My neighbor Frank is quick witted and loves to repeat his oft-used, Depression-era quip, "Eat up, son. Hard times are comin'."

For California gun owners hard times are coming, indeed.

My faithful California friends in the NRA are hopeful that with continued fighting, letter-writing, editorializing, and phone-calling the tide can be turned on the eminent passage of AB23 into law. I am not so sure.

Don't get me wrong. We must continue to let Sacramento know that AB23 is totally unacceptable. But let's face facts: The state legislature is ruled by liberal anti-gunners with the power to pass AB23 into law. We have a Governor who campaigned on the AB23 promise and has committed himself to sign it even though it has not cleared both houses. We have an Attorney General who has demonstrated the will to generate public-press-propaganda "Gun Show Busts" (so far with no arrests and many questions about motives) and the will to enforce AB23 to the letter of the law.

Don't believe Lockyer has the political will to enforce AB23? Go to the SKS-turn-in-or-be-arrested web site.

Consider also that Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, in his pledge to sign the bill, calls it ``the toughest assault weapon ban in the nation.''

``I am determined that these weapons will become illegal on my watch,'' Davis told reporters in April. ``There is no justification whatsoever for them on the streets of a civilized society,'' he said.

And not in your homes either, pal. Believe it.

Start preparing for the day when the Perata-Davis-Lockyer Gestapo come to your home or work looking for your Marlin, your Glock mag that's a little too long, or that hand-me-down Ruger your Dad gave you.

Don't think that it will happen to you, do you?

You are probably right. At least that is, you don't have to worry right away. They won't come for you first. They will come for me, and people like me. People who work hard to make things like this news-based web-site happen. People who are vocal, and who commit the crime of being vocal.

You see, in the state of California, I have registered ARs and the state already knows who I am and where I live. Why did I register them back in 1989? Because I was a young, foolish, naive idiot who thought it would lessen crime and make me a better person to society. I guess it didn't work on both counts. It didn't lessen crime, and in the eyes of the "Perata-Davis-Lockyer's" of the world, I am certainly NOT a person that makes their view of society better.

They already know that I oppose them and believe that their AB23 (when it becomes law) is unconstitutional. You know, all that patriot nonsense.

The Department of Justice knows that if I own registered Sporters, then I probably own some magazines. All they need to do is make a clean sweep of my house and find one magazine and I am arrested. Once arrested I am a felon. Once a felon I am a criminal. Once a criminal, I am no longer a law-abiding citizen. Thus proving that all NRA members are really criminals, and only the unarmed are the true, law-abiding citizens.

Still not convinced?

Consider that the national NRA platform is all based on the fact that the federal government has failed to enforce existing "gun laws against criminals". Right? Everybody has heard that argument ad infinitum since the Littleton shootings.

I ask you then, what tune will the NRA sing when the California Department of Justice, with the backing of the Governor, the federal and state Attorneys General, and the media begins to vigorously, and with no quarter, enforce AB23?

The NRA will be in the delicate position of being called a hypocrite-- claiming to support gun-law enforcement, yet crying "foul" when AB23 is enforced.

Well, you probably guessed my position. I would rather be a freeman in a jail cell, than a slave to an omnipotent state.

I chose to prepare now. Hide my guns, move my guns, hide my mags... you know, the important stuff.

And prepare myself to look forward to the day when I can hold out one of those cheap, RAM-LINE plastic, worthless, $10 AR mags to a member of the Gestapo and say, "Yes, that's right, officer. I own this. It is mine. Do your duty just like the Nazi's did 60 years ago. Forget the Bill of Rights. Arrest me."