[b]Supreme Court decision cripples assault weapons ban[/b]
By David Kravets Associated Press Writer

------------------------------------------

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Judges cannot declare firearms illegal under the
state's assault-weapons ban law, the California Supreme Court ruled
Thursday in a decision the dissenting chief justice said created a
"loophole" in the 1989 act.

In a 4-2 vote that featured a blistering dissent by Chief Justice Ronald
M. George, the high court ruled that a semiautomatic rifle is legal if
it is not explicitly designated illegal under 1991 amendments to the
act.

Justice Janice Rogers Brown, agreeing with arguments made in the case by
the National Rifle Association, wrote that the 1991 provisions --
enacted to ban the proliferation of generic versions of outlawed weapons
-- was too vague for gun owners to know which of the so-called copycat
weapons of the Russian-made "AK series" were illegal.

Without explicitly listing each weapon, Brown wrote, "Ordinary
law-abiding citizens could suddenly find themselves ... subject to
prosecution."

The immediate fallout of Thursday's decision is that an untold number of
copycat weapons to the AK series are now legal in California.

George wrote that the "Legislature recognized the impossibility of
compiling a comprehensive list" of all AK series rifles and therefore
chose not to when it wrote the 1991 amendments.

"By refusing to heed the clear statutory language classifying all AK
series rifles as assault weapons, whether specifically identified by
name or model or not, the majority creates a loophole in California's
assault weapons control legislation that the Legislature plainly
intended to eliminate," George wrote.

Thousands of people in California have been convicted wrongly for
possessing, transporting or using AK series weapons, said Chuck Michel,
a lawyer for the National Rifle Association.

"It took years to clarify this mess and in the meantime hundreds or
perhaps thousands of accidental felons were created by a law that was
pushed through without a full consideration of the consequences," Michel
said.

PART II:  (hey goatboy -- put that damn beer down and get rid of that low character limit !)


.


The state attorney general's office was reviewing the decision Thursday
and would not comment on Michel's assertions, spokesman Nathan Barankin
said.

Thursday's decision was based on a 1994 confiscation of an AK series
rifle from a Delano attorney who was given the gun instead of payment
from a client.

Authorities seized the weapon on grounds it was banned under the 1991
amendments. Kings County Superior Court Judge Peter M. Schultz ruled
that the weapon was illegal, a decision the high court reversed
Thursday.

Still, George wrote that the court's decision may be minimized by
amendments the Legislature enacted to the assault-weapons act in 1999.

That year, lawmakers adopted a provision that bans assault-weapons based
on a host of features instead of makes and models -- a move that makes
illegal hundreds of so-called copycat weapons not clearly defined in the
law.

That provision has not been tested in California's courts. Gun
proponents said the Supreme Court decision gives them fodder to
challenge it.

The NRA's Michel said Thursday's decision bolsters arguments that the
1999 amendments are illegal because outlawed guns are not clearly
identified.

"A lawsuit will be filed challenging this," he said.

The decision means that some copycat weapons to the AK series will now
be legal.

That is because some of the weapons do not have the features that would
make them illegal under the 1999 provisions. Those features include
semiautomatic rifles having a detachable magazine for bullets, and one
of the following: a pistol grip, a stock with a hole for a thumb, a
grenade launcher and, among other features, a flair launcher.

"It's conceivable that you have an assault weapon that fell under the
1991 category and isn't covered by the new legislation," said John S.
Dulcich, the attorney who won Thursday's case on behalf of Delano lawyer
J.W.
Harrott.
Under the high court's closely watched decision last year upholding the
original assault-weapons law, a majority of justices noted that the
state attorney general's office has the discretion to add weapons to the
list of the hundreds of weapons already banned.

Gun-control advocates said Thursday that Attorney General Bill Lockyer
has greatly expanded the number of illegal weapons, but worried
Thursday's decision gives the state's top law enforcement officer too
much leeway.

"What if the next attorney general is not as aggressive as Lockyer?"
asked Dennis Henigan, an attorney for the Center to Prevent Handgun
Violence.

The Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Control Act of 1989 originally outlawed
75 weapons that are high-powered and have rapid-fire capabilities. The
Legislature passed the nation's first law banning such weapons after a
gunman, Patrick Purdy, fired a semiautomatic weapon into a Stockton
school yard, killing five children and injuring 30.

Following California's lead, several states and the federal government
passed similar or even stricter bans.

The case decided Thursday is J.W. Harrott v. Kings County, S05506

=================================================

This means that anything you buy now in Kali should be grandfathered in and legal when they draft new legislation to plug this new 'loophole'.  

[red][b]Good News Delivered By Your Evil Friends at [url]McUZI.com[/url][/b][/red]

I heard that Lordtrader is already packing his bags !

Now, what was that someone was saying about the NRA not working for "assault rifle" owners...?

Isn't it funny how MOST of the headlines on articles about this decision read "Supreme Court decision upholds assault weapon ban"???

Ok,  being in California - what's the simple version of all this?

Can I now buy a couple of new Bushmaster lower receivers?

and can they have a detachable mag and pistol grip?

So when the hell can I get my lower and from who?

The last factory lower I procured was from Cold War Relics in Pacific Grove, CA.  The price was a little jacked up but I was glad to be able to purchase one on the spot at the Crossroads of the West gun show.

I suggest calling Cold War Relics.

Cold War Relics was in the process of closing their Pacific Grove shop when I called them in October / November of 1999.

I don't know that they've gone, but I'd be very surprised if they were still there.

I was at the Cow Palace gun show today and nobody had any AK or AR series rifles for sale.

Asked three different dealers and got three different opinions on the result of this decision.

Probably the best response was " I don't know, but when we get written permission, we'll sell 'em".

It's probably the CA DOJs' plan to confuse everyone so they have time to eliminate this "loophole".

BTW, I think Cold War Relics is out of business.