{"id":117247,"date":"2026-06-10T07:11:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=117247"},"modified":"2026-06-10T07:11:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:11:36","slug":"117247","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=117247","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

The Problem with California’s Proposed Training Requirement for Gun Purchases<\/a><\/p>\n

The first bit of advice any new gun owner is likely to receive is that they should go out and seek training on how to handle their firearm safely. It’s not about tactical excellence or anything like that; it’s about making sure they don’t hurt themselves or someone else because they didn’t know what they were doing with the weapon in their hands. That’s avoidable, and we absolutely should continue to tell people to get proper training.<\/p>\n

But, as with most things involving firearms, there’s a difference between good advice and the government deciding to mandate something.<\/p>\n

There’s a bill under consideration in California that would\u00a0mandate training prior to gun purchases.<\/a><\/p>\n

Buying a gun in California could soon require more than passing a written test.<\/p>\n

State lawmakers are advancing a bill, Senate Bill 948, that would require firearm buyers to complete a four-hour safety training course, including live-fire exercises at a shooting range.<\/p>\n

California already has some of the strictest gun laws in the country. Before buying a firearm, gun owners must pass a written safety test to obtain a firearm safety certificate.<\/p>\n

Luis Lopez, a new gun owner, said the proposed law would add another hurdle for people trying to legally purchase a firearm.<\/p>\n

“There’s more fees. When you purchase ammo, every year it’s a little bit more, so I feel like they’re just making it a little bit more difficult,” Lopez said.<\/p>\n

He said the four-hour training requirement feels unnecessary.<\/p>\n

“Those four hours to take that is just a countermeasure, just to make it harder for people to own a gun,” Lopez said.<\/p>\n

Supporters argue more training could help prevent accidents involving children and inexperienced gun owners. State Sen. Jesse Arreguin, who is spearheading the bill, said California has strong gun safety laws but does not currently require firearm training for buyers.<\/p>\n

“We have some of the strongest firearm safety laws in California, but unlike other states, including Maryland and Hawaii, we don’t have any requirements on training,” Arreguin said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It would also require gun owners moving into the state to undergo the training course, too.<\/p>\n

Now, the original plan was an eight-hour course, which has now been reduced, but that’s not really germane in and of itself. No, what’s germane are the issues with any training mandate handed down by a governmental authority.<\/p>\n

First, owning a firearm is a constitutionally protected right. In no other case is it considered acceptable to mandate training prior to people exercising a right protected in the Constitution.<\/strong> You don’t have to undergo training or testing to become a member of the press. The state does not get to mandate a particular training course in order to become a member of the clergy. You don’t have to take a class in California before you can register to vote or to hold a protest.<\/p>\n

Nowhere else is a right limited to those who have completed a state-required course of instruction.<\/p>\n

Plus, does anyone not see how this could be abused? Right now, the bill calls for a four-hour class. Originally, it required eight hours. That tells me that this is being discussed not as the amount of time needed to convey a particular set of information, but based on how much of an inconvenience they figure they can get away with.<\/p>\n

Once the state has mandated training, it’s trivial to increase the length of time that training should take. Both four- and eight-hour classes are inconvenient enough, but it’s still something most people can manage. They might have to take a day off from work to attend the class, but there’s a way to make it work. No, you shouldn’t have to, but it’s still possible.<\/p>\n

So then it becomes 16 hours, then 32 hours, then 40, then 80. Then they put a live fire qualification in, where you have to hit a particular score at a particular range, only to raise the score and move the range backward until you’re having to hit something stupidly high at a farther range than you’ll ever actually need, all so they can limit who can buy a gun.<\/p>\n

They haven’t banned anything new, and your right to own a gun still exists in theory, but because it’s not realistic for you to meet the qualifications, it’s been essentially stripped in practice.<\/p>\n

“But Hawaii and Maryland haven’t done that.”<\/p>\n

No, they haven’t done it\u00a0yet<\/em>. They haven’t done it because they don’t think they could get away with it. The fact of the matter is that if there’s a training mandate on the books, and it’s acceptable to have it, then where would the line be drawn between an acceptable level of training and too much?<\/p>\n

Plus, again, it’s not something we mandate for any other right protected by the Constitution, so why would it ever be acceptable here? Unless, of course, one wants to concede that the Second Amendment really is a second-class right.<\/p>\n

Do that, though, and I’ll tell you to show your work that it was intended to be any such thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Problem with California’s Proposed Training Requirement for Gun Purchases The first bit of advice any new gun owner is likely to receive is that they should go out and seek training on how to handle their firearm safely. It’s not about tactical excellence or anything like that; it’s about making sure they don’t hurt … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crap-for-brains","category-goobermint"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117248,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117247\/revisions\/117248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}