I was reassigned to CA last summer and I can definitely see a difference in the perception of firearms between here and Utah and Arizona, which were the other states in which I'd been stationed recently. It was tolerated, if not encouraged, on a certain level in both states, but here in CA even in relatively rural Kern county the perception of gun ownership isn't really all that positive. I wonder at times if this is because even shooters have been forced to live under these crazy laws for so long that they're just willing to deal with them and never hope for more, or if it's just a general belief that what CA legislates must be right. I don't think it's the latter as most CA residents are fed up with the crazy legislation on many different fronts.
I don't necessarily believe that the "As goes CA goes the rest of the country" is the real answer. Instead, I believe it to be a factor of urbanization and population density. If you look at areas with very restrictive gun ownership, they tend to be urban plain and simple. While CA may have given us (nationwide) some gems like an AW ban, magazine limit, and waiting period, you can also see these in most other heavily urbanized states.
Take away a recreational shooting base by building up on all the land and this is what you get.
I think it may come down to the fact that the DOJ is going to hold on to the receivers as "evidence" in their pending case. If not, then you gave them a hell of an idea if they read this, Scott.
This whole "CA AR" business over the last few months has shown that there are a lot of people in CA who were interested in getting a receiver for a build of some sort - one source estimated over 5,000 receivers entering the state since the end of December over on arfcom. Is there a shooting base here still? Yes, in some areas, but go to almost any organized shoot and the vast majority of shooters are overweight middle aged white males. Is this helping to broaden the base and potentially let us work against this perception that gun ownership = Dale Gribble?
Let's hope that the DOJ's interpretation of CA law is proven to be wrong in the courts.