January 1, 2018, is an important date for Californians. It’s a date when many new laws go into effect throughout the country, but for California, there are two very interesting cases that warrant our careful attention.

For one, the controversial new laws regarding ammunition sales in the state went into effect, but with no vendors apparently having the proper licensing instituted in time. The NRA called on the state Attorney General to temporarily suspend enforcement of the new law until the state could pick up its own slack and get dealers the proper licensing.

The AG declined, and now people are sans outlets to purchase ammunition legally. I’m sure for some in the state, this is a feature, not a bug. However, that’s not what the law was supposed to do and it’s only a matter of time before the state finds itself in court for infringing on its residents’ Second Amendment rights.

However, it seems that the state had no problem handling the shift from medicinal pot to recreational use. None whatsoever.

Make no mistake, California isn’t allowing a free-for-all on the pot market. Reason.com referred to the new regulations as “heavy-handed,” for example. The regulations required to grow marijuana for the recreational market are plentiful.

Yet isn’t it funny that the state could implement regulations for the growing of marijuana for recreational use in plenty of time for the product to be on sale on January 1st, but not ammunition?

Make no mistake, this is indicative of the priorities of the state of California.

In their minds, it’s essential that people be allowed to engage in any and all hedonism in a timely manner. They never considered the possibility of not meeting any deadlines to make sure their people could buy marijuana legally by the time the law went into effect. After all, they figured, people have a right to ingest whatever they want.

But ammunition, a key component in our constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms? Nah. That’s not nearly a priority.

Once again, officials in the Golden State make it clear that they don’t consider your constitutional rights as important. Guns make them feel icky, so your right is practically nonexistent. They regulate guns as much or more than any other state in the country, make concealed carry permits almost impossible to obtain in many jurisdictions, and at best only pay lip service to your right to keep and bear arms despite Supreme Court rulings.

It’s challenging for gun folks there, to say the least.

Invariably, someone will say, “Move!” Believe me, I get it. Were I in that boat, I’d probably want to move as well, but let’s be honest here. People shouldn’t have to move in order to have their sacred rights respected. This is supposed to be universal, something that every state in the union does.

Yet California clearly sees your right to ingest a substance still deemed illegal at the federal level as far more important than to enjoy your constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms.

Doesn’t that just sum California up in a nutshell?