From the Enterprise Record in Chico, Kalif. http://www.chicoer.com/display/inn_news/news4.txt
"The gun had to go: Chicoan disposes of formerly legal gun in Reno pawn shop
By John Michael - Staff Writer
The letter went out to only about 1,300 gun owners who thought they followed the letter of the law when they registered about 1,600 assault weapons.
Not big numbers in a state as big as California. Not a big deal.
Tell that to Phil Carson, a Chico resident who received one of those not-so-subtly-worded letters from the Firearms Division of the California Department of Justice.
"I got nervous," Carson said. "So I took it to Reno and put it on the street."
Come again?
"Oh, I got rid of it legally," he explained. "I sold it at a pawn shop. There were three more guys from California in line in front of me."
Carson said the weapon, a TEC-9 semi-automatic weapon, had been "locked away in a safe for 10 years, and DOJ forced me to get rid of it."
Now, Carson said, no one can really be sure where the weapon will surface, notwithstanding Carson's assertion it will end up on the street after it leaves the Nevada pawn shop.
Carson and the remainder of a select few assault weapons owners faced a Jan. 1 deadline for disposing of their weapons.
According to the Oct. 8, 1999, Firearms Division letter received by Carson, affected assault weapons owners could dispose of their weapons in one of four ways:
1. Sell the weapon to a DOJ licensed assault weapons dealer;
2. Relinquish the assault weapon(s) to a police or sheriff's department;
3. Destroy or render the weapon inoperable;
4. Remove the weapon from the state.
"You must dispose of your weapon(s) before January 1, 2000. After this date, your name and a description of the weapon(s) listed (on an attaching page) will be subject to your local police chief or sheriff upon their request," Firearms Division Director Randy Rossi wrote in the letter to Carson.
According to public information officer Mike Van Winkle, DOJ records showed 1,384 Californians had registered about 1,600 weapons after March 31, 1992, under regulations approved by the same Department of Justice.
At the time, former Attorney General Dan Lungren was in charge of the agency and controlled assault weapon policy in California.
Lungren had interpreted a section of the 1989 Assault Weapons Control Act to allow registration of certain assault weapons after March 31, 1992.
But gun-control proponent Handgun Control Inc. sued Lungren in liberal San Francisco, and a Superior Court Judge there ruled Lungren had overstepped his authority. The court said DOJ (Lungren) had no regular or discretionary authority to register assault weapons after March 31, 1992.
Lungren appealed, then left the Attorney General's office to run for governor.
The Department of Justice, now headed by Democrat Bill Lockyer, dropped the appeal. That left the San Francisco court ruling in place, though not binding on other courts.
It also left gun owners like Carson in a bind.
"I'm sure a lot of people will find it interesting that the time has come for law-abiding people to give up lawfully registered firearms," Carson said in an e-mail to the E-R. "It's all here in the documentation. The assault weapons have to go, or I go to jail."
The E-R learned through a source familiar with assault weapons issues that one or two other Chico residents have received similar letters. The E-R was unable to contact those assault weapons owners."
The locals ought to ask Lungren to personally collect these guns.
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The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.
"The gun had to go: Chicoan disposes of formerly legal gun in Reno pawn shop
By John Michael - Staff Writer
The letter went out to only about 1,300 gun owners who thought they followed the letter of the law when they registered about 1,600 assault weapons.
Not big numbers in a state as big as California. Not a big deal.
Tell that to Phil Carson, a Chico resident who received one of those not-so-subtly-worded letters from the Firearms Division of the California Department of Justice.
"I got nervous," Carson said. "So I took it to Reno and put it on the street."
Come again?
"Oh, I got rid of it legally," he explained. "I sold it at a pawn shop. There were three more guys from California in line in front of me."
Carson said the weapon, a TEC-9 semi-automatic weapon, had been "locked away in a safe for 10 years, and DOJ forced me to get rid of it."
Now, Carson said, no one can really be sure where the weapon will surface, notwithstanding Carson's assertion it will end up on the street after it leaves the Nevada pawn shop.
Carson and the remainder of a select few assault weapons owners faced a Jan. 1 deadline for disposing of their weapons.
According to the Oct. 8, 1999, Firearms Division letter received by Carson, affected assault weapons owners could dispose of their weapons in one of four ways:
1. Sell the weapon to a DOJ licensed assault weapons dealer;
2. Relinquish the assault weapon(s) to a police or sheriff's department;
3. Destroy or render the weapon inoperable;
4. Remove the weapon from the state.
"You must dispose of your weapon(s) before January 1, 2000. After this date, your name and a description of the weapon(s) listed (on an attaching page) will be subject to your local police chief or sheriff upon their request," Firearms Division Director Randy Rossi wrote in the letter to Carson.
According to public information officer Mike Van Winkle, DOJ records showed 1,384 Californians had registered about 1,600 weapons after March 31, 1992, under regulations approved by the same Department of Justice.
At the time, former Attorney General Dan Lungren was in charge of the agency and controlled assault weapon policy in California.
Lungren had interpreted a section of the 1989 Assault Weapons Control Act to allow registration of certain assault weapons after March 31, 1992.
But gun-control proponent Handgun Control Inc. sued Lungren in liberal San Francisco, and a Superior Court Judge there ruled Lungren had overstepped his authority. The court said DOJ (Lungren) had no regular or discretionary authority to register assault weapons after March 31, 1992.
Lungren appealed, then left the Attorney General's office to run for governor.
The Department of Justice, now headed by Democrat Bill Lockyer, dropped the appeal. That left the San Francisco court ruling in place, though not binding on other courts.
It also left gun owners like Carson in a bind.
"I'm sure a lot of people will find it interesting that the time has come for law-abiding people to give up lawfully registered firearms," Carson said in an e-mail to the E-R. "It's all here in the documentation. The assault weapons have to go, or I go to jail."
The E-R learned through a source familiar with assault weapons issues that one or two other Chico residents have received similar letters. The E-R was unable to contact those assault weapons owners."
The locals ought to ask Lungren to personally collect these guns.
------------------
The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.