Yet another California lawman came out forcefully against the state’s rampant targeting of the gun rights of law-abiding citizens.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco first expressed his satisfaction with the most recent court action concerning California’s sweeping law against gun possession in a host of locations.
The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals blocked SB 2 from being enforced as legal challenges proceed. It was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) amid much fanfare as well as criticism from Second Amendment advocates.
The governor’s office predictably called the appeals court ruling “dangerous” and claimed that it put lives at risk.
Despite the court action, Bianco told Fox News that state officials have misplaced priorities. “The fact about everything we’re doing taking away the gun rights and ownership and the (concealed carry rights) aspect of the whole thing — where you can carry and where you can’t — it flies in the face of what they do with criminals.”
The sheriff railed against what he called the “very pro-criminal stance” of state officials. “They blame law enforcement. They blame society. So, there’s never personal responsibility on someone’s criminal behavior. It’s always someone else’s fault.”
And, more often than not, the blame rests on an inanimate object — the firearm.
As for upstanding citizens “who have proven over their lifetime that they’re good, law-abiding residents,” they are criminalized. Bianco noted they are labeled a danger to society when they are legally armed in public. And he is not alone.
Also joining the chorus against gun control radicals is Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood. In a recent statement, he blasted SB 2 as “an all-out attack on firearms and people who legally possess them.”
Youngblood said his office will not “criminalize” concealed carry firearm license holders. He added a question for California leaders: “How many CCW holders used their ability to conceal a firearm to commit illegal shootings?”
