Tehama County Sheriff Clay Parker is passionate about citizens' rights to bear arms.

So much so, he is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit recently filed in Sacramento by the National Rifle Association/California Rifle and Pistol Association Foundation Legal Action Project challenging state Assembly Bill 962.

When the bill was signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year, the governor said it "requires vendors of handgun ammunition to keep a log of information on handgun ammunition sales, store ammunition in a safe and secure manner, and require the face-to-face transfer of ammunition sales."

"The bill is too broad," Parker said. "What is handgun ammunition? If you ask, no one could tell you. Some people may say a .357 shell is handgun ammunition, but I have a .357 rifle. This bill has to be defined better."

This isn't the first time Parker has taken action on the issue of firearms legislation. He took an active part in the lawsuit against Chicago's long-standing ban on handguns, a case that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court struck down the ban in June.

"I will continue to fight laws infringing a citizen's right to bear arms," Parker stated. "If a law could really do some good, okay. But when they pass laws affecting law abiding citizen's not the criminals, that is not OK."

The Foundation's lawsuit has been in the works ever since AB 962 passed and a request for an injunction will be filed shortly, in an effort to stop the bill's ammunition sales registration requirements (which includes fingerprinting), and the ban on mail order ammunition purchases before those provision take effect on Feb. 1, 2000, reported the foundation, which is funding the lawsuit.

Proponents of Bill 962 say the legislation was needed to close loop holes in existing firearms laws.

Assemblyman Kevin De Leon, who sponsored the bill, has stated, "a gun without ammunition is like a syringe without the drug."

According to the bill's introduction, "Existing law requires the Department of Justice to maintain records pertaining to firearms transactions. This bill would require the department to maintain additional information relating to ammunition transfers and licensed handgun ammunition vendors, as specified."

Tim Ross, an employee of Hatfield's Ace Hardware, which sells firearms and ammunition, said he agrees with Parker that the language of the bill is too broad.

"There is a lot of firearms ammunition that is interchangeable between pistols and rifles," Ross said. "Another issue we have with the bill is the record keeping. For every box of ammunition we sell we will have to keep fingerprint, driver's license, and other information on our records for who knows how long and that will create an unimaginable paper trail headache."

The Foundation states its attorneys will continue to fight against ill-conceived gun control laws and ordinances.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service