The California state legislature is well known for passing legislation that criminalizes basic Second Amendment rights. But their attacks on the United States Constitution don’t stop there.
A new bill – AB 1671 – would make publishing an undercover video of a “health care provider” punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 or three years in a state prison for first-time offenders, and $10,000 or three years in prison for second-time offenders.
Recording a conversation without both parties’ consent is already a crime in California. The new bill would make it illegal “for a person who unlawfully eavesdrops upon or records a confidential communication as described above with a health care provider, as defined, to intentionally disclose or distribute the contents of the confidential communication without the consent of all parties to the confidential communication.”
It gets worse.
The bill also subjects to criminal prosecution anyone who “aids and abets any person in the commission of those offenses.” That means that if a journalist receives an undercover video from an anonymous source, he or she could be prosecuted for publishing that video or disseminating its contents. Even sharing an undercover video on social media or re-publishing it on Youtube could land a California resident in hot water.
Media companies have come out in opposition to the bill, saying it could have a “chilling effect” on free speech and plunge the state into costly First Amendment court battles, according to the Courthouse News Service.
“This bill directly implicates the First Amendment, especially the concern of the press that this could ultimately penalize freelance reporters or journalists who distribute a truthful communication,” Assemblyman James Gallagher, R-Nicolaus, said before voting against AB 1671.
The bill, which has been endorsed by Planned Parenthood, was developed by Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez, D-Los Angeles, as a thinly veiled attack on the recent campaign to uncover Planned Parenthood’s trade in fetal tissue.
So why are we covering it at GunsAmerica?
Here’s what concerns us: the same investigative techniques that captured the Planned Parenthood videos have also been used in support of the Second Amendment.
This video (see above), for example, revealed how the anti-gun lobby lies to the American people about its true gun-banning agenda. In the video, a journalist asks a Hillary Clinton Alternate Delegate whether Clinton supports banning all guns, to which she replies, “for sure… You have to take that sort of moderate ‘We just wanna have common sense legislation so our children are safe!’ You say shit like that, and then people will buy into it.”
AB 1671 sets a dangerous precedent that allows lawmakers to unilaterally protect certain industries or groups by criminalizing legitimate investigative techniques. If such a law were in place to protect party delegates, for example, GunsAmerica could be subject to criminal prosecution. The journalist who captured the video and the author who wrote the article could be thrown in jail for doing nothing more than telling the truth.
Constitutional rights are mutually protective. The First Amendment protects the Second and vice versa. An attack on any constitutional right is an attack on all of them, and supporters of the Second Amendment would do well to keep their eyes open to assaults on any portion of the Constitution.
Cali”F%#K”me is a State of the Union in name only, they have no interest in our Constitution, or the Laws of the land they are going to do what they want and Piss on the rest of the Country, take a good long hard look at what happens when the Commie DemoCraps take full control, this is what we have to look forward to if they get control of the whole country, they give everything to help the illegals, and welfare lifers to keep up their voting numbers, it’s easy to get votes from the ones who have nothing when you promise them a better life on your dime and the rest they spend on their wages and perks, and pet projects like trains that will never ever be in the black and they will be spending on forever, while the whole time taxing every working person to death. Just take a look at where Ca. is after the DemoCraps have taken over, you can’t hardly afford to drive a car, much-less own one, they have taxed, surcharged, and put fees on everything under the sun, and they have used none of it to pay down their dept they used it to make more dept, the DemoCraps are very good at three things, adding taxes, spending your hard earned money, and violating your rights…. I was brought up to believe you became a politician to help your country and your fellow man, not to get rich and build your Mansion…
I guess I wasn’t aware of Kalifornia being a ‘two party’ consent state. They certainly do the wink and nod thing when it comes to police body cams- which many agencies require officers to keeping running full time when at work- like when they are drinking coffee, eating, visiting with store owners, interviewing victims- including juvenile sexual assault victims, and hospital staff, inside medical facilities, during criminal investigations. A lot of ‘eavesdropped’ conversation can and does get captured, and once uploaded, all are public records available upon request . Big brother and his double standard is alive and well there it seems.
NRA needs to (as the “deep pockets” organization which benefits from undercover video) fight this law in Sacramento, and file amicus briefs or direct challenges to the law if it is passed (which it probably will, now that the people of California with both money and sense are now living in Colorado).
The line between the right to free speech (1A), and our right to privacy (alluded to in 4A) is a damn sticky wicket. This Cali Bill definitely seems to be trying to protect the wrong people. Would this make all surveillance videos illegal in California, since you never know when a doctor or nurse may come into your gas station or bank to do business?
For the most part I am for free speech/communications. When you get perverts flying drones over your back yard to take video of your daughter and her friends sunbathing, you’ve got to draw a line. Privacy is already a thing of the past, when internet companies are mining data from a computer that resides in your home, knowing your browser history’s deepest secrets (you are what you like).
From 4A: “…The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause…”
I don`t care anymore what flea ridden, low life, turd breathed, penis sucking, scrotum licking,ass kissing,fatherless,drug crazed,who`s mothers are whores,shit for brains, incompetent lawyers,turned into even worse politicians, pass for gun control. Doom on you. Hell , get ready to receive the gun grabbers. Even a lawyer should be able to understand the point I`m trying to make. If not, hop your gun grabbing butt into your limo, and come on over. I`ll explane.
It would be far simpler a task to understand you if you wrote a coherent sentence.
Like I’ve said many times, once you let them infringe one right, they move on to others as well. I wish they’d infringe the 8th and start executing repeat violent felons, but that would be too icky for them. Rarely does California ever do anything for the people. I think the right to die law was the first law passed that was for the people in the last 40 years. Doing 3 years in a state prison for seeking to expose a bad operation will only aid and abet the criminals. Planned Parenthood was set up and the video edited, but that is a whole different topic.
California has established itself as a State dedicated to protecting and encouraging criminals and making criminals out of Citizens as well as disarming Citizens so Criminals again are protected.
A person should always have a right to record anything said to them or said in public without telling the other person or person they are being recorded to be able to document criminal behavior.
Next they will make it illegal to record cops so they can get away with more victimization of the public .
Normally we are talking about the infringement of the 2nd amendment but I also believe that now it is finally time to take a look onto the 1st amendment as well, just as the text mentions at the end.
Funny, you cannot make and publish now such an undercover video in California. Yet, if you are in San Fernando Valley, northwest of Los Angeles, and you film how 18-year-old girls are doing the most disgusting things you can think of and you even make money with this sick stuff by publishing it… that is legal in California!
I think the above video scared the democrat politicians of California and maybe that is why they have created this bill? Just my guess of course. But it is another great inside look in what those so called “liberals” and “democrats” are up to. I am still surprised that your supposed to be free country can create bills like that and give a damn about its own constitution. My country, Germany, is also like that, although we don’t even have a constitution. When you film and publish the truth, then they will hunt you legally down here as well, thanks to their paragraph against demagoguery and hate-speech (§ 130 StGB) that does only exist to infringe the freedom of speech here as well, which has been officially granted us in the charter (it’s not a constitution) of the German federal republic.
I especially loved to read this part of the text:
“AB 1671 sets a dangerous precedent that allows lawmakers to unilaterally protect certain industries or groups by criminalizing legitimate investigative techniques. If such a law were in place to protect party delegates, for example, GunsAmerica could be subject to criminal prosecution. The journalist who captured the video and the author who wrote the article could be thrown in jail for doing nothing more than telling the truth.”
This is exactly what AB 1671 is meant for, a clear strike against democracy and the freedom of speech. It couldn’t have been written better. Democracy shall exist for EVERYONE not just for certain industries or groups that suddenly cannot be touched in a free way anymore. This is not democracy. This is a huge step to a dictatorship. I know most people here would call it a step to Communism and I’m sure in a short amount of time many people will use the name “Commiefornia” once again but personally I think Fascism or “Fascistfornia” is even a better word for this. Just my opinion of course.
Infringing the freedom of speech drastically with one bill, which is against the very 1st amendment of the constitution, yet allowing that perverted videos are being produced and spread to the whole world… guys, I’m sorry to say this but this is just completely sick. Here in Germany the people always think good about California because they believe it is sunny, beautiful, free and all. If I shall meet any person like this one day, I will be glad to use all the information’s I’ve gathered here to hopefully tell these people the truth about that state.
How did a state with so many important national defense companies and military bases turn Communist? Did the Patriots leave for greener pastures, and let the Reds take over?
California is rapidly approaching the tipping point where the American nationals will be outnumbered. People groups with deep roots in nations other than the American nation have radically different values. There is nothing magic about the dirt in America, and cultural values do not change by crossing a border. Those cultural values are handed down from parent to child.