SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Debate in the Assembly turned personal Monday when a Democratic lawmaker introduced an airport security bill that many interpreted as a jab at a Republican colleague who was caught bringing a loaded gun through airport security earlier this year.
The bill, which would require law enforcement officers to arrest anyone bringing a concealed gun into an airport, sparked partisan name-calling and accusations of dishonesty.
"Who's next? Whose next mistake is going to be brought up in a bill in this chamber?" asked Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore.
Assemblyman Brian Jones, R-Santee, called the bill "an insult to the citizens of California," while Assemblyman Donald Wagner, R-Irvine, called it an embarrassment.
Assemblywoman Norma Torres said she wrote AB2182 as a public safety measure. Her Southern California district borders that of Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, and contains Ontario International Airport, where he was stopped in January while carrying a loaded handgun in his carry-on luggage.
"This bill is about the irresponsible gun owner who doesn't know where their weapon is," the Pomona Democrat said on the floor.
Donnelly, an outspoken gun rights advocate from the mountain community of Twin Peaks, raised his microphone, eliciting catcalls from some colleagues, but did not speak. He later said he did not want to add heap more attention on a bill he thought was a disgrace to the institution of the Legislature.
The bill passed 46-25 Monday and now goes to the Senate. Donnelly voted no.
"I think some of my colleagues just institutionalized the absolute utter contempt with which the public holds us," he said in an interview after the floor session. "And their vote today confirms that they should be held in contempt."
He said Republicans did not pass bills banning people who shoplift from Neiman Marcus from returning to that store or prohibiting the use of state vehicles for drunken driving, even though two Democrats were recently charged with those offenses.
Donnelly an outspoken advocate for gun rights has said he was carrying the gun that ended up at the airport because he had received death threats over his opposition to illegal immigration. He said he hid it in his briefcase so his wife would not be alarmed, then forgot it was there.
Not long after police cited and released the lawmaker, another passenger was arrested after he tried to bring four loaded guns through a security checkpoint at the Sacramento airport.
Donnelly was fined $2,215 for two misdemeanor charges related to the incident: illegally carrying a loaded firearm and possessing a prohibited item in a secure area of Ontario International Airport.
Torres said the only person connecting the legislation to Donnelly was Donnelly himself. He confronted her about the bill in January while they were both waiting at the Sacramento airport, she said. The run-in left her so rattled that she started taking a different flight each week to avoid him.
"He was very assertive. Very, very, very aggressive," she said in an interview after the floor session.
Donnelly said Torres was inventing a story based on a quip he made after letting her cut in line in front of him.
"I said, 'You know, if your bill goes through, you won't be able to cut in front of me anymore,'" he said. "I was joking."