Sometimes I feel like Democrats in the state legislature are producing a decades-long episode of Law & Order—er, make that Laws & Disorder. Just take a look at the thousands of bills introduced every year and it appears they were literally ripped from news headlines–just as Law & Order plot lines often are. Democrats’ bills make the strongest argument for a part-time legislature. They have way too much time on their hands and therefore just pick up a newspaper, read about some story and decide there ought to be a law.
The latest and most ridiculous example of this is Assemblywoman Norma Torres’ bill to make sure those who bring a firearm to the airport aren’t just detained and ticketed, but arrested. Her legislation is in direct response to Assemblyman Tim Donnelly’s Ontario Airport incident in which he accidentally brought his pistol to the airport. Granted, in this TSA-dominated day and age, that was not a smart move on Donnelly’s part. But accidents do happen. People who exercise their Second Amendment rights sometimes forget they have their weapon on them. On occasion, I’ve forgotten the pepper spray in my purse I use for personal protection and have actually made it through TSA. Do these oversights merit arrest? I don’t think so–especially not in a country founded on the principle that the right to bear arms cannot be infringed by government. Good, upstanding citizens should be given the benefit of the doubt in these matters. Torres’ legislation is so blatantly an attack on Donnelly, you could make a case it’s a bill of attainder. It seems if Democrats can’t beat the few Republicans who make it to the state legislature at the ballot box, they’ll have them arrested.
Serving as a legislator and servant of the people doesn’t give you the right to create a nanny state that seeks to prevent any possible mistake. Stop getting your ideas for laws from newspaper headlines. Examine what really would help the people of California most. Right now, that means stop wasting their tax dollars on frivolous legislation, cut spending, reduce regulations, cut taxes and get California’s economy moving again.