Constitutional arguments notwithstanding, not everyone is allowed to own or possess a gun. For instance, people under a certain age (16 or 18 — it depends) may not own firearms at all, and people under 21 may not own handguns. In California, there is an additional legal class of ‘prohibited people’ who cannot own or possess guns either.
You are a ‘prohibited person’ if you have been convicted of any felony or a violent misdemeanor. You are also a prohibited person if you are the subject of a domestic violence restraining order or have been deemed ‘mentally unstable.’ Those prohibitions aren’t necessarily a bad thing — no one could argue that the world is a better place because Adam Lanza or James Holmes had access to guns.
What IS a bad thing, is getting caught with a firearm if you’re a prohibited person. A bad thing, as in ‘convicted of a felony and incarcerated for years.’ It used to be that it was fairly hard to get caught, since the police weren’t exactly going door-to-door and searching for prohibited persons with guns.
It used to be. It isn’t now, though — now the police go door-to-door and search for prohibited persons with guns. The California Department of Justice has the “unique” ‘Armed and Prohibited Persons Program’ under which the a ‘special task force’ uses a computerized system to search five different databases for people who bought guns once but may no longer own those guns. New legislation passed today (March 7, 2013) just authorized $24,000,000 to hire 30 special agents, six supervisors, and an unspecified number of support staff to go door-to-door and search for prohibited persons with guns.
In other words, if you or someone you know has a gun and isn’t supposed to, GET RID OF IT. Get rid of it SOON, and get rid of it LEGALLY. Here’s how: call a local attorney of excellent repute and say “Hi, Mr. Applegate — I have some guns I need to get rid of and I need your help.” A skilled, knowledgeable attorney can help you execute a Power of Attorney that lets your lawyer legally take possession of illegal firearms right away, removing you or your loved one from harm’s way. Your lawyer can then help you legally transfer the firearms to a family member or legally surrender them to the police for destruction. With the right assistance, you can even legally sell firearms that you’re no longer allowed to possess and so turn potential hard time into real hard cash.
If you’re under the gun, you need a hired gun who can get you out of harm’s way. Give me a call; I can help.