Thread: California Gov. Jerry Brown tells cops: 'I've got 3 guns'

California Gov. Jerry Brown tells cops: 'I've got 3 guns'

Jack Dolan -
Apr. 6, 2011 07:55 PM
Los Angeles Times

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California Gov. Jerry Brown, who routinely confounds those tempted to write him off as a stereotypical left-wing intellectual, did so again Wednesday, telling a roomful of cops that he's the proud owner of a small arsenal.

Brown suggested that it's ridiculous for opponents of his plan to transfer thousands of felons from state prisons to county jails to lampoon it as the "get a dog, buy a gun" bill. It's perfectly natural for people to have those items in their homes anyway, he said.

"I've got three guns and one dog," he told the Alliance of California Law Enforcement in Sacramento.

Brown spokeswoman Elizabeth Ashford said Wednesday afternoon that she thought her boss might have been speaking in "hyperbole" about the firearms. She could not confirm whether he owns any or specify what type they might be. A news report from 2010 said Brown owned three guns that he used for target practice.

The dog is a small corgi - the breed frequently seen at the feet of the Queen of England - and not much of a security asset. Brown referred to him recently as "half a rat."

In 2009, while state attorney general, Brown filed a friend-of-the-court brief siding with the National Rifle Association's attempt to overturn a gun ban in Chicago. Brown wrote to the U.S. Supreme Court that he feared "California citizens could be deprived of the constitutional right to possess handguns in their homes."

But during a 1992 presidential debate, Brown promoted a moratorium on gun sales. In between these times he served as mayor of the crime-ridden city of Oakland, where he frequently encountered drug dealers and addicts at night while walking his previous pet, a Labrador retriever named Dharma.

Brown has since abandoned his gritty loft in downtown Oakland for a quiet home in the safety of the city's hills and a loft in Sacramento.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... -guns.html

Sounds like Californians have gotten themselves a lot to deal with.