Earlier today, Calguns Foundation filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Calfornia's 10 day "waiting period" (which is really just a dressed-up 10-day ban on law-abiding gun owners' ability to exercise their fundamental right to keep and bear arms). This is a significant piece of litigation that we're very optimistic about; I think it's safe to say that gun buyers and transferees have been making two trips for one gun far, far too long. (I wonder how big the 10-day ban's carbon footprint is...) 

Consider, for a moment, how a successful outcome for us here might open up the right of self-defense under the Second Amendment to those reliant on public transportation, or who live far away from a licensed dealer. Not only would getting rid of the 10-day ban be good for civil rights, it would be a major step forward in removing the perverse incentive towards unlawful firearm transfers.


About the issues underlying the lawsuit, plaintiff Michael Poeschl had this to say: “In just about every other state in the U.S., I as a law-abiding gun owner could walk in and, after passing an instant national background check, walk out with a firearm to defend myself in my home.” Indeed, and this case is going to help gun owners like Michael do exactly like millions of other Americans have for years.

In another notable piece of CGF news, an open letter and legal analysis on California Assembly Bill 144, or “AB 144”, just made its way into the CGF Downloads directory. After hearing some in law enforcement inaccurately describing what AB 144 does and how they would respond to “man with a gun calls” after January 1, 2012, we knew that this analysis was critically-important on many levels. While we don’t endorse the unloaded open carry of firearms in urban settings at this time, we certainly don’t want to see fellow law-abiding gun owners rights’ violated, or innocent people arrested – or worse – out of some misguided effort to keep guns out of sight. We’ve sent this out to various organizations, including each of California’s 58 county sheriff’s offices, the California State Sheriffs’ Association, California Police Chiefs’ Association, and the California District Attorneys Association (with a request to each that they circulate it to their members) to ensure that they are placed on notice of the actual provisions of AB 144 so that they cannot claim a lack of knowledge of the law as an excuse for false arrests, unlawful seizures, or even injuries or deaths. For those who’d like to download and share this document on their own, Wikipedia has a handy list of law enforcement agencies in California, including some fairly obscure ones, and usacops.com has a really useful map that links to many of those agencies.

We’ve also been doing quite a lot of “housekeeping” to get ready for the huge year for gun rights that we expect 2012 will be. One example of this is reflected in the [very useful, and I think underutilized] Calguns Foundation Wiki, which we’ve upgraded, cleaned up, improved the workflow of, and generally attempted to make into a more pleasing user experience. A big note to the Penal Code geeks out there: if you don’t know already, the Dangerous Weapons Control Laws section of the Code will be renumbered and reorganized as of January 1, 2012. Cruise over to the Wiki’s PC Renumbering Cheat Sheet for a helpful cross-reference. A huge thank-you to our fantastic volunteers who update and maintain the CGF Wiki, and especially [our resident] Librarian, Lorax3, and Crom. (They’d probably really appreciate your help if you know your way around WikiMedia and enjoy helping other gun owners; contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you’d like to pitch in.)

I need to ask you for a favor. If you support the right to keep and bear arms, and if you appreciate lawsuits, analysis, and efforts like those I touched on here, please head over to our donation page right now and make a tax-deductible contribution before the end of your income tax year. Every single dollar counts and helps us keep up the pressure on unconstitutional laws like the “waiting period” ban. Your generous charitable giving allows us to fund new cases, keep innocent gun owners out of jail, and offer more educational opportunities for government and the public alike. You probably know by now, but in case you don’t, you can help support CGF year-round by simply clicking our link to shop at everybody’s favorite online store, Amazon.com. We also have some rocking CGF gear like Zippos, flasks, challenge coins, tees, CGF grocery totes (represent at Whole Foods, for the win!), tumblers, brewery and shot glasses, gun case tags – even custom-roasted coffee – at the new CGF Store. All CGF store sales go right back to fund our work to advance for your rights, and you even get to write most of it off. It’s a win-win-win (or a lose-lose-lose if you’re the Brady Campaign or DOJ).

As you can see, it's been quite a busy conclusion to the year here at Calguns Foundation. I hope that you’ve enjoyed the news and events we’ve touched on here at the CGF Blog, Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere. We could not ask for a more enthusiastic, informed, thoughtfully engaging, and supportive group of members than you.

Happy holidays, and we look forward to sharing more exciting times with you in 2012. 

In liberty,

-Brandon 

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10-day “waiting period” ban lawsuit: http://bit.ly/rAVhZb

AB 144 Analysis: http://bit.ly/uPISRW