Lockyer 's Latest "In Your Face!" to Gun Owners

"A proposal to put a serial number on every handgun bullet passed a Senate committee Tuesday and law enforcement officials said they hoped the novel effort would spread to other states...

"'We'll solve a lot of crimes if this becomes law,' said Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who supported the bill...

"He acknowledged criminals could find ways around the law, but said milk, medicine, soda cans and most other things sold in stores have identification numbers.

"'Why not bullets?' he said."

Because, Bill. Those products have lot numbers on their containers.

But he's not stupid--he knows that. He also knows the average cud-chewer hearing that sound bite is so easily manipulated they will intuitively accept the proposal as "sensible," "reasonable," and "a good first step."

Back in 2002, I wrote to Randy Rossi of the California Department of Justice Firearms Division, asking him to square the state's position with then-US Attorney General John Ashcroft's statement that the Second Amendment is an individual right (and that's a story in manipulation itself).

After a series of emails and a month-and-a-half later, Rossi told me "The Attorney General felt that your request warranted a response directly from him."

That response is posted here. He says we have no individual right to keep and bear arms.

That means he and his fellow tyrants can just about do whatever they think they can get away with, and we can't do anything about it.

Naturally, "Lockyer...plans to seek the Democratic nomination for governor next year..."

And naturally, the Republicans will be able to offer us flawed goods, and gun owners will once again cave to the perceived "lesser of two evils."
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UPDATE: Publicola has some good observations on this.