California’s Senate Judiciary Committee is set to convene at 1:30 PM today to debate Senate Bill 1327, a brazen power grab disguised as public safety legislation, courtesy of Senator Robert Hertzberg (D-18). This bill doesn’t just tweak existing laws—it unleashes a private right of action, empowering any busybody with a grudge to sue manufacturers, distributors, transporters, sellers, or importers of firearms and even precursor parts that California has arbitrarily banned. Sure, current statutes already provide remedies against rogue dealers and makers, but SB 1327 supercharges that into a weaponized lawsuit lottery, where gun owners and the industry become easy marks for trial lawyers chasing bounties. It’s the ghost of the tobacco master settlement reborn in the Golden State’s assault on the Second Amendment, turning regulatory overreach into a profit center for activists.
Dig deeper, and the implications scream political theater. Hertzberg, no stranger to anti-gun crusades, is dangling this carrot to virtue-signaling plaintiffs: rack up legal fees, statutory damages, and injunctions against the very tools of self-defense that millions of law-abiding Californians still possess despite the state’s draconian roster of bans. Precursor parts is the real sleight of hand—vague enough to ensnare hobbyists building AR-15 lowers or 80% frames from home, effectively criminalizing DIY gunsmithing under civil threat. This isn’t about safety; it’s about using gun owners as pawns to bankrupt the industry piecemeal, chilling interstate commerce and punishing compliance with federal law. Remember Prop 63’s ammo background checks? They flopped hard, yet here we go again, with Sacramento betting on judicial fiat to do what voters and facts won’t.
For the 2A community, this is a five-alarm fire demanding action: flood the hearing with calls (Senate Judiciary hotline: 916-651-7704), rally at the Capitol, and support groups like CRPA and NRA-ILA already mobilizing. If SB 1327 passes, expect a exodus of FFLs, skyrocketing black-market parts, and a blueprint for other blue states to copycat. It’s not hyperbole—it’s the slow strangulation of rights, one frivolous suit at a time. Stand up now, or watch California’s gun culture get litigated into oblivion.
