Education

In this blog I would like to talk about hunter education. For someone that has no knowledge about guns and hunting is highly recommend to take a hunter education course. Many people have not had experience with guns or hunting, yet they say they are a horrible thing. Many of you would be in for an eye opener at one of these courses. I’m not saying one of these courses is going to change your mind, but you would certainly be more educated about the subject.

In a continued effort to reduce firearm accidents, the State of California requires all first time resident hunters, regardless of age, to complete hunter education training or pass a comprehensive equivalency test before purchasing a hunting license.

The California Department of Fish and Game conducts training throughout the state. Each year approximately 30,000 students complete the state’s ten-hour minimum hunter education course. Statistics show hunter education training is a success.

Hunting accidents of all types have declined substantially since the start of the program. The California Hunter Safety Program began on January 1, 1954 with the passage of the Davis-Abshire Hunter Safety Training Law. The initial law required all junior hunters to take a Hunter Safety Class prior to obtaining their first hunting license.

The course involves many different aspects of hunting and firearms including: learning about hunter responsibility and ethics, discover how firearms work and learn about firearm safety, improve your wildlife identification, game care, survival and first aid skills, develop firearm handling skills and hunting techniques, and increase awareness about wildlife conservation and management.

If these courses were mandatory for all our children to take we would certainly have fewer deaths by firearms. Statists show that these courses greatly reduce accidental death by firearms, but I feel it would also greatly reduce overall deaths caused by firearms.

California vs Nevada

The difference between California and Nevada gun laws will be discussed in this blog. The differences between these two states are overwhelming in terms of gun laws. As I mentioned in pervious blogs California has some of the strictest gun laws, and with this comparison you would agree that Nevada is much more lenient on gun purchases.



In Nevada, you may carry a loaded or unloaded firearm on your person without a permit so long as the firearm is fully exposed (known as "open carry"). An example of open carry is when a handgun is carried in an "outside the pants" hip holster. Full or partial concealment (such as a purse, jacket, etc.) is considered "concealed carry.” Clark County Nevada requires registration of handguns only. All other counties do not require registration of any guns. Clark County is the Las Vegas area, but all other counties in Nevada do not require registration of a handgun or a long gun. This means you cannot tie any gun to a single person in Nevada besides Clark County. With that said, Clark County only wants the handguns to be registered not long guns. Essentially, every long gun in Nevada does not have to be registered. Nevada also does not require a state waiting period. You are able to walk into a store and purchase a weapon, and walk out with that weapon that same day. There is no FBI “NICS” check for firearm transactions. The only check a firearm purchaser has to go through is the Nevada state system.



On the other hand, you are not able to carry a visible firearm on your persons in California. In order to carry a gun on your persons in California you must have a concealed weapon permit. This permit allows you to carry a firearm, but the firearm must be concealed at all times. Another difference between the two states is that you must register your gun at the time of purchase here in California. Also, you must wait ten days after you purchased your firearm in order for the department of justice to run a complete background check. After the ten days has expired and the background check has been completed you are able to pick your weapon up from the dealer. You have to go through the same process whether you are purchasing a long gun or handgun here in California.

As you can see from the above information two different states have completely different laws in regards to guns. It almost seems like we are talking about two different countries in terms of the differences on gun control. California is still in the process of making guns harder and harder to get, but the mere fact is these laws are just hurting the law abiding citizens.

References: http://www.leg.state.nv.us/

Assault Weapons

According to the California Attorney General, “effective January 1, 2000, Senate Bill 23, Statutes of 1999, establishes new criteria for defining assault weapons based on generic characteristics.” In simple terms, generic characteristics are based on what the gun looks like. Do generic characteristics on a gun cause more damage than the same gun without generic characteristics? No, they still operate the same, and have the exact same muzzle velocity as one another.

Assault Weapon shall mean any of the following:

A semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and any one of the following:

1. A pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon.
2. A thumbhole stock.
3. A folding or telescoping stock.
4. A grenade launcher or flare launcher.
5. A flash suppressor.
6. A forward pistol grip.

Here is a picture of a perfectly legal mini 14 that you could purchase in California.


Here is a picture of a mini 14 that you would not be able to purchase in California because of the thumbhole in the stock.


Here is a picture of a flash suppressor on a mini 14, which would not be eligible for purchase in California.


This is a picture of a mini 14 that has a folding stock, front and rear pistol grips, flash suppressor, and a 30 round detachable magazine. This gun could not be legally purchased in California, and it represents five generic characteristics of a mini 14.


The only difference between these pictures is obviously the looks, but they are the same exact gun. Having a mini 14 that has all these generic characteristics is no different than one that does not. The looks of these tricked out mini 14’s may scare some people who are not familiar with weapons, but the mere fact is they all operate the same.