"Ask the Rabbi" by R. Mermelstein
QUESTION: Dear Rabbi
Mermelstein:
What were the results of the turn in program for SKS rifles in California? How many did the state actually get back?
Marc Rosati
23 Jan 2000
ANSWER: Dear Mr. Rosati,
Those numbers will never be made
public, for the simple reason that the State Dept. of Justice never had
any records of SKS rifles with detachable magazines owned by CA
residents. Any SKS with the original non-detachable magazine could be
converted in minutes, and detachable magazines were commonly (and
legally) sold all over the state. To return the SKS to legal status
takes the same couple of minutes.
When the infamous Roos-Roberti Assault Weapons Act was made law in
1989, a deadline was issued for registration of banned weapons. The
deadline was pushed back a few times by the last Attorney General, Dan
Lungren. By 1995, six years after the law went into effect, the Dept.
of Justice in Sacramento admitted that only 2% (two percent!) of the
estimated number of proscribed weapons had been registered. This brings
to mind Henry David Thoreau's essay, "On Civil Disobedience". The
lawful owners of these rifles can never again enjoy shooting them, but
they are secure in their knowledge that the state can never confiscate
what it doesn't know exists, or where to find it. Those good guys (1500
of them) that did comply and register their proscribed rifles during
the amnesty period that was later ruled illegal by the CA courts will
now have their registered firearms confiscated, if the state hasn't
done so already. Is there a moral here, somewhere?
Sincerely,
R. Mermelstein
Click
here to write Rabbi Mermelstein your questions!
[Back to "Ask
the
Rabbi"]