Gun Policy

California probably has the strictest gun laws out of all 50 states. I work in a gun store so I am quite familiar with these laws and as you can guess I feel CA gun laws are too strict. While these laws were made to keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people, I feel they don't do that. The people we should be worried about are not getting their guns through a gun store like most responsible gun owners do. They are buying them for people off the streets. I do agree with the laws that you have to pass a back ground check before purchasing a gun. This does help to eliminate any potential problems. I also agree that you must pass a safe handling test and written test to demonstrate you know how to properly use and handle a gun. With less and less police officers around to patrol cities I feel much safer knowing I don't have to rely on waiting for the cops to show up to protect me. I think more people should be prepared to protect themselves. I feel CA is too strict when it comes to distributing Concealed Carry Permits. Yes it is great that I can protect myself in my home but for me I don't spend much time at home. Most of the time I am out and about which would require me to have a Concealed Carry Permit to have my gun with me at all times. People who pursue their CCW Permits go through hours and hours of classroom and hands on training. By the end of their training they are highly proficient in safe gun handling and how to handle certain situations. But many people who go through these courses will be unable to get their permits because many counties refuse to issue them or extremely limit the quantity they give out. I feel much safe knowing that someone in the bank line next to me may be carrying concealed in the event of a hostile robbery. As far as when it is appropriate to use deadly force, I have to mostly agree with Ca Penal Code Sec. 197 which states the following:


197.  Homicide is also justifiable when committed by any person in any of the following cases:
   1. When resisting any attempt to murder any person, or to commit a felony, or to do some great bodily injury upon any person; or,
   2. When committed in defense of habitation, property, or person, against one who manifestly intends or endeavors, by violence or surprise, to commit a felony, or against one who manifestly intends and endeavors, in a violent, riotous or tumultuous manner, to enter the habitation of another for the purpose of offering violence to any person therein; or,
   3. When committed in the lawful defense of such person, or of a wife or husband, parent, child, master, mistress, or servant of such person, when there is reasonable ground to apprehend a design to commit a felony or to do some great bodily injury, and imminent danger of such design being accomplished; but such person, or the person in whose behalf the defense was made, if he was the assailant or engaged in mutual combat, must really and in good faith have endeavored to decline any further struggle before the homicide was committed; or,
   4. When necessarily committed in attempting, by lawful ways and means, to apprehend any person for any felony committed, or in lawfully suppressing any riot, or in lawfully keeping and preserving the peace.
 
198.  A bare fear of the commission of any of the offenses mentioned in subdivisions 2 and 3 of Section 197, to prevent which homicide may be lawfully committed, is not sufficient to justify it.  But the circumstances must be sufficient to excite the fears of a reasonable person, and the party killing must have acted under the influence ofsuch fears alone.
 
198.5.  Any person using force intended or likely to cause death or great bodily injury within his or her residence shall be presumed to have held a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily injury to self, family, or a member of the household when that force is used against another person, not a member of the family orhousehold, who unlawfully and forcibly enters or has unlawfully and forcibly entered the residence and the person using the force knew or had reason to believe that an unlawful and forcible entry occurred.
   As used in this section, great bodily injury means a significant or substantial physical injury