The National Rifle Association (NRA) reports that it is backing new legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Curt Hagman that would repeal AB-962, the ammunition and gun registration bill signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in mid-October.

Hagman’s repeal attempt will come as an amendment to his previously filed pro-gun measure, AB-373. The newly amended AB-373 will be heard in the state legislature in January 2010.

AB-962, sponsored by Assemblyman Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), is being hailed by anti-gunners as a major victory. It takes effect Feb. 1, 2011 and mandates that individuals purchasing ammunition be fingerprinted and registered by the retailer at the time of sale and outlaws mail order ammunition purchases. It also requires dealers to maintain these records indefinitely and make them available for inspection by the California Department of Justice. In addition, ammunition retailers will also be required to store ammunition away from purchasers.

While Schwarzenegger signed AB-962, he vetoed SB-585, a bill that would have prohibited the sale of firearms and ammunition at gun shows in the Cow Palace in Daly City, just outside of San Francisco. He also signed Senate Bill 175, which will exempt gunsmiths from a vague California law.

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Congress nixes CBP knife ban

Knife rights advocate Doug Ritter and his KnifeRights.org are among those celebrating the late October approval of the 2010 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill Conference Report by the United States Senate. That conference report includes an amendment that protects the use of pocketknives, reversing a controversial reclassification proposed earlier this year by the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP).

CBP officials had quietly proposed a new interpretation of the 1958 Switchblade Knife Act which would have classified all assisted opening pocket knives as switchblades—and made them illegal to import. That ruling would have made such knives illegal to own or manufacture in most of the United States. Nearly 80% of all knives sold these days would fall in the assisted opening category.

A week earlier, the House had approved the conference report.

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