Dear Assembly_________________________:

As a constituent of this great state, I urge you to oppose AB 2062. The passage of this bill would cause business failures, impact unemployment and severely curtail families attempting to teach responsible firearms handling to their children. It would burden the state fiscally yet would do nothing to address crime.

Sporting goods stores depend on the sales of ammunition as a large percentage of their revenues. Restricting gun owners to purchases of no more than 50 rounds of ammunition a month would potentially cripple ammunition retailers, causing some businesses to fail, ultimately impacting unemployment. Requiring employees to have background checks would generate tremendous amounts of paperwork for the state and further restrict the sporting goods stores' ability to serve their customers when background-checked employees are not available due to illness, lunch breaks, etc. Furthermore, how will sporting goods store licenses and employee background checks lower the crime rate or put criminals in jail? How will it lower the crime rate to thumbprint me when I buy ammunition?

The passage of AB 2062 would impact me and my family. I am an avid outdoor enthusiast and environmentalist just getting into sport shooting; it would eliminate my right to practice and shoot competitively. Plinking cans is a time honored family 'fun' recreation that teaches children gun respect and responsible firearm handling. A typical twice monthly practice session would use approximately 800 rounds for a family of four. Since children cannot purchase ammunition, such practice sessions would be limited to 25 rounds per person once a month. As parents, it is our responsibility to teach our children how to safely use firearms to eliminate accidental shootings. Would you allow your 16 year old child to drive a potentially lethal car with no training? With the passage of this bill, the next generation will be uneducated gun owners. Is that not a scary thought and a crime unto itself?

The passage of AB 2062 would require a massive amount of paperwork to track law abiding citizens' ammunition purchases, sporting goods stores' retail ammunition licenses and employee background checks. Such a database could rival that of the DMV and would require the same fiscal responsibilities of staff, database licensing and maintenance, further taxing our already overburdened state. Yet for all that money spent, nothing in this bill addresses the murder rate, the crime rate or criminals who utilize firearms in their illegal pursuits. Criminals would purchase ammunition out of state, get it from other criminals or steal it. Is there anyone naive enough to believe that any part of this bill would stop crimes where guns are used? What happened to "Use a gun, go to jail?" We should enforce the multitude of laws that remove guns from the hands of criminals who do not have the legal right to own them. Instead, AB 2062 serves only to further erode law-abiding citizens' lawful rights to ownership of any kind of firearm. We should not be the target.

Do you have a security detail? As a responsible gun owner, I am likely as well trained as anyone on that detail. All gun owners should have every opportunity to learn how to use their guns responsibly for the safety of you and your constituency. Should we not have the same rights to protection you do?

In this election year, please oppose AB 2062. Thank you for your consideration,

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