From: Carl Payne (cpayne@hemi.demi.net)
Date: Sun Apr 28 2002 - 12:18:02 PDT
On Sat, 27 Apr 2002, Stephen L Dussetschleger wrote:
> Wow, glad I live here in Peaceful Missouri & don't spend that much time
> worrying about it. Could drive you nuts thinking about ALL the possible
> scenarios out there. Course, maybe its just a California thing to spend
> that much time dwelling on all the possibilities of "What if "
In California, we have a unique perspective on things getting taken away
from us. Largely due to political "concerns," we've had things up and
disappear at such an alarming rate it's pathetic.
I've lived in half a dozen of the Contiguous States, including Opolis, KS
(not far from Joplin, MO), and I can appreciate why you might say Jack's
statement is overkill or worry-warty. However, consider some of the stuff
we've dealt with in the last 5-10 years:
Legislation outlawing laquer thinner. Oh, and enamel reducer. This makes
painting a vehicle (boat, Tauntaun or otherwise) a task that considers
exodus to Nevada.
Legislation repealing the law on the above. Took PPG, Smart & Final and
Ford Motor Company to turn that one around. While it was outlawed,
bootleg reducer went for something like $30 a gallon.
Legislation outlawing lighter fluid. Seriously. Want a barbecue? You
need a funky chimney thingie. Well, it turns out the chimney thingie is
superior to lighter fluid, but it takes a cigarette company to repeal it.
Legislation DESIGNED to revoke a person's right to property. This
legislation forgets all about the vehicle code statute that begins, "The
State of Californai deems that the recreation of its citizens is most
paramount," and attempts to limit the number of vehicles a person can own.
MTBE. For those of you outside CA, MTBE was some asshole's idea to
oxygenate fuel and reduce emissions. Turns out, it does nothing for
emissions, but does do a wonderful job of shutting down 7 of Southern
California's water wells, including Santa Monica's, forcing them to buy
water from municipalities outside SoCal. Rather than outlaw MTBE, Komrade
Davis continues to let us get SOAKED at the pump for $.67 a GALLON in
state taxes to feed a bond measure to clean up the MTBE waste in 2007!
Until then, we get crap gas, no local drinking water and continued MTBE
pollution. Thanks, Dem's!
Do I even open up the gun control issue? Suffice to say, legislation that
legally defines what an assault rifle is got overturned when gun makers
complied with the ruling and took away those traits. Now, it's an
ambiguous, "Or anything like it" law.
Prop 187. I'm trying hard not to explode on this one, so I'll keep it
simple. Proposition 187 passed, the people wanted it, and the next
business day a judge ruled it "unconstitutional." Great, so why do we
vote again?
No gun shows in LA County ever again.
No "collector" vehicles without full registration and insurance. Get
caught with a classic riding on it's MSO? It gets towed. I've seen it
happen.
SB42 took TEN YEARS to get passed, a bill that allows cars 30 years old or
older to be smog exempt. This took all but an Act of God because it was
widely perceived (not to jab, but honestly, by the hard-left) that old
cars were the reason CO emissions were as ridiculous as they were in CA.
Come to find out, cars older than 20 years make up less than 1% of the
total count, and accounted for less than 5% of the vehicular emissions.
It didn't take a rocket surgeon to figure out they could get *_40%_*
reduction in emissions with the same screws tightened on late-model
vehicles for the same dollar spent fighting the classic crowd for their
piddly 4% overage.
In California, and particularly in Los Angeles, we have unnecessary
restrictions on vehicle ownership, firearm ownership *AND* use,
recreational vehicle usage, camping, assembly, noise (why are Go-peds
legal after 10PM but Megadeth isn't?), gardening equipment, property
facade, tree trimming, radio programming, local television network
reception on DSS and a host of other BS.
Now, while I'm not in a hurry to join Jack in some kind of lobby, I do
share his want to INFORM everyone else that it's Not Too Far Fetched(tm)
to have the MV hobby punctured by politicians of right and left wing whose
knee-jerk reactions address a tiny fraction of people to give up a tiny
fraction of possible future-crime-weapons. Because, after all, in
California, it's still legal to:
--Buy 9" - 18" edgeware (with a lifetime sharpness guarantee) at any age
--Buy a sword
--Buy freon, matches and Clorox (do the math)
--Buy a car at age 16 (a 3000# piece of steel that moves at a conservative
80+ MPH controlled by a human being with enough money to get one but not
enough emotional stability to overcome their puberty and refrain from
Taking Out the 15-year-old who bilked them)
--Register a car without insurance (First-time. Renewing requires it.)
--Get pregnant and collect welfare at age 14
--Smoke in public ("Hey, screw you, it's my RIGHT, and that means more
than your right to breathe clean air!")
--Buy gasoline and alcohol in the same place
--Get a drivers license after having yours multi-revoked for DUI / 502
--Drive to and from work with a suspended or revoked license if you are
the head-of-household and work 20+ miles from home
--Have a stereo so loud you can't hear the sirens
--Sue the City for hitting your car with a fire truck
--Sue the County for taking you to a hospital outside your church's area
--Sue the State for not cracking down on unlicensed drivers
--Conceive while incarcerated
--Watch cable while incarcerated
...Jesus, I could be here all day! The point is, we need to watch out for
each other and what we hold dear. That pause as They "come calling" is
all the time it'll take for them to build momentum in a case againt our
hobby. Be ready to divert them.
After all, a bullet's path is deflected more by a raindrop at the muzzle
than at the target.
Carl
e pluribus unix
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Tue May 21 2002 - 23:25:52 PDT