AB1014 allows family members, friends and others to get an order from a judge to remove the guns of someone accused of mental illness. This is sure to be challenged in court on Second Amendment gun-rights grounds and on Fourth Amendment “unreasonable searches and seizures” grounds.

It also will add costs to city police departments. These guns will not be seized by Sgt. Joe Friday with his .38 service revolver, but by expensive SWAT teams. Relatives also should realize that when a SWAT team comes to grab Cousin Freddie’s guns, they will ransack your entire house looking for them.

Moreover, the definition of who is “crazy” is nebulous. Psychiatry depends on the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,” which keeps changing. The book was critiqued in “The Book of Woe: The DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry,” by psychotherapist Gary Greenberg. From the summary:

“Since its debut in 1952, the book has been frequently revised, and with each revision, the “official” view on which psychological problems constitute mental illness. Homosexuality, for instance, was a mental illness until 1973, and Asperger’s gained recognition in 1994 only to see its status challenged nearly twenty years later. Each revision has created controversy, but the DSM-5, the newest iteration, has shaken psychiatry to its foundations. The APA has taken fire from patients, mental health practitioners, and former members for extending the reach of psychiatry into daily life by encouraging doctors to diagnose more illnesses and prescribe more therapies—often medications whose efficacy is unknown and whose side effects are severe. Critics—including Greenberg—argue that the APA should not have the naming rights to psychological pain or to the hundreds of millions of dollars the organization earns, especially when even the DSM’s staunchest defenders acknowledge that the disorders listed in the book are not real illnesses.”

Yet it is the DSM-5 that will be brought forth to a judge as “evidence” that someone’s Second Amendment rights should be violated by a SWAT team.

BB gun markings

SB 199 requires BB guns to have bright markings. According to the Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Association, which backed the bill:

“Imitation guns are deliberately fabricated to be indistinguishable from real firearms. Law enforcement officers have extreme difficulty distinguishing these fake guns from lethal weapons, particularly when officers must react within seconds to emergency situations. One of the primary dangers posed by replicas is that such guns are used by children and young adults who may not comprehend the seriousness of displaying them around unsuspecting law enforcements officers or around armed individuals. As a result, officers and community residents can find themselves
in precarious situations when unable to distinguish replica guns from handguns and assault weapons.

“On October 22, 2013, a thirteen-year-old boy from Santa Rosa was tragically shot and killed by Sonoma County deputies who mistook the plastic airsoft gun he was carrying for an actual AK-47. This tragedy is neither new nor uncommon. A 1990 study commissioned by the Department of Justice found that there are well over 200 incidents per year in which imitation guns are mistaken for real firearms.”

That’s in a vast country of more than 300 million people. And instead of this legislation, why not legislation requiring more training by police to tell the difference between a BB gun and an AK-47?

Have the authors of this bill, and Gov. Brown, ever been young boys? When I was a kid back in the 1960s and my parents got me a BB gun, there’s no way I would have accepted one with bright markings. Or I would have spray-painted it black.

My favorite TV show in the early 1960s (before “Start Trek” in 1966) was “Combat.” My brother and I imitated the GIs fighting numerous Nazi troops, blasting our way to Berlin. Our heroes, Sgt. Carter, Lt. Hanley, Caje, Doc, Kirby and Littlejohn, didn’t defeat Hitler using brightly colored guns, so neither did we.

Full episodes are here on YouTube.

The bill also won’t prevent kids from importing the guns from other states. Has Gov. Brown heard of Internet shopping? Here’s one listed on Amazon:

On Jan. 28, the California Senate passed Senate Bill 199, by state Sen. Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles. The vote was 23 to 8. The bill would require BB and airsoft guns to be painted bright colors to make them “readily identifiable” so law enforcement officers could distinguish them from real firearms.

Police shooting of 13-year-old

In the Senate debate on Jan. 23, de Leon addressed the recent shooting death of 13-year-old Andy Lopez in Santa Rosa, who was carrying an airsoft BB replica of an AK-47 automatic rifle.

“Law enforcement officers have extreme difficulty distinguishing between the real thing and what is fake,” de Leon said. “This is about saving lives.”

Sen. Steve Knight, R-Lancaster, disagreed. The former Los Angeles police officer said, “Today a brand new 9 millimeter gun can look like a toy. A brightly colored gun isn’t necessarily a toy. Are we going to write a bill when a police officer gets shot by a real gun painted bright orange?”

“The tragedy has rocked Santa Rosa and Sonoma County to its very core,” said Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, a co-author of the bill. “A toy should look like a toy. A toy should not get a child killed.”

Santa Rosa police said that Lopez’ airsoft gun did not have the required orange marker.

Similar incidents have occurred elsewhere in America. In 2012, police fatally shot a Texas eighth-grader who was carrying a pellet gun resembling a black Glock. In 2011, Miami police shot and killed a man carrying a realistic-looking replica gun.

However, bright colored firearms — real guns — already exist. There are bright pink Glocks, white AR15s, pretty pearl-handled revolvers, Burberry print rifles and even a 9 millimeter with a leopard print grip — all designed to appeal to women.

For many years gang members, and some suspected narcotics dealers near the border with Mexico, have painting their weapons to resemble airsoft weapons.

The bad guys

“The problem is, we can’t control the bad guys from painting their weapons,” said Sen. Joel Anderson, R-San Diego. “If this bill was about educating our youth how to react to law enforcement, I’d support it.”

Anderson told a story about a man in San Diego apprehended by police. He came at officers with a trowel — and they shot and killed him.

“The bill puts false hope out there,” Anderson said.

Airsoft is a sport

Redding resident T.J. Armstrong is an airsoft enthusiast. “It’s a community sport,” Armstrong said. “It is a father-son sport.”

Armstrong plays on an all father-son team in Redding and told CalWatchdog.com what SB199 will do to the sport. “This bill just kills another sport and successful industry,” he said.

Armstrong said the area property he uses was a local eyesore. So his team asked the property owner if they could use the land for airsoft sporting in exchange for a huge cleanup and ongoing maintenance of the land.

Now, not only do all of the airsoft players in Redding use the field, local police and sheriffs participate for training and ongoing exercises.

Armstrong said that if SB199 becomes law, it will shutter many businesses and thousands of people will lose their jobs. “This bill will not improve public safety at all,” he said.

Specifics

Specifically, SB199 would require that all toy guns, replica guns and BB guns be painted bright orange, purple, red, blue, green and yellow colors.

And in would make it illegal to own all weapons that shoot a 6 mm BB. “No more Red Ryder Daisy BB Guns, no more Pellet Guns, no more Airsoft guns,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong provided a partial list of of groups and businesses located throughout the state of California that would be affected:

AirsoftGI

Airsoft Megastore

Evike.com

Airsplat

U.S. Airsoft

Fort Ord

CQB City

Shorty Airsoft

Lion Claws

Airsoft Extreme

DogTag Airsoft

And the communities which have active Airsoft facilities:

Redding Area Airsoft

The Shadow Legion Airsoft Team

The Jefferson State Regulators Airsoft Team

U.S. Airsoft Team

The Misfits Airsoft Team

The SMS Airsoft Team

Sacramento Airsoft

Butte County Regional Airsoft

Easy Company Airsoft

Airsoft Craigslist

Sutter Yuba Airsoft

Airsoft World Wide

Magpul Masada PTS

Phantom Force Airsoft

Susanville Airsoft Squad S.A.S.

Polarstar Airsoft Owners’ Group

I Play Airsoft

PTW Sales & Forum

BoE Airsoft

The Airsoft Exchange