The Second Amendment Foundation and its partners in a federal lawsuit challenging California Penal Code § 26806 (SB 1384), have moved for a temporary restraining order to prevent the state from implementing this new Orwellian statute.
“On January 1, 2024, California will implement a mass surveillance regime designed to catalogue the faces, conversations, whereabouts, and shopping habits of millions of Californians engaged in constitutionally protected conduct.
This audiovisual recording scheme will operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year, without end. The private citizens commanded to implement this regime on California’s behalf will bear all the costs of constructing the state’s new Panopticon, which will penetrate thousands of private businesses and homes throughout the state. To call this prospect of perpetual government-mandated surveillance “Orwellian” is an understatement.
The law authorizing this egregious invasion of Californians’ constitutional rights is Cal. Penal Code § 26806 (SB 1384). Effective January 1, 2024, all dealers of firearms throughout the state will be required to install “permanent[]” and “fixed” cameras inside their premises, which must “continuously record 24 hours per day” all entrances, exits, firearm displays, and points of sale. § 26806(a)(2). These cameras must “clearly record images and … audio” to “allow for the clear identification of any person.” § 26806(a)(1), (2). Moreover, gun dealers must purchase, install, and subsequently maintain this surveillance infrastructure and its voluminous data at their own cost, “for a minimum of one year,” subject to state inspection, which may occur without limit. § 26806(a)(6). As Plaintiffs Complaint details, compliance is estimated to cost ordinary gun stores tens of thousands of dollars (each).
But to make matters worse, California additionally compels its newly commandeered camera operators to display a message of the state’s choosing on their properties(both commercial and residential): “THESE PREMISES ARE UNDER VIDEO AND AUDIO SURVEILLANCE. YOUR IMAGE AND CONVERSATIONS MAY BE RECORDED.” § 26806(c). Again, Section 26806 imposes its perpetual surveillance mandate on all gun dealers doing business in California”
SAF attorneys have also filed a memorandum of points and authorities supporting the motion, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
SAF is joined by the California Rifle & Pistol Association, Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners of California, the Gun Owners Foundation, On Target Indoor Shooting Range, Gaalswyk Enterprises and three private citizens. They are represented by attorneys C.D. Michel and Tiffany D. Cheufront, Michel & Associates in Long Beach, and Donald Kilmer, Kilmer Law Office in Idaho. Defendants in the case are California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Robert Bonta, in their official capacities.
The statute takes effect Jan. 1, 2024. The lawsuit contends its provisions violate the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, and 14th Amendments, as well as the California State Constitution.
“Our motion for the TRO is direct and to the point,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “We believe it is imperative to prevent this law from being implemented because of the serious constitutional issues at stake.”
“The various tenets of Penal Code § 26806 amount to an egregious violation of several constitutional rights, including free speech, privacy and the right to keep and bear arms,” said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “To impose what amounts to a mass surveillance regime in California is an afront to the rights of citizens across the state.”
SAF Move For TRO In Cal. Gun Dealer Surveillance Case by AmmoLand Shooting Sports News on Scribd
The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 720,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.
