If there was any doubt that the state of California had an issue with guns, that should be removed after this year. After all, California not only pushed through laws regulating the sale of ammunition but also ordered one of their agencies to come up with the relevant regulations…only to have the deadline missed. Now, it seems that the state won’t have rules in place for dealers to sell ammo on January 1, when the new law takes effect.

Enter the NRA’s Institution for Legislative Affairs, which issued a letter to demand a stay of enforcement of these new rules.

Last week, NRA and CRPA attorneys submitted a letter to California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and the California Department of Justice, Bureau of Firearms, requesting an official stay of enforcement of the new ammunition vendor requirements and clarification on the intentions regarding enforcement of the new law. Recent changes to California law require ammunition vendors, businesses that sell ammunition but who are not licensed to sell firearms, to be in possession of a valid ammunition vendor license by January 1, 2018 in order to continue selling ammunition in California. The law required DOJ to implement the necessary regulations no later than July 1, 2017, but DOJ failed to even propose the regulations until July 14, 2017. Those regulations are still pending, and likely will not be implemented until after the New Year as the Office of Administrative Law has until January 16 to render a decision. As a result, many ammunition vendors will remain in limbo on how to conduct their business beginning January 1 because of the failure to implement the necessary regulations in a timely manner.

The reality is that this shouldn’t even have to happen. There’s absolutely no legitimate reason to regulate ammunition sales…except that the state failed to listen to gun rights advocates when we told them time and time again that new gun laws wouldn’t prevent criminals from getting their grubby little paws on guns.

We told them, they ignored us, and now they think new rules on ammunition sales will make all the difference.

Good luck with that.

The NRA-ILA request is a solid one. They’re simply asking that vendors be able to conduct their business on January 1 due to the failure of the state government to do their part in a timely manner as prescribed by law.

For me, though, this just hits all of my buttons.

If you or I, just average citizens, failed to meet a deadline required by law, we’d likely be hammered. We’d face fines, prison, or whatever punishments the state could concoct for our oversight. Yet when the state screws up, what happens? Nothing. No one loses their job, no cut in funding, nothing. It’s like laws are merely suggestions. It’s a double standard, and like all double standards, it’s morally reprehensible.

Especially since, in this case, people’s livelihoods are at stake. People’s ability to feed their families and pay their rent is at risk, all because the state screwed the pooch.

But, then again, it’s California. Do you really expect them to care about any of that?