One of the biggest arrows that the progressive anti-freedom machine has in its quiver is propaganda. There’s no doubt that the lies and sensationalism from those forces that want to see us disarmed has a lot to do with negative views on firearms. How far will these pinkos go? A new law in California has the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms wagging their finger in the face of the Golden State. Rightly so!
“The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms says California’s new law requiring firearms dealers to provide gun buyers with a pamphlet warning about the dangers of gun ownership amounts to ‘legislative social bigotry,’” a release stated.
That section of the law, from Assembly Bill No. 1598, is as follows:
(a) The Department of Justice shall prepare a pamphlet in all of the languages described in subdivision (a) of Section 31640 that explains the reasons for and risks of owning a firearm and bringing a firearm into the home, including the increased risk of death to someone in the household by suicide, homicide, or unintentional injury.
(b) The department may solicit input from any reputable association or organization in the development of the pamphlet.
(c) The department shall design and make available on its internet website the pamphlet described in subdivision (a) in PDF or another imaging format to firearms dealers licensed pursuant to Sections 26700 to 26915, inclusive, to distribute pursuant to Section 26866.
(d) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2025.
When the bill was signed into law, Governor Gavin Newsom took a celebratory lap in a press release lauding 24+ anti-liberty bills enacted into law. “California won’t wait until the next school shooting or mass shooting to act. In the absence of congressional action, our state is once again leading the way by strengthening our nation-leading gun laws,” Newsom said. “Data shows that California’s gun safety laws are effective in preventing gun-related deaths — which makes the ongoing inaction and obstruction by politicians in the pocket of the gun lobby even more reprehensible.”
How a pamphlet is going to contribute to a safer California, Newsom did not express. Rather than come up with salient solutions to issues plaguing crime-ridden areas, California’s answer was to serve the people propaganda.
Alan Gottlieb, the Chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms had something to say about all of this.
“This new law, AB 1598, is just another effort by anti-gun Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom to discourage Californians from exercising their constitutional right to become gun owners,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “At what point do Californians tell lawmakers in Sacramento they’ve had enough of Democrats’ dishonest demagoguery? Demonizing guns is a deceptive strategy designed to fool people into believing something is being done to prevent violent crime, when the opposite is true.”
Gottlieb is right in pointing out the issues with the Kool-Aid on the left coast. Californians have been lied to far too long, and now forcing more lies upon prospective gun owners via government-mandated propaganda is a bridge too far.
“Why not force car dealers to provide a pamphlet to each customer, telling them about the dangers of driving,” Gottlieb wondered. “Owning a car, especially in California, is more dangerous than owning a gun. More people were killed in traffic accidents in 2023, the most recent year for which data is available, than from gunshot wounds that year. But nowhere in the Golden State are car dealers being forced to hand out pamphlets warning motorists that getting behind the wheel is hazardous to their health.”
Recent data shows that California had the most fatal car accidents in 2024 than any other state. In 2023, the most up-to-date data available, California saw 1,892 homicides, with no emphasis put on weapons used. That’s versus the 3,558 fatal traffic accidents in 2024.
“Why are Gavin Newsom and California lawmakers singling out guns instead of cars,” Gottlieb asked. “After all, gun ownership is protected by the constitution, but owning a car isn’t. If the Democrats who pushed this into law wanted to discourage owning something which is dangerous, they should have studied their own data. According to the Long Beach Press-Telegram, the state suffered 4,013 traffic fatalities in 2023 while The Trace said California logged 3,208 gun-related deaths for the same year, the most recent period for which data is available.”
Even when comparing the 2023 and 2024 data, there’s still a chasm that Newsom et.al. have to navigate over if they’re seeking to be honest.
“All this proves Gavin Newsom and his Democrat colleagues aren’t really interested in saving lives,” Gottlieb observed. “They’re interested in reducing gun ownership by discouraging people from buying guns, and forcing gun dealers to act as their surrogates in the process. It’s really pathetic.”
While this law came into effect on January 1st, 2025, a look at the California Department of Justice’s web page shows no new pamphlet. The law stipulated that this information shall be available to dealers, but did not differentiate if it should also be made public and not behind a gate. At the time of publication, there’s no mention of this information on the DOJ’s bulletin page.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that this is something coming from California. The problem is that the left coast is the progressive breeding ground for testing unconstitutional provisions. It’s not known if there are any forthcoming challenges from any of the Second Amendment groups or individual plaintiffs on this issue, but it certainly does seem to be violative of several provisions of the Constitution.
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