Back on February 4, officials from the Brady Campaign as well as Women Against Gun Violence announced that California had the toughest gun laws in the nation. Ellen Boneparth, President of the Calfornia Brady Campaign Chapters, stated that "California has done the best job in adopting laws designed to make it harder for criminals and other dangerous people to access guns," and Ann Reiss Lane of Women Against Gun Violence declared, "We should seize what is a terrific opportunity to show other states what effective laws can do."
Well, fellow pro-RKBA Democrats, take a good look at what California's gun laws have done to curb violent crime.
Lovell Mixon, a convicted felon who had an arrest warrant hanging over his head for violating parole, killed one police officer in Oakland and critically injured another with a handgun during a routine traffic stop. Two hours later, the SWAT team surrounded the apartment where Mixon took refuge. A gunfight ensued, during which Mixon killed two more police with what the Oakland PD identifies as an "assault weapon" before being gunned down by police.
Let's break this down further. According to the Brady Campaign's 2008 State Scorecard for California, the state scored 79 out of a possible 100 points because of its gun laws. In California, a permit is required to purchase a handgun, and a law-abiding Californian may only purchase one handgun per month. Even so, there is also a waiting period that governs all handgun purchases, and background checks are performed on all legal gun transfers in California.
Lovell Mixon was a convicted felon. His previous conviction for which he violated parole was for assault with a deadly weapon. Despite state laws regarding background checks, Mixon was able to obtain two guns - one of them an "assault weapon," whatever that is - which he used to kill three cops and leave a fourth fighting for his life.
So if these anti-Second Amendment activists want to stop patting themselves on the back and take a good hard look at what just happened in California, they wouldn't like it one bit.
Maybe it's time for them to take a step back and let those of us who actually respect the Second Amendment try a different approach towards reducing violent crime in California before another officer is gunned down - an approach that insists that "We, the People" have certain inalienable rights that are finally going to be honored.
Cross-posted from Amendment II Democrats blog on MySpace.