Gun Control – The Exemption for Hollywood

     The recent anti-civil liberties bills, signed by Andrew “Madness” Cuomo, to restrict our 2^nd Amendment rights were pushed through so swiftly, that they forgot to exempt Hollywood from their onerous grasp.  Now, Cuomo is pushing to exempt Hollywood from laws that apply to the hoi polloi.  Clearly, making a spiffy movie with real guns (even when the combination of props and special effects would create the same effect) is far more important than the Constitutional right of the people to defend their lives and loved ones.  That many Hollywood hacks are rabidly anti-civil liberties when it comes to the peasants, makes their stance a paragon of hypocracy:

     But Hollywood has long been exempt from many restrictions in California, particularly when it comes to the California Penal Code.  For example, many limitations on firearms ownership, transfer, brandishing, and use do not apply to the making of motion pictures, and other such media, as seen by Section § 27535(a)(6), when:

“Any motion picture, television, or video production company or entertainment or theatrical company whose production by its nature involves the use of a firearm.”

     An example of this can be seen by § 31615:

31615.  (a) No person shall do either of the following:
(1) Purchase or receive any handgun, except an antique firearm, without a valid handgun safety certificate.
(2) Sell, deliver, loan, or transfer any handgun, except an antique firearm, to any person who does not have a valid handgun safety certificate.

     There are exemptions for lending to minor by a parent or with a parents permission for lawful use, such as “recreational sport, including, but not limited to, competitive shooting, or agricultural, ranching, or hunting activity, or a motion picture, television, or video production, or entertainment or theatrical event, the nature of which involves the use of a firearm.” (§ 31810; Emphasis mine).

     But Hollywood is also specifically excepted from § 31615(a) by 31815.  § 31815, which says that limitation does not apply when “The loan is for use solely as a prop in a motion picture, television, video, theatrical, or other entertainment production or event.”

     These types of exceptions also apply to §27545 (via §27945 and §27955), which requires transfers be done through licensed dealers… except for Hollywood:

27545.  Where neither party to the transaction holds a dealer’s license issued pursuant to Sections 26700 to 26915, inclusive, the parties to the transaction shall complete the sale, loan, or transfer of that firearm through a licensed firearms dealer pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 28050).

     The ban on unlicensed concealed carry is outlined in § 25400.  Since California is a “may issue” state, one’s ability to carry concealed is limited by the willingness of the local county Sheriff to grant it, which in many counties effectively creates a ban on concealed guns for those who are not well connected.  This limitation on concealed carry does not apply to Hollywood:

25510.  Section 25400 does not apply to, or affect, any of the following:
(b) The transportation of a firearm by an authorized employee or agent of a supplier of firearms when going directly to, or coming directly from, a motion picture, television, or video production, or an entertainment event, for the purpose of providing that firearm to an authorized participant to lawfully use as a part of that production or event.

26405.  Section 26400 does not apply to, or affect, the carrying of an unloaded firearm that is not a handgun in any of the following circumstances:
(r) By an authorized participant in, or an authorized employee or agent of a supplier of firearms for, a motion picture, television or video production, or entertainment event, when the participant lawfully uses that firearm as part of that production or event, as part of rehearsing or practicing for participation in that production or event, or while the participant or authorized employee or agent is at that production or event, or rehearsal or practice for that production or event.

     With all of the hullabaloo about “gun show loopholes” and people not getting background checks, as required by § 27555, Hollywood is exempt and does not seem interested in changing their “loophole”:

27805.  (a) Section 27555 does not apply to the loan of a firearm if all of the following conditions are satisfied:
(4) The firearm is loaned solely for use as a prop in a motion picture, television, video, theatrical, or other entertainment production or event.

     All of the above mentioned laws were taken from the Official California Legislative Information website, as it existed in March 2013.

     While this is hardly an in depth legal analysis, the presence of such exceptions for Hollywood makes the claim that all these restrictions must be imposed on honest citizens, unless one thinks that Hollywood hacks are simply “more equal than others.”

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