NRA-ILA | California: Committee Considering Banning Body Armor & Increasing Firearm Marking Violation Penalties

On Tuesday, February 28^th, the Assembly Committee on Public Safety will hear Assembly Bills 92 and 301, to ban body armor, and Assembly Bill 97, to impose excessive penalties for violating California’s law regarding firearm markings. Please contact committee members and urge them to OPPOSE AB 92, AB 301, and AB 97. 

Assembly Bill 92 and Assembly Bill 301 ban citizens from delivering or taking possession of body armor, with exceptions for those in “eligible professions.” Existing federal and California state laws already prohibit violent felons from possessing body armor, with limited exceptions for employment. Law-abiding citizens own body armor for the same legitimate purposes as professional users: to protect themselves from violent criminals and for increased safety during various forms of firearm training. Access to body armor, which is freely available from all over the world due to advances in materials science, is essential for Americans to exercise their Second Amendment right to self-defense. Bans only leave law-abiding citizens defenseless to criminals, who by definition, ignore the law.

Assembly Bill 97 increases penalties for violating California’s law on serializing home-built firearms and buying, disposing, possessing, etc., any firearm with the manufacturer name, model designation, or serial number altered or obliterated, from misdemeanors to felonies. The existing California law already goes above and beyond federal law in regulating markings on firearms. These penalties are for mere possession, which could cause otherwise law-abiding citizens, without any criminal intent, to permanently lose their Second Amendment rights.

Again, contact committee members and urge them to OPPOSE AB 92, AB 301, and AB 97.