“Ghost Voting” and Pressing the RESET Button

There has been some discussion over at AR15.com over the California Assembly’s passage of AB50 – a bill prohibiting the sale of rifles chambered for the .50BMG round, and requiring registration of currently owned rifles. (Or does it? The bill text I have referenced says “bans the sale of” but this Tri-Valley Herald piece quotes Sandra DeBourelando, principal assistant to the bill’s sponsor Paul Koretz saying that acquiring a .50 after Jan. 1, 2005 will require a permit and:

It won’t be easy to get a permit. You would have to show a good reason why you need it.

Of course you realize that the position of the gun-grabbers is that no one needs a .50. She also says:

We’re not going to confiscate guns.

The “yet” is, as always, unspoken.

It was reported by the Fifty Caliber Institute that the bill lost on the original vote by a tally of 35 yeas to 36 nays (total: 71 total votes.) Then they revoted using what is known as “ghost voting” – that is, a legislator votes using the pushbutton at his or her desk, then gets up and walks over to the desk of an absent legislator and votes again. You know, like the people who are registered to vote in both New York and Florida can. This time the vote was 45 ayes, 32 nays with four abstentions (total 77 votes, 4 abstentions). Now, granted the number of nays dropped by four, but “ghost voting”??

This spawned, as you can imagine, some outrage over at AR15.com, and this question came up: At what point do we fight?

First let me be clear.

It is not my intention to incite, propose a Turner Diaries solution or promote any violent activity on the part of anyone else.

But THIS generation has witnessed the 89 Import Ban, the 94 Crime Bill (including the various State versions which DO NOT sunset) and is now looking down the barrel of a Cali .50 Ban which could spread like a cancer to even the Federal level.

Some have witnessed the 86 MG ban and the initial restrictions of the 1968 GCA which gave us the unconsitutional “Sporter” clause.

So when do we stop permitting Representatives who don’t represent us and pass laws contrary to the Constitution?

Where do we draw the line in the sand? And when do we finally throw the tea in the harbor? If at all?

What are possible alternatives? Is there a way to turn it back?

Can residents of other states do anything besides just blame Cali residents?

And can anyone HONESTLY expect anyone with a family, good job, comfortable home and life to risk and sacrifice it all?

I don’t have the answers…

It is reminiscent of the the Pressing the “RESET” Button essay in this response:

I’ve already started.
There are plenty of laws I don’t obey. If I get caught for the smaller ones I’ll just suck up alittle slap on the wrist. If I ever get nailed for something big? I pity the person who puts his job in front of the U.S. Constitution. Will I win…no…but I damn sure will take some with me.

I know I know…the supreme court tells me what the constitution means…but ya know. I have a pretty good measure of common sense and I CAN read.

And this one:

(H)earing about “ghost” votes in CA is pushing me a lot closer. That is clear evidence of a tyrranical government.

I have the feeling I’ll be leaving this world the same way I entered it: kicking, screaming, and covered in someone elses blood.

There does appear to be a growing sense that Claire Wolfe‘s idea of “shooting the bastards” is becoming the only option.

At this time the discussion covers five pages of posts. Were I a legislator, I’d be paying attention to the grumblings of the populace.

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