by Jason Stotts
The People’s State of California, in addition to being completely bankrupt, is now going to be forced to release thousands of prisoners.
California state and local officials, already reeling from budget cuts and public-safety layoffs, are struggling with a federal order to release about 40,000 inmates to reduce prison overcrowding and bracing for the impact on their communities. (WSJ, see also Reuters)
That means that while the state is cutting its police force dramatically, it is also going to release 40,000 prisoners. This, of course, is a great combination…for criminals.
At the same time, the state refuses to go to “Shall Issue” for Concealed Carry of Weapons (CCW) permits, and operates by “May Issue” at the discretion of the county Sheriff. Unfortunately, this is hardly any better than “No Issue” in many places. Some sheriffs even go so far as to deny any application for a CCW permit on the grounds of self-defense. For example, one of the bigger counties in southern California is Riverside County and their Sheriff has this to say in his CCW application packet:
VALID DEATH THREATS OR HARRASSMENT ARE THE ONLY CRITERIA WHERE ISSUANCE OF A CCW PERMIT WILL BE CONSIDERED FOR PERSONAL PROTECTION. THE RIVERSIDE COUNTY SHERIFF DOES NOT ISSUE PERMITS TO “PROVIDE A FEELING OF SAFETY” OR TO ALLEVIATE A “FEAR OF VICTIMIZATION”. (Riverside Sheriff’s Office) [Note: it appears in the original in all caps and bold]
What, then, is the function of being able to carry a concealed weapon if not for self-defense?
So, not only will there be thousands of criminals released, there will also be less police, and the citizens will not be able to exercise their Second Amendment rights to defend themselves. Looks like California is going to be a fun place to be very shortly.