‘Violence is as American as apple pie’

Jan. 30, 2013

By Katy Grimes

The Senate and Assembly held a joint Public Safety committee hearing on Tuesday about guns, but the hearing room was not even two-thirds full. Several Capitol staffers told me that the hearing had not been noticed to the public properly, deliberately, in order to keep gun proponents away.

The hearing was clearly stacked with anti-gun activists and proponents, and most of the testimony provided was skewed, biased, and some of the “facts” presented were incorrect.

Claiming that perspective and state history was needed, the Committee trotted out two of California’s former Democratic Senators, both advocates of gun control and gun bans.

David Roberti, former President pro tem of the California State Senate, and Don Perata, also former President pro tem of the Senate, talked on and on about their legislative involvement in the state’s gun laws. This continued for more than one hour, of the three hour hearing.

Roberti ironically survived a recall effort by the National Rifle Association in 1994.  Roberti was behind Roberti-Roos property tax as well as the passage of the Roberti-Roos Assault Weapon Control Act of 1989.

Roberti gave more actual history of his gun control act.

Don Perata – at least he’s entertaining

In true Perata form, former Sen. Don Perata accused the NRA of allowing its crazy fringe to do what they do in order to crush gun legislation around the country. “The NRA has a fringe element that they don’t control… I am convinced to get legislation passed,” Perata said. “They are a powerful gun lobby with a religious fervor.”

Yet Perata admitted that he became proficient with a handgun after receiving threats. He then warned the legislators on the committee that as they pursue gun bans, they too will be threatened, and to be prepared for this.

Perata was elected to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors in the mid-1980’s, and worked to shut down crime-laden liquor stores, ban cigarette advertising, and lobbied the legislature for an assault weapons ban.

At the Tuesday hearing, Perata said that guns should be licensed and regulated the same way as cars are. “Register it, take a course to show you’re proficient, require at least $1 million insurance, and a registration fee,” Perata said.

“There are a lot of similarities between guns and autos,” Perata said. “A car sitting in a parking lot rarely takes a human life.”

“There must be something in the Commandments that permits you to have a gun. God wanted it that way,” Perata said. “Don’t worry about legalities — it’s why God gave us courts.”

“It’s pandemic and no longer just in East Oakland. It’s clearly the most vexing problem in the country, ” Perata said. “Violence is as American as apple pie.”