Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

I received an interesting letter today from the California Dept. of Justice. Its apparently being sent to FFL holders all over the country saying that, as of July 8 2008, any FFL who wants to send a gun to an FFL in California has to submit a request for a verification approval number. The copy of that paperwork must then be included with the gun at the time of sale. From their letter “The verification number…..confirms that the intended recipient of the firearm shipment is properly licensed and listed in the state’s database of persons/entities authorized to receive firearm shipments.”

Now, lets ignore the absurdity and potential legal challenges to this for a moment. Lets focus on the result of this. The result will be that many FFL’s will simply not want to put up with the hassle and will not ship to California. So, what does Econ 101 tell us about the price of a good when its supply is reduced and demand is not reduced. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Yes, the price goes up.

So, if you’re in California (and if you are then I really feel for you but no more than I would for, say, a person who stays married to someone who beats them) and you were planning on buying a couple new thundertoys you may wanna accelerate your purchasing timeline before the local prices start heading north.

For those interested, the cite listed in the letter is CA Penal Code Section 12072(f)(1). The name of this miscarriage of justice is “California Firearms Licensee Check Program (CFLC)”.

If, as this letter says, it prohibits FFLs from shipping to CA FFLs without approval it may leave a ‘loophole’ – non-FFL’s can ship guns to an FFL without any problems. Go figure.

And a special Sarah Brady Award to the state of California for finding yet another way to screw over the gun owning residents.

The writing is on the wall, kids. Whether you act upon it is up to you.

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Im still getting caught up on my ‘civillian’ life after being out of town for the last week or so. Lotsa stuff piling up at work and no shortage of stuff to deal with at home. Still, you make time for the important stuff, y’know? So I’ll be doing some gun cleaning and bunker neatening over the next week. Im already thinking towards winter and with fuel prices doing what they are, its not going to be too early to start getting the place winterized…new screen doors, thermal wraps for the water heaters, etc, etc.