Using the Orlando massacre as an excuse to pass more gun control bills, California lawmakers wasted no time, and spared no arrogance in passing new and old bills in legislative committees Tuesday.

Some legislators even dragged out old gun control bills to be reheard; bills which couldn’t pass in previous legislative sessions, and wouldn’t have made a bit of difference in the latest terror case.

Political opportunismwas on full display. Whether attempting to maintain politicalsupport among peers and special interest groups, or trying to increasepoliticalinfluence, Capitol lawmakers managed to disregard both ethical and politicalprinciples in doing so, as they set their sights on guns and not the deranged terrorists behind them.

Within 24 hours of the terror attack and shootings Sunday, which left 49 people dead in Orlando, Florida, President Obama, California lawmakers, and gun control advocates across the country called for beefing up the country’s laws on gunownership.

“At one hearing, Assemblyman Evan Low, D-Campbell, angrily confronted National RifleAssn. lobbyist Dan Reid, accusing his organization of being responsible… Read More

Triggers and Critters: I sometimes offer amendments on bills that come to the House floor from committees other than the those on which I serve. Such was the case last week when the Agriculture Appropriations bill came to the floor. Various other people offered amendments to reduce the spending in the bill by 5%, limit or eliminate subsidies, and otherwise save money. As you might suspect, I supported all such money-saving amendments. Unfortunately, most of them lost.

The amendment I offered reduced spending by $11 million, which is not much in an appropriations bill that proposed to spend $17.25 billion next year. The amendment would eliminate a program whereby the U.S. Department of Agriculture kills predators (wolves, coyotes and such) that threaten privately-owned livestock. The government kills these animals using methods such as shooting them from aircraft and putting out bait with cyanide capsules that explode in the animal’s face when it goes for the bait.

I thought there were a lot of good reasons to support this amendment:

1. It saves $11 million, all of which will be borrowed.

2. Why is it a taxpayer… Read More