Distinguished California Assemblyman Rod Wright: Speech on AB 23

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, members.

      I rise to voice my opposition to AB 23. Let me say, at first I wasn’t going to speak on the bill, but I was encouraged by the fact that a veteran Senator listened to the debate on this bill and actually changed his vote after hearing some facts. Ladies and Gentlemen, we only pass laws against people who obey the law. Drug dealers, bank robbers and rapists don’t care what we do because they willfully violate the law anyway. Have we seen a rash of crimes or accidents committed by law-abiding citizens with guns covered by AB 23? No! From the small simple small caliber to hi tech automatics, all of those when used as intended are lethal. To attack one style of gun, because its appearance makes it appear more deadly, is senseless. All guns are designed to kill. By definition, military assault rifles have the capability to fire either semi-automatically or automatically.

      Since 1934 all automatic weapons have been illegal in California; therefore, we don’t need this law because true assault weapons are already banned. We all saw the bank robbery in North Hollywood last year. Let me remind you the guns used in that crime were illegal. Problem is that since the criminals were going there to rob a bank they didn’t care that the guns that we said they were going to use to rob the bank were against the law. Bank robbery is against the law, shooting at police officers is against the law. Do you really think that after violating all these laws the criminals gave a damn that somebody said the gun you were going to use to rob the bank was illegal? They were bank robbers! Fortunately, though, AB 23 was not in effect at the time of that bank robbery because the police officers who responded to that call had to go down the street to a civilian gun store to borrow weapons which would have been banned under AB 23. The guns covered in this bill are actually replicas of military weapons. They do not have the same capabilities, and I know you’ve heard it’s easy to convert a civilian gun to a military gun. That’s not true. Not only is it not true, but the possession of the parts and equipment required to do that is currently a felony.

      Some of us drive sports cars, Porsche, Jaguar, Ferrari, whatever. Some of you have given them to teenagers. While it might look like a racecar, while you might drive it like a racecar, while you might think it’s a racecar; it is not a racecar! James Dean was killed in a Porsche. We didn’t ban sports cars or Porsches to memorialize James Dean. Clearly, you don’t need a sports car for basic transportation and since more people die in sports cars, by God, why don’t we ban them?

      We all saw the recent tragedy in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and it was indeed a tragedy. Let me point out that the guns used in that crime are not covered in this bill. They used standard hunting rifles, so since we have another tragedy where there was a loss of life, don’t you want to amend AB 23 to include those guns so we can ban them too? While episodes involving semi-automatic weapons are dramatic, let me point out that they are rare. Which is why you always see them in the news. Just as you see plane crashes in the news. Fact is, less than one percent of all homicides in this country are committed by the guns that are contained in this bill. And there is no evidence that any of those crimes would have been prevented with an assault weapons ban because I say to you that the victims would have been shot with something else.

      A high percentage of police officers are actually killed with their own gun. Either taken by a suspect or they commit suicide. In the last five years less than one percent of police officers have been killed with a gun covered under AB 23. Given this fact, why don’t we disarm police officers so we can save their lives? I have the solution to the gun violence in America, ban and confiscate everybody’s gun. Don’t let anyone have one. Forget the Second Amendment; forget the law-abiding citizens in your district. If AB 23 is logical, then this would make sure that everybody was safe and everybody would be right. There is a small problem with this solution though, the people of the State of California wouldn’t stand for it, and the United States Constitution wouldn’t allow it because after we passed that law guess who would still have guns? Violent crime in this State is at a 25-year low, while gun ownership is at an all time high. Instead of passing laws to make criminals out of law-abiding citizens, we ought to let some of the laws we have work and enforce them. We often see unintended consequences to some of the laws we enact, let me say that the Arkansas experience should serve as an example. The guns covered in that bill have less firepower than many standard-hunting rifles. This bill could actually cost lives because it would force criminals to purchase larger caliber guns that are not covered by the bill, making matters worse.

      I urge your no vote on AB 23 because social problems are never simple; it’s just banning something. If I thought that was true I would have banned ignorance a long time ago. Prohibition has never worked in this country; it has failed miserably as this one will as well. AB 23 won’t save lives. It won’t stop crime. It has the potential to make things worse.