Oceanside CA— The Oceanside City Council recently unanimously voted to send a letter to Rep. Mike Levin (D-San Juan Capistrano) requesting him to oppose H.R. 127, a proposed gun control bill introduced earlier this year before the U.S. House of Representatives.
The letter was signed by Oceanside Mayor Esther Sanchez, Deputy Mayor Ryan Keim and council members Kori Jensen, Christopher Rodriguez and Peter Weiss.
The letter requests Levin to vote against H.R. 127 because of its extreme measures to restrict gun ownership and it is a clear violation of gun owners’ privacy.
The letter stated: “As homicide rates in major American cities have spiked to astronomical levels this past year, increasing gun safety and preventing violent crime is more important than ever. Unfortunately, we believe H.R. 127 would have the opposite effect by reallocating valuable law enforcement resources toward a byzantine, cumbersome and duplicitous registration system that would focus on law-abiding citizens and responsible gun owners, the most likely individuals to actually register their firearms.”
If passed, H.R. 127 would establish a process for licensing and registration of firearms, prohibit the possession of popular self-defense ammunition, prohibit normal capacity ammunition magazines, establish a licensing system for the possession of firearms or ammunition, establish a registration system for firearms and establish a publicly-available database of all registered firearms.
In addition, the bill would create licensing requirements for the possession of a firearms and ammunition that would require all licensees 21 years of age or older to undergo a criminal background check and psychological evaluation by a government doctor, complete three days worth of certified training courses and pay an $800 fee for a government insurance policy. The bill would also ban many of the most popular civilian rifles sold in the U.S. today.
“It was important for me to introduce this to the Council,” said Rodriguez. “The Second Amendment and preserving the rights to keep and bear arms are a priority for Oceanside residents. As a Marine and as a member of the City Council, I swore an oath to protect the Constitution.”
The city council’s letter to Levin was supported by the San Diego County Gun Owners (SDCGO), a political action committee promoting Second Amendment rights.
“This is the most extreme, anti-gun law I have ever seen proposed,” said Michael Schwartz, SDCGO executive director, who spoke during public comment at the recent Oceanside council meeting. “This isn’t a common sense gun law. Rather, if passed, this would be a fundamental change to gun ownership across the nation.”
H.R. 127 was introduced by Texas House Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee. The bill, called the “Sabika Sheikh Firearms Licensing and Registration Act,” is named after an exchange student from Pakistan who was one of 10 people who died during a May 2018 school shooting at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas. H.R. 127 was introduced without a co-sponsor on Jan. 4, the second day of the congressional session.
Founded in 2015, San Diego County Gun Owners is a registered political action committee (FPPC ID #1379388) and advocacy organization focused on organizing the gun industry and community and protecting the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment right to bear arms. Based on its membership size of more than 2,600 individuals, SDCGO is considered San Diego’s largest registered PAC as well as civil rights organization. SDCGO features a diverse and inclusive membership with representatives from the LGBT, Latino, African American, Asian and Pacific Islander communities. While every U.S. state has a Second Amendment PAC, along with several nationwide gun rights PACs, SDCGO is believed to be the America’s first, strictly local, countywide Second Amendment advocacy organization providing news and information on new gun laws and expanding, along with expanding and restoring Second Amendment rights. For more information, visit www.sandiegocountygunowners.com.