Karina Ioffee
Record Staff Writer
Published Monday, Apr 10, 2006
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060410/NEWS01/604100333

STOCKTON - Gun components that can be used to build assault weapons have flooded into California under a loophole in state law. The glitch has delighted some gun owners, who hope to register the weapons before any state legislation is passed barring their possession.

Frames of more than 30,000 AR- and AK-series guns have entered California, according to estimates from some gun advocates, and can be purchased from many weapons dealers in the state and online.

Assault weapons were banned across the country in 1994 and continue to be illegal in California, even though the federal ban expired in 2004. State legislation passed in 2000 expanded the definition of banned assault weapons to include any semiautomatic rifle that can accept a detachable magazine if it has a pistol grip, flash suppressor or grenade launcher; and any semiautomatic pistol that can accept a detachable magazine if it also can accept a flash suppressor, forward hand grip or silencer. But nothing banned assault-weapon receivers - essentially the frame of a gun.

That created a gray area that many gun owners say is confusing. Gun owners who purchase off-list receivers - so called because they are not on the list of guns banned by the state - are not in violation of the law as long as they don't add the illegal components to the guns, said Randy Rossi, director of the Firearms Division of the attorney general's office. But they could be prosecuted by local courts that consider the weapons to be in violation of the ban, Rossi said.

The San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office and the Stockton Police Department both have said owners of off-list receivers are not breaking the law as long as they don't add illegal features as specified in the assault-weapon ban.

Receivers that technically could be built into assault weapons are legal in the state. Anti-gun groups fear that such receivers easily could be used to build weapons like the ones legislators banned. True assault weapons, such as fully automatic Uzis and AK47s, can fire up to 30 bullets in five seconds.

Four years ago, Stockton resident Darlene Berendt lost her 21-year-old daughter, Frances Corral, in a shooting on La Jolla Drive in central Stockton. Corral was dropping off a friend when a car drove by and one of its occupants peppered the home with more than 50 bullets from what Berendt believes was a semiautomatic gun. Corral, seated in her 1981 Buick, was struck and died immediately. The case remains unsolved.

"We don't need assault weapons. (It's) a trophy to put on your wall," Berendt said. "They are not for hunting but for killing people. They are for war."

The federal campaign to ban assault weapons was spurred by the 1989 Cleveland Elementary School shooting, in which Patrick Purdy walked onto the Stockton campus with an AK47 that held 75 rounds of ammunition. Purdy killed five children and injured 29 others and a teacher. Five years later, assault weapons were banned across the country, which gun-safety advocates lauded as a victory.

"It's really their killing potential," Alison Merrilees, legal counsel for the Firearms Division of the attorney general's office, said in explaining why assault weapons were banned. "The pistol grip allows them to be sprayed randomly. You can kill lots of people without having to reload."

A pistol grip gives a weapon more support and better positioning.

The receivers were first discovered by firearms agents at a Northern California gun show in November. Since then, lawyers for Attorney General Bill Lockyer have been studying legal options and expect to decide this week what to recommend to the Legislature.

"It's an uncertain legal situation," Merrilees said, adding that victims' rights groups have not pressured the state to update the law. "The only legitimate problem right now is confusion among gun owners about what is legal and what isn't legal."

The Brady Campaign, a national organization that advocates more-stringent gun laws, has not taken a position on the issue but is waiting to see what the attorney general's office decides, spokesman Peter Hamm said.

"Lockyer is extremely good on the gun issue, and we generally trust his office," Hamm said.

Gun owners are eager for the state to make a decision about the weapons, saying those who own the receivers are in a legal limbo. But the attorney general's office says gun laws are clear in spelling out what is and isn't legal and don't need to be updated.

Despite the quandary, gun owners are using the quirk in the law to their advantage, stocking up on the guns in anticipation of an eventual ban. Mike, a 21-year-old Stockton man who declined to give his last name for fear of being robbed, said he has two guns on AR15 receivers at home and recently ordered two more AK47 receivers from an out-of-state manufacturer.

"This is the cream of the crop," Mike said, adding that he uses the rifles to hunt squirrels and the occasional boar with his friends.

"If they were to do away with all guns, it would be better," he said. "But since they are not going to, I would prefer to be the one with the gun. I think I am responsible enough to own this gun and just feel safer knowing that I have it."

Berendt disagrees and thinks the way to deal with the recent dilemma is to update the legislation.

"You can't have one rule forever," she said. "You need to change laws with new technology."


I guess AKs dont have bolts and bolt carriers

I need to get me one of those random spray pistol grips!!  That would be perfect for Bulletfest!

Another example of the incredible stupidity of the typical anti.

I can randomly spray bullets just fine without a pistol grip, thank you very much.

Man, thank God they don't know just how REALLY deady those flash suppressors are, or they'd ARREST everyone with so much as a PHOTO of one!

Idiots.

"If they were to do away with all guns, it would be better," he said. "But since they are not going to, I would prefer to be the one with the gun. I think I am responsible enough to own this gun and just feel safer knowing that I have it."

Geeze, would someone slap this dipshit upside the head for me.  

Tak e a look a this fine piece of DECEPTION

The author talks about California Assault Weapons, then slips this one in:

Quoted: True assault weapons, such as fully automatic Uzis and AK47s, can fire up to 30 bullets in five seconds.

Yellow Journalism.

Steyr AUGs are banned because everyone knows the streets are FLOODED with them

Quoted: The receivers were first discovered by firearms agents at a Northern California gun show in November. Since then, lawyers for Attorney General Bill Lockyer have been studying legal options and expect to decide this week what to recommend to the Legislature.

This is a problem.

If the receivers were simply listed as a part of the DOJ powers to add "series" firearms with resepect to AK and AR15 clones, we'd be pretty good to go here in Ca.

But a legislative action resulting in a new law would be a bigger problem and can be the worst nightmare situation that we have been hoping won't happen.

"It's really their killing potential," Alison Merrilees, legal counsel for the Firearms Division of the attorney general's office, said in explaining why assault weapons were banned. "The pistol grip allows them to be sprayed randomly. You can kill lots of people without having to reload."


Holy crap!!!!  Bushmaster sells sprayfire machineguns for less than $13.00 everyday!!!!  

linky





Edit:  Man red font hurts my eyes more that good old blue

Quoted: "It's really their killing potential," Alison Merrilees, legal counsel for the Firearms Division of the attorney general's office, said in explaining why assault weapons were banned. "The pistol grip allows them to be sprayed randomly. You can kill lots of people without having to reload." Holy crap!!!!  Bushmaster sells sprayfire machineguns for less than $13.00 everyday!!!!   linky Edit:  Man red font hurts my eyes more that good old blue

I just ordered ten....let's hope they work better than the last ones I ordered (totally false advertisement)

Idiots.  Kalifornian's kill more people with these than they do with legal semi-automatic rifles

Sir, talk about incredible stupidity!  "The pistol grip allows them to be sprayed randomly.  You can kill lots of people without having to reload.  The pistol grip gives a weapon more support and better positioning."  Just another example of a civil servant in a position of authority rendering an opinion with no basis in fact!

Just for my own edification, if the above is a basis for this incredibly ignorant piece of legislation, why then does this legislation also ban the M1A rifle?  JMHO, 7zero1.

give them credit.  you'd NEVER EVER EVER see this line in a major paper:

True assault weapons, such as fully automatic Uzis and AK47s, can fire up to 30 bullets in five seconds.

the legacy f the AWB is that somehow, even with the death, semi-automatic rifles somehow became assault weapons, which of course is impossiblem as an assault weapon is full auto.

Naturally one would assume spraying rounds randomly would kill less people...

Then again, what the Hell do I know, seems to work fine for this guy...

Quoted: Steyr AUGs are banned because everyone knows the streets are FLOODED with them

And before the import ban they were used in sooo many crimes...
Matt

I'll be sending a few letters out after work today, not only to the reporter, but also to the 'firearms experts.' Complete lack of firearms knowledge must be a prerequisite to becoming an expert in this field.

Now at least these guys have a clue-->

The San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office and the Stockton Police Department both have said owners of off-list receivers are not breaking the law as long as they don't add illegal features as specified in the assault-weapon ban.

This leaves one choice for the mighty Attorney General and his team of firerms experts, right now there's nothing he can do as far as making them illegal, they are alredy in state legally and will eventually have to be grandfathered under any new legislation. When they decide to have the current laws re-written to include all the new off-list receivers..that will force them to open up the registration period so they can be legally registered as SAW's. At least that's my uderstanding of how things are headed. Good for our CA. brothers.

Quoted: "If they were to do away with all guns, it would be better," he said. "But since they are not going to, I would prefer to be the one with the gun. I think I am responsible enough to own this gun and just feel safer knowing that I have it." Geeze, would someone slap this dipshit upside the head for me.

It's obviously made up by the writer. No EBR owner would ever say that.

Quoted: Tak e a look a this fine piece of DECEPTION The author talks about California Assault Weapons, then slips this one in: Quoted: True assault weapons, such as fully automatic Uzis and AK47s, can fire up to 30 bullets in five seconds. Yellow Journalism.

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who caught that.  Unfortunately, other than military rifle devotee's, most people would fall for this.

Her propaganda skills are strong.

Quoted: give them credit.  you'd NEVER EVER EVER see this line in a major paper: True assault weapons, such as fully automatic Uzis and AK47s, can fire up to 30 bullets in five seconds. the legacy of the AWB is that somehow, even with their death, semi-automatic rifles somehow became assault weapons, which of course is impossible as an assault weapon is full auto.

The thing is, the people this article was written to arouse don't know the difference, and are easily confused. Since it isn't really something they can relate to, they will just accept the erroneous "facts," and that's why bad legislation easily slips through. Notice that they don't have any pending legislation about assault vehicles (SUVs); these same people would be crying up a storm. "We have to ban all these assault vehicles. They are copies of the military vehicles, whose ultimate mission is to kill people, so they have no place on our highways."

I'm going to buy a DD M203 Grenade Launcher, for among other reasons, to tell my family in California I have one and they CAN'T.

Not that they would want one anyways... freeking heeeeepies

But, they are good people.  

HEy dont laugh at that Liberian Guy above! Your just ignorant! He is just a Liberian MARINE! Chips ahoy matey!!!!!!! +

I just woke up, fixed my coffe and this is the first post I see.....

I have come to a conclusion, ALL GUNS ARE MEANT FOR KILLING PEOPLE!

I cannot have this I am selling all my guns!

Quoted: Naturally one would assume spraying rounds randomly would kill less people... Then again, what the Hell do I know, seems to work fine for this guy... tinypic.com/i6flex.jpg

Yeah, assuming his target is on the ground 20 feet in front of him... or is he kicking up a shower of stones to create a shotgun effect? He shouldn't have to reload because he does have one of those deadly pistol grips installed.

Somebody asked me why I need an "assault weapon". I explained to him that my ancestors killed 3/4ths of the Indians, requisitioned 1/3 of Mexico and imported tens of thousands of Negros as slaves.

The last I heard, some people were massively upset about it. They wanted to exterminate white people, impose their religion and reconquer Mexico's lost territory. The latest I heard was, they are trying to tear down our flags and bomb our cities.

That's why I own assault weapons.

Get some Californians!

Quoted: Naturally one would assume spraying rounds randomly would kill less people... Then again, what the Hell do I know, seems to work fine for this guy... tinypic.com/i6flex.jpg

Even those idiots know better than to wear their pants on their thighs.

Seeing as how the Republicans have decided that they are not conservatives nor no longer need the support of conservatives, we will all be suffering under new oppressive gun legislation soon.

Quoted: I can randomly spray bullets just fine without a pistol grip, thank you very much.

So true. Just to name a few:
.22 with tube magazine
SKS
M1A
M1 Garand
M1 carbine
Mini 14 and variants

There are many more.

Quoted: I'm going to buy a DD M203 Grenade Launcher

Yup!! I'm gonna get one too!!!!

Quoted: The federal campaign to ban assault weapons was spurred by the 1989 Cleveland Elementary School shooting, in which Patrick Purdy walked onto the Stockton campus with an AK47 that held 75 rounds of ammunition. Purdy killed five children and injured 29 others and a teacher. Five years later, assault weapons were banned across the country, which gun-safety advocates lauded as a victory.

I remember this incident. The school was predominantly Vietnamese and this guy was trying to get revenge for losing 'Nam, or something like that.

Quoted: Naturally one would assume spraying rounds randomly would kill less people... Then again, what the Hell do I know, seems to work fine for this guy... tinypic.com/i6flex.jpg

Everytime I see that pic, it cracks me up!  I think he's using the "bounce the bullets off of the asphalt" technique.  It is a combat-proven, highly effective way of killing folks.

Quoted: Quoted: Naturally one would assume spraying rounds randomly would kill less people... Then again, what the Hell do I know, seems to work fine for this guy... tinypic.com/i6flex.jpg Everytime I see that pic, it cracks me up!  I think he's using the "bounce the bullets off of the asphalt" technique.  It is a combat-proven, highly effective way of killing folks.

The Liberian Coast Guard ingrains this tactic into new recruits when they go through fleet marksmanship training.

Quoted: Quoted: The federal campaign to ban assault weapons was spurred by the 1989 Cleveland Elementary School shooting, in which Patrick Purdy walked onto the Stockton campus with an AK47 that held 75 rounds of ammunition. Purdy killed five children and injured 29 others and a teacher. Five years later, assault weapons were banned across the country, which gun-safety advocates lauded as a victory. I remember this incident. The school was predominantly Vietnamese and this guy was trying to get revenge for losing 'Nam, or something like that.

Yep, I remember it, too. This incident and the Luby's Cafeteria incident are the same to me.

It doesn't matter what weapon they're using and how many bullets it holds...if you're not shooting back, then they have all the time in the world to reload, don't they?

Scott

Quoted: Naturally one would assume spraying rounds randomly would kill less people... Then again, what the Hell do I know, seems to work fine for this guy... tinypic.com/i6flex.jpg

That lower jaw perplexes me

I hate the 'it's a weapon of war' argument. Isn't that exactly the type of weapons that are meant to be protected under the second amendment? Heck didn't the supreme court rule the reason why "sawed off" shotguns could be banned(or taxed, how ever you want to see it) is because they wouldn't have a purpose in a militia (i.e. it is not a 'weapon of war')?

They're looking for a few new all-inclusive buzz-words.

"The pistol grip allows them to be sprayed randomly..."

I attached a tactical pistol grip to my johnson and now I'm a bitch-sprayin muthafucka...

I got my AR and AK receivers. They're just sitting in the safe, waiting for the Kaliban to list them.

"It's really their killing potential," Alison Merrilees, legal counsel for the Firearms Division of the attorney general's office, said in explaining why assault weapons were banned. "The pistol grip allows them to be sprayed randomly. You can kill lots of people without having to reload." A pistol grip gives a weapon more support and better positioning.

Yeah. A pistol grip is all you need to "spray randomly" without even reloading.

I cannot believe the stupidity of these people.

Alison Merrilees, legal counsel for the Firearms Division of the attorney general's office. Only in California.  

These people are in desperate need of a trip to the shooting range to learn some firearm basics.

Does California have a history of inbreeding? How do they manage to have so many nutcases concentrated in one area?

Ohhhhhh, it's the nasty protruding pistol grip!!!!!!!!

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but the silver lining with that situation is that once those stripped lowers are declared/ruled an "assault rifle", and specifically named on a list, the onwers have 90 days to
build them into a complete rilfe (with all the banned features). They'll still have to be registered as an "assault rifle" within those 90 days.

Not necessarily LoginName,

I have not purchased any of these lowers because I have always felt that it would be too big of a political disaster, not to mention personal humiliation for Lockyer, to allow 10's of thousands of new "assault weapons" to legally enter the state.

It's a fairly simple matter for a combination of the DOJ, Legislature, and Judiciary to make those all those lowers expensive paper weights, good deals for the EE, or 10 round fixed mag rifles.

I believe that this is exactly what they are going to do.  I hope I'm wrong, but California is particularly adept at ignoring the constitution, and even it's own laws, when it suits the current political environment.

Well for all of the Calif folks who legally bought the stripped lowers, I would assemble them as quickly as possible into legally completed gun ASAP, and save any all receipts and paper documetation for an audit trail, because the legislature could do funny things.  There will be no stopping "them" from doing whatever.

Quoted: Naturally one would assume spraying rounds randomly would kill less people... Then again, what the Hell do I know, seems to work fine for this guy... tinypic.com/i6flex.jpg

Where the heck was that photo taken?  Anyone know?

Quoted: "The pistol grip allows them to be sprayed randomly..." I attached a tactical pistol grip to my johnson and now I'm a bitch-sprayin muthafucka...

And that pic is from Liberia...
There's a whole thread of them here:

www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=430485

Quoted: Somebody asked me why I need an "assault weapon". I explained to him that my ancestors killed 3/4ths of the Indians, requisitioned 1/3 of Mexico and imported tens of thousands of Negros as slaves. The last I heard, some people were massively upset about it. They wanted to exterminate white people, impose their religion and reconquer Mexico's lost territory. The latest I heard was, they are trying to tear down our flags and bomb our cities. That's why I own assault weapons.

Well Said.

James

Quoted: Quoted: Naturally one would assume spraying rounds randomly would kill less people... Then again, what the Hell do I know, seems to work fine for this guy... tinypic.com/i6flex.jpg Where the heck was that photo taken?  Anyone know?

That was Liberia or Monrovia. You must have missed those threads a few months ago. That's a whole other topic in itself.

Ask those clowns about random spraying.

Quoted: Well for all of the Calif folks who legally bought the stripped lowers, I would assemble them as quickly as possible into legally completed gun ASAP, and save any all receipts and paper documetation for an audit trail, because the legislature could do funny things.  There will be no stopping "them" from doing whatever.

You cannot assemble a so called "assault weapons" on one of the off list receivers.  Most people are assembling them with pinned magazines so that they will not meet the generic "assault weapon" definition.

Quoted: give them credit.  you'd NEVER EVER EVER see this line in a major paper: True assault weapons, such as fully automatic Uzis and AK47s, can fire up to 30 bullets in five seconds. the legacy f the AWB is that somehow, even with the death, semi-automatic rifles somehow became assault weapons, which of course is impossiblem as an assault weapon is full auto.

JESUS H. CHRIST.  The effects of that law is that even members of this very fucking board don't even know the GD difference.  

"ASSAULT WEAPON" IS A COMPLETELY FABRICATED TERM!  I won't give them or you credit.  There is no such thing except on the books of certain states.  The ones with the selector switch are ASSAULT RIFLES.  There is a military and technical definition of this type of rifle.  "Assault weapon" was a term fabricated for use in the 1994 AWB.  Since that law no longer exists, there is no such thing except in the states that have their own AWB and it is still a bogus, fabricated term.

Quoted: Naturally one would assume spraying rounds randomly would kill less people... Then again, what the Hell do I know, seems to work fine for this guy... tinypic.com/i6flex.jpg

WTF is he wearing a life jacket for?

This is really bad ju-ju for californians who bought receivers and I'll tell you why:

Aparently Lockyer has realized that adding the receivers to the list would essentially legalize them.  This is what we wanted.  It was the easy way out.  He ain't doing it.  He wanted to create a new class of "new" AW's.  We called him on it since the DOJ hasn't got the authority to do it.  Now, instead of that, he is going to get the legislature to make new law preventing them from being made into AW's.  I expect it to basically be a new AW ban which will require all receivers imported into california after 2000 to be only build as fixed 10 rnd mag guns.  While they are at it they will probably also ban ALL semiautos with evil features, and grandfather current weapons that fit the description.  This would presumably be the Kel-Tec SU-16's, and SKS's, and any others fitting the description.  Mainly to prevent people from building fixed mag AR's with evil features.

I think this will end badly.  California gun owners stared the beast straight in the eyes and the beast is gonna fuck them.  Basically:  "Oh, I see how it is.  Now I'm gonna really give you something to cry about."

This is, unfortunately, what usually happens when you challenge the .gov.  YOu can try to mess with them, but they will always be able to mess with you even more.

Sorry guys.  I had hopes, but I think you're totally fucked (again) this time.

Quoted: ..... Sorry guys.  I had hopes, but I think you're totally fucked (again) this time.

California is no place for gun-owners.  They've made that clear enough.  I say this to JEws who still live in Europe.  They've made it clear that we're not welcome.  There's VERY little that can justifiy living in that state and paying taxes there and contributing to its economy.