chris Cox, spokesman for the National Rifle Association, blames the media and anti-gun politicians in the U.S. for misrepresenting where Mexican weapons come from.

“Reporter after politician after news anchor just disregards the truth on this,” Cox said. “The numbers are intentionally used to weaken the Second Amendment.”

“The predominant source of guns in Mexico is Central and South America. You also have Russian, Chinese and Israeli guns. It’s estimated that over 100,000 soldiers deserted the army to work for the drug cartels, and that ignores all the police. How many of them took their weapons with them?”

But Tom Diaz, senior policy analyst at the Violence Policy Center, called the “90 percent” issue a red herring and said that it should not detract from the effort to stop gun trafficking into Mexico.

“Let’s do what we can with what we know,” he said. “We know that one hell of a lot of firearms come from the United States because our gun market is wide open.”

UPDATE: Current Bill Status – Measure: AB357

Assembly Bill 357 

FINAL UPDATE: April 22, 2009

AB357 was voted down yesterday in a 5 to 1 vote. Every Democrat voted NO with the lone Republican member voting in the affirmative.  The bill was approved to be looked at again in the future but for now, the bill is dead.

Support and Opposition was as follows:

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION

Support

American Justice Center
California Association of Firearms Retailers
California Rifle and Pistol Association
Gun Owners of California
Hi-Caliber Investigations
National Rifle Association
Stutchman Forensic Laboratory
469 Private Citizens

Opposition

California Chapters of the Brady Campaign
California Peace Officers Association
California Police Chiefs Association
California State Sheriffs’ Association
Legal Community Against Violence
Sheriff, Alameda County
Sheriff, Butte County
Sheriff, Del Norte County
Sheriff, Santa Barbara County
Sheriff, Santa Cruz County
Sheriff, Shasta County
Sheriff, Ventura County
Sheriff’s Office, Tuolumne County

It is amazing to me that so many sheriffs and Law Enforcement personnel were present. The SCOTUS decided that police do not have the responsibility to protect the public and the LEO’s don’t want us to be able to do it ourselves.  What is left?  Please go to Assemblymember Steve Knight’s website and voice your support.  Get involved.  The assembly agreed to hear the bill again in the future.  We would like to go into the next hearing with 100,000 signatures.

-QB

———————————–  (See Update Above)

While trying to find out where we stand with AB357, I found the information below.  I am unsure as to why the hearing has been cancelled and have been unsuccessful in my attemts to find anything posted as to a reason.  I have sent a letter to Assemblymember Knight as well as a telephone message.  I am hoping to have more information some time next week.  - QB

 

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April 4, 2009 (See Update Above)

CURRENT BILL STATUS MEASURE : A.B. No. 357

AUTHOR(S) : Knight.

TOPIC : Firearms: license to carry concealed firearm.

HOUSE LOCATION : ASM

TYPE OF BILL : Active / Non-Urgency / Non-Appropriations / Majority Vote Required / State-Mandated Local Program / Fiscal Non-Tax Levy

LAST HIST.  ACT. DATE: 03/09/2009

LAST HIST.  ACTION : Referred to Com. on PUB. S. COMM.

LOCATION : ASM PUBLIC SAFETY COMM.

ACTION DATE : 04/14/2009

COMM.  ACTION : Set, first hearing. - Hearing cancelled at the request of author.

HEARING DATE : 04/14/2009

TITLE : An act to amend Section 12050 of the Penal Code, relating to firearms.

California….A SHALL ISSUE STATE?

We have been down this road before, but not since the Heller decision confirmed our INDIVIDUAL rights to Keep (OWN) and Bear (CARRY) our handguns.     

I was unsucessfull in my first attempt at getting a California CCW.  The Sheriff did not issue my permit because he did not have to.

If (Big IF) AB357 were to pass, I would finally be “Allowed” to exercise my 2nd Amendment right to protect myself, my family and the public at large, while outside the relative safety of my own home.  I am, however, somewhat concerned about the language of the bill (or lack thereof).  Hopefully it will not be an issue.

I will keep you posted.  Keep reading to learn more.

-B

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Thursday, March 26, 2009

Two Right-to-Carry reform bills have been introduced this legislative session in Sacramento.

Assembly Bill 357, sponsored by Assembly Member Steve Knight (R-36), would create a “shall issue” concealed handgun permit system in California.

Under current law, an applicant must show cause as to why they should be issued a permit to carry a concealed handgun for self-defense.

AB357 would remove that stipulation and require sheriffs to issue the license if all other mandated criteria are satisfied.

This bill has been referred to the Assembly Committee on Public Safety but no hearing has been scheduled. 

Assembly Bill 1167, introduced by Assembly Member Jim Nielsen (R-2), would require that the California Department of Justice enter into reciprocity agreements with other states so that permit holders in California can exercise their self-defense rights while traveling and permit holders from recognized states can carry while in California.

AB1167 has not yet been assigned to a committee.

Please continue checking your email and www.NRAILA.org for updates on AB357 and AB1167.