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every one of us should be writing letters directly to Senator Yee and calling his office to complain about this. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be civil and respectful in the tone and content of your communication, but do not fail us and do not fail yourself in reaching out to let Sen. Yee's office know how you strongly you feel about this issue. Also please write a similar lettter to your local representative. just Google "California State Senate" and the city you live in to find your state senator.
post your letter on here to show that you actually wrote one and you are willing to take the time to take action to defend our rights!
Senator Yee's email address is: Senator.Yee@senate.ca.gov
his office contact info is:
Capitol Office
State Capitol, Room 4074
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 651-4008
San Francisco Office
455 Golden Gate Avenue,
Suite 14200
San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: (415) 557-7857
San Mateo Office
400 South El Camino Real,
Suite 630
San Mateo, CA 94402
Phone: (650) 340-8840
here's mine:
Senator Yee,
With all due respect I must impose on you to cease your efforts to promote SB 249. This bill would effectively outlaw AR-15 type rifles in their current legal configuration in the state of California, which I believe is your intent. The anti-gun lobby would have us believe that their restrictions would not interfere with the shooting sports, and that their only aim is to curtail the use of firearms in violent crime. This bill flies in the face of both of those claims. I am a competition shooter and the use of AR-15 type rifles is widespread in the sport I play and love, commonly known as 3-Gun or Multigun competition. This is an organized sport with the United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) as governing body. We have teams, we shoot matches on the weekends and we travel the nation participating in various USPSA competitions throughout the year. The current National Open Class USPSA National Multigun Champion is a Ventura county resident, and the current Limited Class USPSA National Multigun Champion is a resident of the East Bay Area. We are not criminals, we are sportsmen (and women). Your bill would put an end to our sport in the state of California as we know it and make criminals out of us for participating in an organized sporting activity that presents no threat whatsoever to the public. Therefore I am absolutely opposed to SB 249.
I am also a Criminologist, pursuing a PhD in Sociology from New York University, currently doing research for my dissertation on street gangs in LA County. As a Criminologist and nationally recognized expert on street gangs, I must inform you that there is absolutely no justification for your bill on crime-control grounds. Violent crime, particularly gun crime, has plunged in California and the nation since its peak in the early 1990's, to roughly its lowest level in recent history during the 1950's, this despite the worst economic calamity to strike the nation since the Great Depression. Not to mention, gang members do not care what the law is in procuring their weapons. The can freely cross state lines to purchase weapons, so your bill would have no effect on their activities either. As a gang researcher who regularly interacts with the gang-involved population throughout LA County, I can testify that I have not once in my research seen a gang member in possession of an AR-15 type rifle. I occasionally see AK-47 type rifles in gang members' possession, but they are always older models that were imported into the country in the 1980's and 1990's, and are never in a California-legal configuration with a bullet buton. Not to mention they have all been converted to full auto fire, violating Federal law as well. Gang members do not care what the law is, they do what they do regardless of the law. That's what makes them criminals. The people who would be hurt by your bill are honest law-abiding citizens like myself and my fellow sportsmen who just want to play our sport without interference from misguided legislators in Sacramento, like yourself. At the least, I beg you, please write in an exception for USPSA members so you do not put an end to the sport that law-abiding citizens have enjoyed for decades in our state.
Sincerely,
post your letter on here to show that you actually wrote one and you are willing to take the time to take action to defend our rights!
Senator Yee's email address is: Senator.Yee@senate.ca.gov
his office contact info is:
Capitol Office
State Capitol, Room 4074
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 651-4008
San Francisco Office
455 Golden Gate Avenue,
Suite 14200
San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: (415) 557-7857
San Mateo Office
400 South El Camino Real,
Suite 630
San Mateo, CA 94402
Phone: (650) 340-8840
here's mine:
Senator Yee,
With all due respect I must impose on you to cease your efforts to promote SB 249. This bill would effectively outlaw AR-15 type rifles in their current legal configuration in the state of California, which I believe is your intent. The anti-gun lobby would have us believe that their restrictions would not interfere with the shooting sports, and that their only aim is to curtail the use of firearms in violent crime. This bill flies in the face of both of those claims. I am a competition shooter and the use of AR-15 type rifles is widespread in the sport I play and love, commonly known as 3-Gun or Multigun competition. This is an organized sport with the United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) as governing body. We have teams, we shoot matches on the weekends and we travel the nation participating in various USPSA competitions throughout the year. The current National Open Class USPSA National Multigun Champion is a Ventura county resident, and the current Limited Class USPSA National Multigun Champion is a resident of the East Bay Area. We are not criminals, we are sportsmen (and women). Your bill would put an end to our sport in the state of California as we know it and make criminals out of us for participating in an organized sporting activity that presents no threat whatsoever to the public. Therefore I am absolutely opposed to SB 249.
I am also a Criminologist, pursuing a PhD in Sociology from New York University, currently doing research for my dissertation on street gangs in LA County. As a Criminologist and nationally recognized expert on street gangs, I must inform you that there is absolutely no justification for your bill on crime-control grounds. Violent crime, particularly gun crime, has plunged in California and the nation since its peak in the early 1990's, to roughly its lowest level in recent history during the 1950's, this despite the worst economic calamity to strike the nation since the Great Depression. Not to mention, gang members do not care what the law is in procuring their weapons. The can freely cross state lines to purchase weapons, so your bill would have no effect on their activities either. As a gang researcher who regularly interacts with the gang-involved population throughout LA County, I can testify that I have not once in my research seen a gang member in possession of an AR-15 type rifle. I occasionally see AK-47 type rifles in gang members' possession, but they are always older models that were imported into the country in the 1980's and 1990's, and are never in a California-legal configuration with a bullet buton. Not to mention they have all been converted to full auto fire, violating Federal law as well. Gang members do not care what the law is, they do what they do regardless of the law. That's what makes them criminals. The people who would be hurt by your bill are honest law-abiding citizens like myself and my fellow sportsmen who just want to play our sport without interference from misguided legislators in Sacramento, like yourself. At the least, I beg you, please write in an exception for USPSA members so you do not put an end to the sport that law-abiding citizens have enjoyed for decades in our state.
Sincerely,
