I hate to be a fun-sucker, but...
Here is a prediction: If this get through and is added to F&W regs, the next year there will be a State Proposition amending the CA Constitution that will re-classify "BB devices larger than .177 caliber" as firearms..which will effectively do away with lead pellets for hunting and the thingies that we all use to quiet our airguns. The anti-hunters that got mountain lion hunting banned in CA will use the same tactics..lies..to turn the electorate against "BB devices" by using any of the thousands of YouTube videos of squirrels doing the "helicopter dance" and larger game animals running off after being hit.
Enjoy your "BB devices" while you can. :-(
Just sayin'. Flame away.
Thanks for your thoughts. Here are my thoughts on that possibility....
1. It's a very heavy lift to make a State Proposition to amend the State Constitution. Not hard for the CA legislature to pass something internal to the Legislature to propose to amend the Constitution or to recommend it be put on the ballot, but very hard to make a convincing case that it be passed, believe it or not. That is why Proposition 16 in 2020 did not pass in California, as an example (and it was a good thing it did not, though I believe if it had passed it would have been challenged in court and eventually overturned).
What was Proposition 16, you ask?
Proposition 16 was a
California ballot proposition that appeared on the November 3, 2020, general election ballot, asking California voters to amend the
Constitution of California to repeal
Proposition 209 (1996). Proposition 209 amended the state constitution to prohibit government institutions from considering
race,
sex, or
ethnicity, specifically in the areas of public employment, public contracting, and public education. Therefore, Proposition 209 banned the use of race- and gender-based
affirmative action in California's public sector.
The legislatively referred state constitutional amendment was originally introduced as
California Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 5 (ACA 5) by Democratic Assembly Members
Weber,
Gipson, and
Santiago on January 18, 2019. In June 2020, the
California State Legislature passed ACA 5 on a mostly party-line vote, voting 60–14 on June 10 in the
Assembly and 30–10 on June 24 in the
Senate.
The measure was defeated 57% to 43%.
Why was Prop 16 defeated? Because the Legislature could pass whatever it wanted on a party-line vote, but in having to submit it to the people to vote on, the people wouldn't support it because the Legislature was asking the people of California to support state-sponsored racism. For the same reason, hunting bans aren't even going to be introduced in the California legislature - whether by Constitutional amendment or by a standard legislative bill process (although California is happy to keep adding "gun control" bills every year). There are simply too many gun owners and hunters in California for that tactic to have any chance whatsoever. 2. It's rather easy for the Legislature in California to pass a law if it wants to. Technically speaking, if you watch the Legislature in California, they will in fact pass "anything." The question is, what is this "anything," and would they in fact bother to do away with lead pellets for hunting (and classify BB devices larger than a certain caliber as firearms)?
I don't think so, for the following reasons:
One, is that the proposal of mine was technically introduced five and half years ago (with a great deal of back and forth involving different legislators, some interested persons, Wildlife Resource Committee members, Fish and Game Commission members, and Fish and Game Commission staff), and formally was submitted for Commission review in May of 2021. In all of that time -- from when this process began until now - there was never a single legislator from the California government who expressed opposition to me personally or who appeared before the Commission to do so. And my regulatory petition was not the only one to ask for a method of take to be added to include larger / big bore BB devices be allowed to hunt animals in the state (for certain animals where currently that method of take is not allowed). During these years, for all this time, one thing did happen, however: SB 856 was passed at the State legislature rather recently and was signed into law Sept. 22, 2022, which had to do with wild pig. A previous iteration of that bill in a different legislative year didn't pass because of concerns of ranchers, if I recall correctly. This bill (SB 856) still drew objections of some hunters (including myself) and some ranchers, but managed to pass and become law. The point of me mentioning SB 856 however, was that an exemption was drawn into the bill that made obvious the intent of the Legislature - that the wild pig would be redefined from its current classification to that of an exotic game mammal effective July 2024, and that hunting of mammals
with firearms (those are the words of the bill, now law) with lead free ammunition would continue to be required, or implemented directly. You see the word "firearms." In California, BB devices are not defined as firearms, and legislators know this. Legislators had also been engaged multiple times on the issue in this legislative session and in a prior legislative session with a request to see if there would be a possibility of crafting an exemption for wild pig. Therefore, if legislators wanted to ban hunting with wild pig they would have done so during the finalization of the bill language for SB 856 (which became law in 2022), but they did not, because part of their legislative intent was to allow the bill to be passed and thus allow people with airguns to hunt wild pig without having to be constrained by lead-free ammunition regulation.
Still, though, even with SB 856 (2022) becoming law, this does not automatically allow people in CA to hunt wild pigs with airguns if you have a CA hunting license and a pig tag or validation when the pig validations come into effect. This is because the CA Fish and Game Commission must first approve big bore BB devices as a method of take for wild pig (since that doesn't yet show as an approved method of take for wild pig in Fish and Game Code) and then finalize implementation (which if they approve it would likely be finalized by July 2024, consistent with State law implementation for SB 856 (2022)).
If legislators were to change this in the future (if they were to change the law to make it so that BB devices above a certain caliber require lead free ammunition for hunting, for example), that would make it impossible for airgunners in the State to hunt pigs. As I pointed out in my December 2022 presentation to the Commission (from one of my slides in a multi-slide PowerPoint on this issue, which has been analyzed by the Commission now for over five and a half years),
"One manufacturer, LeHigh, makes a 0.50 caliber copper slug for BB devices, however, this is perpetually out of stock and there are not sizes made for big bore BB devices (in 0.357 or 0.457). The 0.50 caliber copper slug appears to be made only for BB devices in 0.510. This is at: https://lehighdefense.com/our-technologies/controlled-fracturing.html?all_firearm_type=2864 "
"The EcoSlug is even more limited as not only is it frequently out of stock for sometimes months at a time but it only is suitable for specific types of airguns - the EcoSlug is designed specifically for the Seneca / Sam Yang Dragon Claw .50 caliber. EcoSlug page: http://www.eco-slug.com/orderpellets.htm Finally, based on observations in the field from those who have used these lead free pellets or slugs with BB devices (and who have documented their experience), their report produces a loud crack, and so apart from the issue of having to clean tin fragments out of a barrel (a problem unique to lead free pellets or slugs), the noise is generally considered to be louder than a standard lead slug. More noise generated is less advantageous to a hunter." "
The Commission should therefore adopt the proposal without restriction on the type of slug or type of BB device since as technology advances (and as more ecological slug types enter the market), hunters using BB devices will adopt and adapt new available technology to their use." (copied as text from part of my December 2022 Powerpoint presentation to the Commission)
Note: There has - over the last five and a half years - been not a single legislator interested in this regulatory proposal, to my knowledge, except, I think that a part of my petition (part of my petition was to remove wild pig from big game classification and thus remove or reduce tag requirements) could not be done via regulation change - so it was mentioned by Commissioners a long while ago that this would have to happen via law if at all. I didn't like SB 856 (2022) (because of its mandates about what private property owners could and could not do with fencing and how it treats anyone who fences in or traps wild pigs as having an unpermitted "contained" wild pig "hunting preserve" - trying to put private property owners within the purview of DFW agents. I don't think that will work long term. But what SB 856 (2022) did do that I was glad of, was to remove wild pig from its current classification and redefine it as exotic game mammal effective July 2024.
The reason I mention this is
I don't think there is legislative support for changing airgun regulation to make it more difficult for airgun hunters to hunt (at least not wild pig, if airguns are approved as a method of take for wild pig) regardless of what their claim is for the reason. Wild pig are a huge problem in CA. Part of the reason for the proposal is adding flexibility and having more methods to deal with wild pig, not less. People are already hunting and are allowed to hunt, turkey, rabbit, and other animals with airguns in CA and haven't been required to use lead free. There's no reason to change that to require lead free now for BB devices just because hunting methods are expanded.
It's up to the Fish and Game Commission in February by State law, not the DFW, not staff, not legislators. Just the Commissioners. They decide, and usually follow staff recommendation - but public input carries a lot of weight. So, comment.
