Rash

The Attorney General appeals from a judgment granting a peremptory writ of mandate to the California Department of Justice Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information and the California Department of Consumer Affairs Bureau of Security and Investigative Services (State), requiring that they set aside their decision revoking Lester R. Rash’s permit to carry a firearm. Our analysis of controlling statutes convinces us the revocation was proper, and we, therefore, reverse the judgment.

Introduction

This case concerns itself solely with the construction of Penal Code sections 12021 and 12021.1. At first blush, the statutes seem impenetrable. Reading them is hard, writing about them arduous, reading about them probably downright painful. The similarity of the section numbers and the fact each section has a particular subdivision which requires discussion in conjunction with other similarly denominated subdivisions makes for tough sledding. As Alfred North Whitehead wrote of rationalism, the effort is, itself, “an adventure in the clarification of thought.” (Whitehead, Process and Reality (1929) pt. I, ch. 1, § 3.) The reader who is not inclined to such adventure and…