In California right now, a “concerned family member” can call the police and claim that a law abiding gun owner is really a psychotic murderer bent on taking out a bus load of children. They they can watch gleefully as the police bust down that gun owner’s door and confiscate their firearms. The gun owner has no recourse available — there’s no contesting a “gun violence restraining order” until after the firearms have already been confiscated. Involved in a contentious divorce? There’s not much to stop your spouse from falsely claiming you’re a wannabe Elliot Rodger as filing a false report is only a misdemeanor, roughly the same as a parking ticket. It’s a nightmare inducing situation, one that a Republican senator is trying to fix . . .

California Assembly Member Melissa Melendez introduced AB225, a bill designed to re-write the “gun violence restraining order” statute, making knowingly filing a false report a felony in California, giving it more force and stiffening the penalties. It has only one section, and here are the meat and potatoes:

SECTION 1. Section 18200 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

18200. (a) Every person who files a petition for an ex parte gun violence restraining order pursuant to Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 18150) or a gun violence restraining order issued after notice and a hearing pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 18170), knowing the information in the petition to be false or with the intent to harass, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

(b) Every person who files a petition for an ex parte gun violence restraining order pursuant to Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 18150) or a gun violence restraining order issued after notice and a hearing pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 18170), knowing the information in the petition to be false, is guilty of perjury and punishable pursuant to Section 126.

It’s a common sense change, and Sen. Melendez is fired up about getting it done. She had the following to say via Facebook:

Gun control activists don’t care about what happens to gun owners. People like Shannon Watts applaud beating gun owners without reason. To them, that’s just #gunsense. So it’s no surprise that they want to be able to SWAT law abiding gun owners, causing them multiple thousands of dollars in legal fees, and possibly endangering their lives. Because they’re on the “right” side, and gun owners are — as we all know — “evil.”