"We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution." -- Abraham Lincoln
Despite the generally-held view that 2nd Amendment Rights are a lost cause in California, gun rights activists across the country have much to be proud of with their fellow supporters in the Golden State. With the defeat of every gun control bill in the State Legislature in 2010, including the highly-controversial Open Carry ban bill, AB 1934, 2nd Amendment advocates on the West Coast and all across the nation can celebrate the new-found momentum and renewed vigor with which Californians approach the subject of gun rights in this modern era. Following the national trend of the gun control lobby's dramatically diminishing relevance in modern American poltics, the decades-long encroachment against every common, law-abiding citizen's 2nd Amendment Rights in the Golden State has been stopped cold in 2010 and striking progress forward is being made this year in 2011.
A brilliant example of this sudden turn-around in 2nd Amendment advocacy in California occurred recently in the small City of Pleasant Hill, a Bay Area suburb with a population of 33,000. At 7:30 PM on the nondescript Tuesday night of April 26, 2011, a large contingent of 2nd Amendment supporters in California packed the City Hall of Pleasant Hill until it was standing room only to protest the back-door attempts by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and their legal affiliate, the Legal Community Against Violence, to push tax-paying and law-abiding gun dealers out of the city in a concerted effort to force an unpopular gun control agenda down the throats of the local community.
Had it not been for the efforts of Pleasant Hill resident, Wendy Lack, San Francisco Bay Area residents would have been largely unaware of the developments that were progressing beyond the scope of public disclosure. In an article published in Halfway to Concord, Lack describes how, "Over the past several months City of Pleasant Hill officials have been quietly planning to adopt new regulations to limit firearms and ammunition sales in the City." Lack continues:
During the past six months Pleasant Hill City Council members and City Council candidates were contacted by Karen Arntzen from the California Brady Campaign, a 501(c)3 organization seeking to reduce “gun violence” and “educate the public about gun violence through litigation, grassroots mobilization, and outreach to affected communities.” During this period Arntzen made contact with City officials – and met with Councilmembers David Durant and Michael Harris – for the purpose of discussing new regulation of firearms and ammunition sales in Pleasant Hill.
On February 7, 2011, the City Council approved Mayor David Durant’s request to form an “ad hoc” Public Health and Safety Subcommittee (“Safety Committee”), composed of Durant, Councilmember Michael Harris, City Manager June Catalano, and Police Chief Peter Dunbar or his designee “when needed.” At that Council meeting the Safety Committee’s role was established to “advise the Council, make recommendations on future programs and policies, or suggest revisions to existing programs.”
Ad hoc committees are not subject to California Brown Act open meeting rules, enabling public officials and staff to meet privately without notice, agendas, meeting minutes or public input. Ad hoc committees, by definition, convene for a limited period and have no “continuing subject matter jurisdiction.” Since formation of the Safety Committee, questions have arisen regarding whether the ad hoc designation was made properly. Suspicions remain whether the ad hoc designation was used as a procedural ruse, to allow consideration of controversial firearms regulations outside of public view.
With Lack's assistance, community organizer, Alany Helmantoler, was able to provide this information to local gun rights groups regarding this unconstitutional proposal and bring to light the fact that two local businesses would be negatively impacted by these newly proposed regulations. Diablo Valley Gun Works has been a local business and pillar within the Pleasant Hill community since 1978. During the 33 years that Diablo Valley Gun Works has been in business, there has never been a problem with violent crime stemming from the retailer's business or location. Although City Arms, LLC has only been in business in Pleasant Hill for approximately one year, there has not been any issues regarding violent crime stemming from that location either.
When local 2nd Amendment groups caught wind of these anti-gun developments that were occuring in Pleasant Hill, they quickly spread this news to their members and a rapid response was coordinated to present the gun rights side of this debate to the City of Pleasant Hill's Planning Commission. Representatives from Responsible Citizens of California, Nor Cal Open Carry, Contra Costa Open Carry, the East Bay Tea Party, and Calguns attended the public hearing on Tuesday night to express their opposition to these new gun-restriction proposals. In addition, citizens from all over the Bay Area including San Jose, Santa Clara, and Lafayette attended the public hearing to voice their opposition to the proposal. All told, there were 113 concerned citizens packed into the public hearing room at Pleasant Hill's City Hall with many more congregating in the waiting area of the lobby. Only four of them represented the gun control side of this issue from the Brady Campaign and LCAV. The room and lobby were so full of 2nd Amendment supporters that Pleasant Hill Planning Commission Chair, James Bonato, offered to open up a room televising the public hearing downstairs to comfortably seat the overflow.
Of the 113 concerned citizens in the room, a total of 60 filled out cards to comment on this issue. 56 of these 60 wishing to comment indicated that they wanted to stand up to defend their 2nd Amendment Rights and to speak out against the new gun restriction proposals (a ratio of 14 to 1).
Among the first to address the Planning Commission was Wendy Lack, the author of the Halfway to Concord article mentioned above. She calmly and coolly testified about the threat to liberty that this proposal will create and emphasized the importance of running a transparent local government that did not cater to special interest groups behind closed doors.
Community organizer, Alany Helmantoler, had the opportunity to speak twice to the Planning Commission. The first time, she addressed the Brown Act violations that Pleasant Hill Mayor, David Durant, and City Council Member, Michael Harris, committed when they formed an Ad Hoc Committee and met with the Brady Campaign and the LCAV behind closed doors. Her second chance in addressing the Planning Commission was to express her opposition to the new gun restriction proposals.
Responsible Citizens of California Press Secretary and the author of this article, Yih-Chau Chang, formally registered his organization's opposition to these new zoning ordinances being proposed.
Dale Paris, President of Contra Costa Open Carry, weighed in with his organization's opposition during the public hearing as well.
In addition, a number of highly-qualified representatives from the Calguns organization spent a great deal of time and energy in presenting their viewpoints against these back-door deals made between the Brady Campaign and Pleasant Hill City Council Members as well.
From the East Bay Tea Party, Heather Gass, spoke to the Pleasant Hill Planning Commission to oppose the underhanded tactics of the Brady Campaign and LCAV.
In addition to representatives from these 2nd Amendment Rights groups, a multi-racial group of concerned citizens with varying socio-economic and educational backgrounds within the Bay Area community spoke to the Pleasant Hill Planning Commission in opposition to these new zoning ordinance proposals.
For instance, this US Marine considered it to be an act of fulfilling his oath and duty to uphold and defend the US Constitution by speaking out against this back-door proposal.
In another testimony, a resident from the ever-progressive City of Berkeley found the Brady Campaign and the LCAV's actions to be so distasteful that he had to drive down to Pleasant Hill to express his vehement disapproval in front of the Planning Commission.
In addition, several senior citizens who were concerned about the infringement of the 2nd Amendment Rights and their own personal security while in the City of Pleasant Hill expressed their opposition to the Brady Campaign-inspired proposal as well.
With the interest of personal security in mind, a small woman also stood in front of the Planning Commission and spoke out in the name of liberty and self-defense against this proposed zoning ordinance.
A Veteran of Foreign Wars representative also took the opportunity to stand up and address the Planning Commission to express his disapproval of this back-door LCAV proposal.
In addition, a disabled man also spoke to the Planning Commission regarding his support for the 2nd Amendment and how he relies upon his basic and fundamental right to keep and bear arms in self-defense should he ever be attacked.
As a character reference and testament to model nature of Diablo Valley Gun Works as a business enterprise, the landlord for the law-abiding gun dealer spoke to the Planning Commission on their behalf.
As the public hearing continued until 10:53 PM, there were a myriad of other testimonies offering the legal ramifications as well as the illogical reasoning behind imposing additional gun regulations on these honest businesses within city limits. Positive character references for Diablo Valley Gun Works were also very common.
But, perhaps the most powerful and compelling testimony offered to the Pleasant Hill Planning Commission came from the woman who runs Diablo Valley Gun Works with her husband, Ken. Choking back the emotion in her voice, she told the Commissioners about how the infringement of her sister's 2nd Amendment Rights led directly to her sibling's death.
After hearing almost two-and-a-half hours worth of testimony decrying the back-door dealings of the Brady Campaign and the LCAV with members of the Pleasant Hill City Council, the Planning Commissioners asked a few clarifying questions of the city staff regarding these proposed zoning ordinances that would negatively impact local law-abiding gun dealers. After some public deliberation, the Pleasant Hill Planning Commission wisely decided against moving forward with this unconstitutional proposal inspired by the Brady Campaign and LCAV behind closed doors.
After the Pleasant Hill Planning Commission's decision was announced, the concerned citizens in the audience broke out in a flurry of supportive applause. From beginning to end, those in the Planning Commission and especially the four gun control advocates who showed up from the Brady Campaign and LCAV were very surprised to see the level of concerned citizen involvement regarding this back-door proposal that would negatively impact law-abiding small businesses within this Bay Area community. This level of public support against anti-gun policies was not something they had seen before, especially not on a local level.
What they failed to realize is that, Americans, in general, possess a basic sense of fair play. When national-level special interest groups converge behind closed doors to push the little guy out of his own local community in order to force an unpopular political agenda down the throats of the general public, this is seen as nothing short of an outrage. Californians, in particular, are tired of being marginalized for doing nothing more than exercising their basic and fundamental civil right to keep and bear arms in accordance with the 2nd Amendment. Common, law-abiding gun owners all across the Golden State are waking up to unconstitutional infringement of their 2nd Amendment Rights and are rising up to speak out against those in the anti-gun establishment who would seek to not only deny them of their enumerated rights but also demonize them for exercising that most basic of all human rights--the right to self-defense.
On April 26, 2011, those voices of common, law-abiding Californians were heard loudly and clearly by those in their government. And it is that victorious American tone that echoed inside the Pleasant Hill City Hall in California that defines the phrase, "Of the People, By the People, and For the People" that all gun rights activists across the country can be proud of. 2nd Amendment supporters wishing to thank the members of the Pleasant Hill Planning Commission can do so with the contact information provided here in this link.
That being said, 2nd Amendment supporters should not believe that this issue has been completely resolved just yet. The Pleasant Hill City Council has the option of rejecting the Planning Commission's recommendations on this matter. When the City Council convenes in June to discuss this proposed zoning ordinance further, all citizens' rights groups should play close attention to their vote to ensure that this victory for all common, law-abiding Californians established on April 26, 2011 remains intact.
Comments