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TTAG commentator Mark N wrote this under yesterday’s post CA Bullet Button Senator Leland Yee Plays the Race Card. Mark explains the “thinking” behind California State Senate Bill 249:

Under California’s form of the AWB, semi-auto “black” rifles were required to have “fixed” magazines. I guess the thought was that a fixed magazine would make it more difficult to reload, thereby reducing the firepower of the rifle. (Also banned were magazines of greater than 10 rounds.) The “problem” is the stautory definition of “fixed.” Under the law (that Yee drafted) “fixed” means that a tool is required to remove the mag. When the law was first passed, you had to pop the rear pin on the upper to reload an internal mag. But some bright smith figured out how to make a “bullet button” . . .

These buttons are in the same place as the original mag release, but cannot be operated with a finger; instead a tool is required–usually a bullet–which is pressed into the recessed release. This is perfectly legal under the statute as written, as the DOJ has conceded. The most recent iteration of the bullet button tool is simply a magnet that pops onto the release and is pressed. (These are of questionable legality, because the rule has been that the tool must be separate from the firearm).

When Yee caught wind of them, he drafted a new law that will return us to the early days of the AWB–and to a place where there isn’t likely a manufacturer of compliant weapons. The intent is quite clear–our infamous representative Portantino (of the open carry ban) specifically stated the purpose was to rid the state of “assault weapons”, and it mattered to him not one whit that they are legal in all of the other states in the Union. “We don’t want those semiautomatic rifles here,” he said (roughly).

The democrats have a near supermajority in the Legislature. The republicans cannot stop its passage. Only Brown can do so by vetoing it, or a constitutional challenge that will be filed one minute after he signs this legislation into law.

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23 COMMENTS

  1. THE PROBLEM IS YEE AND PORTANTINO’S FIXATION ON RESTRICTING LAW ABIDING CALIFORNIANS FROM FIREARM OWNERSHIP……………………

  2. they have budget issues for education but have time and money to spend on paying the legal fees of the prevailing lawyers who take these softball cases? The NRA, CAlGuns, 2nd Amendment Foundation, etc need to PUBLISH how much money they have been awarded in these cases and how much they believe the state is spending on this nonsense. Nothing like information to help the voters make informed decisions.

  3. Apparenty the coffers in CA are so overflowing that they have nothing else to worry about.

  4. The bullet button issue has been dropped and instead they want to ban the mag magnet and conversion kits.

    Yee’s bill originally sought to ban the bullet button. But he recently amended the bill to ban only conversion kits such as the “mag magnet,” a hot seller at gun shows, that makes a bullet button even easier to use.

    CBS 5 asked Yee: “The bill doesn’t address the bullet part, just the magnet. Why the change?”

    The senator answered: “Given all the opposition we have had thus far, I think that this probably would be a way that we can craft a bill that would pass muster.”

    http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/07/12/bullet-button-supporters-intensify-campaign-against-state-sen-yee/#.T_9yL97Jx-U.twitter

    However, the Brady Bunch aren’t even fully supporting the bill.

    “Even if Senator Yee’s legislation is passed, there would still be a whole bunch of guns that it doesn’t apply to,” said cried Dan Gross, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

    If approved, firearms with factory-installed bullet buttons would still be legal. All the major manufacturers are making them and gun stores all over the Bay Area are selling them.

    “assault weapons” aren’t a problem in the rest of the United States, why can’t the citizens of Kalifornia be trusted with them?

    • That CBS 5 “news” article is amazing for its undisguised bias against legal AR type firearms. I mean, like DRIPPING. It is this type of antipathy that keeps California in the dark ages. Interesting to see that Yee is now only going over the mag magnet and “conversion kits”–which is far broader than he implies, as it could be construed as precluding the sale of parts for homebuilds, or even repair kits. But at least admits that his bill is unsound.
      I diidn’t get the part at all about Brady Bunch suing the AG to change the “existing regulations” as to bullet buttons (with the intent of banning “assault weapons”). I don’ think they have a legal leg to stand on. What burns me is that AG Harris will not confront CBS 5 and tell them that their crusade is legally ill-founded; I suppose it’s political since it is clear that all CBS wants to hear is how the AG is going to “fix” this “problem.” What crap.

  5. The real fear is that California’s mismanaged economy, government, and society will collapse and huge numbers of loonies aka California refugees will head north to Oregon placing unrealistic demands on us for welfare support and other entitlements. I’ve heard rumors they won’t be welcomed.

  6. california’s economy is larger than greece’s. if our economy goes under you’ll have a lot more to worry about than refugees.”we hang together or we hang seperately.”

    • Very true. But its not a matter of “if”. Its a matter of “when”.
      Don’t worry though, CA won’t be alone, it just might go first is all.

  8. I hate to gloat, but just this once I will. I used to live in California and I bought a new AR with the bullet button.

    Six months ago I moved to Arizona and literally the first firearm related thing I did after setting up the new household was to put a standard mag release in the carbine and buy a box full of P-Mags.

    Life is good.

    • Yep, that’s exactly what I did, too, two and a half years ago.

      And the second thing was getting a CCW.

      Welcome to America, brother |:^}

  9. I hope it passes. I hope iron fist after iron fist crushes Californians into the ground until they’ve had enough and decide to take real action. The master can only slap the dog so many times before it either bites back or pisses on its own broken spirit. Let’s see which path Californian subjects choose.

    • Couple of problems. First, there is the democratic process (which is stacked against the gunnies). Second is the fact that nearly all of the anarchists (and you call for anarchy) are left wing radicals who hate guns. Again, the demographic sucks. That leaves us with the courts; and again there are issues. State courts are unresponsive, and we live in the Ninth Circuit (which is neither clearly bad n or clearly good–there is quite a blend of politics on that bench, including some very dyed in the wool conservatives; the Ninth was one of the earliest courts to adopt intermediate scrutiny).

  10. a lot of people don’t seem to get it. we fight back, we’re outnumbered by too large a number. and you feeling smug or superior is just whistleing past the grave yard. what happens here will happen there. we’re all in the same boat.

  11. “Fixed magazines” huh! I “fixed” my dog and now he has no testicles. Perhaps they should just jump to the chase and say they are “neutering gun owners”.

    • Too late. They told us that back when Ronnie was governor and he banned loaded open carry. When you add in the AWB, the open carry ban, the roster of safe firearms that prevents the majority of handguns from being sold here, the inability to obtain CCWs in every large metro area except Sacramento (which has a year long backlog–supposedly), it is clear that the only persons in this state worse than gun owners are smokers and child abusers.

      • You are right about Ronnie and banning loaded open carry. Some people were uncomfortable with the Black Panthers showing up at state buildings with loaded firearms.
        Lot of things I did like about President Reagan but he wasn’t particlarly pro gun rights.
        Agree with you on the AWB, roster, mag capacity, one per month and any kind of carry is either illegal or “may issue”.
        Gun owner and smoker.
        Local PD website has map of child abusers, lights up like it’s on fire. WTF ?

  12. Would it be possible to load the mag from inside the chamber with the bolt to the rear? I’ve not tried this on my .308 and there are safety issues with doing it, I’m just wondering how you would load one if the mag was welded to the gun.

  13. In the last 5 years there were more than 700 children under the age of 10 that were killed or injured from a car backing over them because the driver didn’t see them. They passed a law that requires car manufactures to install back up cameras in all cars starting in 2013. Well, sad to say that has not happen yet. Compare to the tragic incident happen at Sandy Hook which law would be more effective in saving our children. A law banning all assault rifles or the camera law… Any sane person would be able to figure it out. We need to stop having our constitutional rights violated!
    Let’s vote in the right people to run our country.

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