On April 6, 2010, the Emeryville City Council will be hearing on second reading an ordinance that will require firearm vendors to obtain a permit from the Chief of Police that includes unlawful provisions, such as prohibiting those between the ages of 18 and 21 from entering a gun store where handguns are sold, and requiring a biannual inventory of all firearms possessed by the vendor.

This ordinance is a modification of the Legal Community Against Violence’s ("LCAV") model ordinance for firearm vendors. NRA/CRPA attorneys from the law firm of Michel & Associates, PC submitted a letter opposing the proposed ordinance.

Although self-defense civil rights advocacy groups have not taken an official position on Steve Cooley as a candidate for Attorney General of the State of California, the choice is obvious. In my personal experience defending hundreds of citizens accused of violating California’s hyper-technical gun laws, as District Attorney for the County of Los Angeles Steve Cooley has been reasonable and fair in administering the criminal firearm cases that I have litigated through the Los Angeles County court system. And he has refused to be recruited into the ranks of politicians passing feel-good-do-nothing gun control laws. Through his policies, Steve Cooley has reflected an understanding of the complexity of California gun control laws, an understanding for how easy it is to inadvertently violate one of these laws, a resistance to politicizing the prosecutorial process and sympathy for good people caught up by ill-conceived laws that do nothing to fight violent crime.

But even if he was much worse on these issues, the choice would still be obvious. As the points made below should clearly demonstrate, if elected as Attorney General, Kamala Harris would be a Second Amendment civil right advocate’s nightmare. She has absolutely no respect for the right to choose to own a firearm to defend yourself or your family, and no sympathy for those good people inadvertently snared by bad gun control laws.