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Saturday, May 5, 2018

Progressives Want Total Gun Confiscation

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell Wants To Make ‘Assault Weapons’ Illegal, And ‘Prosecute’ Those Who Won’t Hand Theirs Over

Rep. Eric Swalwell.
Photo by Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images
ByFRANK CAMP
On Thursday, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) penned an op-ed for USA Today, titled: "Ban assault weapons, buy them back, go after resisters: Ex-prosecutor in Congress."
In the piece, Swalwell not only argues that the federal "assault weapons ban" should be reinstated, he further demands that the United States government institute a mandatory buyback of semi-automatic rifles. Swalwell then goes even further, stating that if Americans are unwilling to hand over their semi-automatic rifles to the government, they should be sought out and prosecuted:
Reinstating the federal assault weapons ban that was in effect from 1994 to 2004 would prohibit manufacture and sales, but it would not affect weapons already possessed. This would leave millions of assault weapons in our communities for decades to come.
Instead, we should ban possession of military-style semiautomatic assault weapons, we should buy back such weapons from all who choose to abide by the law, and we should criminally prosecute any who choose to defy it by keeping their weapons. The ban would not apply to law enforcement agencies or shooting clubs.
Swalwell notes that Australia’s buyback was a success, adding that while it would cost a great deal of money to do the same in the United States, it would be worth it. He also highlights Newtown, Orlando, Las Vegas, and Parkland as examples to explain why the United States should ban semi-automatic rifles:
Like so many American mass-shooting victims in recent decades, their doom was all but assured by the murderer’s tool.
Using somewhat specious logic, Swalwell goes over why "assault weapons" should be banned from public use:
Trauma surgeons and coroners will tell you the high-velocity bullet fired from a military-style, semiautomatic assault weapon moves almost three times as fast as a 9mm handgun bullet, delivering far more energy. The bullets create cavities through the victim, wrecking a wider swath of tissue, organs and blood vessels. And a low-recoil weapon with a higher-capacity magazine means more of these deadlier bullets can be fired accurately and quickly without reloading.
Here’s the problem — setting aside any constitutional objections (because those are rather obvious), Swalwell’s reasoning is faulty from the word go.
The Congressman mentions recent shootings in which semi-automatic rifles were used, but he doesn’t mention shootings in which handguns were the weapon of choice.
  • In August 2012, a man using a Springfield Armory handgun killed six people as they entered a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.
  • In April 2012, a man using a .45-caliber handgun killed seven people at Oikos University in Oakland, California.
  • In November 2009, a man using an FN Herstal 5.7 pistol killed 13 people and injured approximately 30 at the Fort Hood military post in Texas.
  • In April 2009, a man using a Beretta 92 FS 9mm pistol and a Beretta PX4 Storm pistol killed 13 people when he opened fire in a civic center in Binghamton, New York.
  • In 2007, a man using a Walther P-22 pistol and a 9mm Glock pistol killed 32 people at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. According to UT Dallas Professor Tomislav Kovandzik and Florida State University Professor of Criminology Gary Kleck: "The Virginia Tech shooter had 17 magazines for his handguns and most were of the ten round variety."
  • In October 1991, a man using using a Glock 17 and a Ruger P89 killed 23 people and injured another 27 when he opened fire in a Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas.
  • In August 1986, a man using two .45-caliber pistols and a .22-caliber pistol killed 14 people and injured six more at a post office in Edmond, Oklahoma.
The seven shootings listed above were committed entirely with semi-automatic handguns.
Moreover, between 2010 and 2014, the FBI reports that 30,114 of the 63,061 homicides in the United States were committed using handguns. That’s 47.75%. Meanwhile, rifles were used in 1,530 homicides during the same period. That’s 2.4%. Even if one assumes that all of the "type not stated" firearms listed by the FBI are semi-automatic rifles, that’s 10,758 (17%) — and that’s an extremely generous assumption.
If Rep. Swalwell really wants a safer America via gun confiscation, he should be looking at handguns. However, because semi-automatic rifles are more frightening in appearance, they’re the easy virtue target.
Next Swalwell uses Australia’s 1996 buyback program as an example for the United States. Again, we have a problem.
The Council On Foreign Relations notes that only "one sixth" of Australia's national stock of "assault weapons" were recovered during the buyback:
The National Agreement on Firearms all but prohibited automatic and semiautomatic assault rifles, stiffened licensing and ownership rules, and instituted a temporary gun buyback program that took some 650,000 assault weapons (about one-sixth of the national stock) out of public circulation. Among other things, the law also required licensees to demonstrate a “genuine need” for a particular type of gun and take a firearm safety course.
If the Australian Government truly recovered only one sixth of the national stock, that would be approximately 650,000 "assault weapons" out of 3.9 million. Let us again be generous, and assume they recovered half. That still means that another 650,000 "assault weapons" remained in circulation after the buyback.
Moreover, University of Melbourne’s Wang Sheng-Lee and La Trobe University’s Sandy Suardi came to the conclusion in a 2008 paper that "the NFA [National Firearms Agreement] did not have any large effects on reducing firearm homicide or suicide rates."
They conclude:
Using a battery of structural break tests, there is little evidence to suggest that it [National Firearms Agreement] had any significant effects on firearm homicides and suicides. In addition, there also does not appear to be any substitution effects, that reduced access to firearms may have led those bent on committing homicide or suicide to use alternative methods.
Since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, two other shooting incidents have attracted much media attention in Australia. An incident on 21 October 2002 at Monash University, in which a gunman killed two people and wounded five, prompted the National Handgun Buyback Act of 2003. Under this scheme that ran from July to December 2003, 70,000 handguns were removed from the community at a cost of approximately A$69 million. Another shooting on 18 June 2007, in which a lone gunman killed a man who had come to the aid of an assault victim and seriously wounded two others in Melbourne's central business district during morning rush hour, renewed calls for tougher gun controls.
Although gun buybacks appear to be a logical and sensible policy that helps to placate the public's fears, the evidence so far suggests that in the Australian context, the high expenditure incurred to fund the 1996 gun buyback has not translated into any tangible reductions in terms of firearm deaths.
While firearm homicides in Australia have plummeted in the years following the NFA, they were already dropping in the decade prior to the buyback, according to Gun Policy:
Additionally, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, between 2010 and 2014, firearms were used in 15.1% of all murders in which a weapon was utilized. 29.3% of "attempted murders" in which weapons were utilized were committed with firearms.
With his gun confiscation op-ed, Rep. Swalwell is doing two things — he’s virtue signaling, and he’s making false comparisons. Swalwell is showing voters that he can “stand up to the man,” which in 2018 is the NRA, Republicans, President Trump, and anyone who defends the Second Amendment. Swalwell is also using a false comparison in order to make his suggestions sound more credible and feasible than they actually are.
Progressives often use mass shootings to seed resentment toward conservatives and Second Amendment advocates. They employ vague language such as "common sense gun control" as a way to cloud public opinion, while at the same time advocating extreme policies. Many progressives want to see the Second Amendment repealed, and all firearms confiscated — but few will actually say that out loud. Instead, they’ll mock conservatives, repeatedly telling them that "no one is coming to take your precious guns."
Rep. Swalwell, however wrong he may be, seems to be gripping at the threads of the intellectually honest position upon which his colleagues are afraid to stand.
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Britain Continues Going Down The Road To Destruction

A Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in Britain: April 2018

by 
  • Queen Elizabeth II is a descendant of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed — The Economist, citing the Moroccan newspaper Al-Ousboue.
  • Nearly two-thirds of "child" refugees who were questioned about their real age after coming to Britain were found to be adults. — Report by David Bolt, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration.
  • In 2017, there were 620 cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) just in Birmingham and environs. FGM has been illegal in the UK since 1985, but there has still not been a single successful prosecution for the offense.
April 1. National Union of Teachers (NUT) delegates condemned efforts by Ofsted, the chief regulator of British schools, to ban the hijab, a Muslim head covering, in primary schools. Ofsted said the measure was aimed at promoting the integration of Muslim pupils. Teachers blasted the policy, announced by Ofsted director Amanda Spielman, as "racism dressed up as liberalism."
Kauser Jan, a Muslim activist and teacher in Leeds, described the hijab policy as "Islamophobic" and said she would not comply:
"We have taken regressive steps where our children are now being made to feel that must leave their cultural and linguistic and religious identity at the door. I know Muslim girls and men that have shaved off beards, taken off their hijabs so they can anglicize themselves, so they can fit in and not feel they are part of the problem."
Mehreen Begg, a British Muslim from Croydon, described Ofsted's stance on the wearing of hijabs in primary schools as "unwarranted" and "draconian." She added:
"It is wholly inappropriate for Ofsted inspectors to question primary-age Muslim girls on their choice of dress. This is an act of intimidation by a powerful adult on a young child and has no place in our education inspection system. Whilst wearing a hijab may not always be a choice, both here and internationally, it is not for Ofsted to intervene in this debate, which is a debate within the Islamic community."
A spokesperson for Ofsted responded:
"There is nothing political about ensuring that schools and parents aren't being subject to undue pressure by national or community campaign groups. Head teachers need to be able to take uniform decisions on the basis of safeguarding or community cohesion concerns, and Ofsted will always support them in doing that."
April 5. The Economist, citing the Moroccan newspaper Al-Ousboue, reported that Queen Elizabeth II is a descendant of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed:
"Al-Ousboue traced the queen's lineage back 43 generations. Her bloodline runs through the Earl of Cambridge, in the 14th century, across medieval Muslim Spain, to Fatima, the Prophet's daughter. Her link to Muhammad has previously been verified by Ali Gomaa, the former grand mufti of Egypt, and Burke's Peerage, a British authority on royal pedigrees.
"Prince Charles (bin Philip), is intrigued by Islam.... He is said to want a multi-faith coronation and to be ordained as "defender of faith," not "the [Christian] faith."
The late Harold Brooks-Baker, publishing director of Burke's Peerage, once warned: "The royal family's direct descent from the prophet Mohammed cannot be relied upon to protect the royal family forever from Moslem terrorists."
April 6. Aweys Shikhey, a 38-year-old Dutch national originally from Somalia and living in north London, was sentenced to eight years in prison for preparing acts of terrorism. The court heard how Shikhey, a delivery driver who has two wives, one in The Netherlands and one in Kenya, was planning to elope with his Somali-Norwegian jihadi fiancée and travel from London to Turkey, and then on to Syria. The court also heard how he talked to other jihadis about attacking Queen Elizabeth, shooting Jews in Stamford Hill, north London, and football fans as they left Tottenham Hotspur's stadium.
April 8. The Scottish government issued a guidance, warning teachers against using the phrase "British values" when discussing terrorism with pupils because it might be offensive: "The concept can cause offense and could play into the hands of groups who seek to assert that there is an inherent conflict between being British and being Muslim." The British government's anti-terror Prevent strategy defines extremism as "the vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values" such as democracy, the rule of law and tolerance. The Scottish government advised teachers to use the words "shared values" instead. The guidance also urgedteachers not to use the terms "war on terror," "Islamist extremist/terrorist," "jihad/jihadist" or "radical" in current affairs lessons. The guidance cautioned: "There is always a danger in using 'Islamist' as non-expert audiences are likely to hear 'Islamic.' All audiences will make a connection to the Muslim faith. This phrase is best avoided."
April 8. Nearly two-thirds of "child" refugees who were questioned about their real age after coming to Britain were found to be adults, according to a report by David Bolt, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, into the Home Office's treatment of lone child migrants. The statistics showed that Britain's generosity towards genuine child victims of war, terror and humanitarian disasters is open to wide abuse.
April 9. Almost two cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) a day on average are being identified by doctors in the Birmingham area alone, according to an analysis of data compiled by the NHS. In 2017, there were 620 cases just in Birmingham and environs where a woman was newly recorded in the FGM dataset. FGM has been illegal in the UK since 1985, but there has still not been a single successful prosecution for the offense.
April 10. Shamsu Iqbal, a 61-year-old former Home Office employee, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration. Iqbal was the "lynchpin" of a £6 million ($8 million) scam that falsified the records of at least 437 illegal migrants so they could remain in Britain. The potential loss to taxpayers was assessed by Home Office statisticians as £56 million ($76 million), based on the amount the 437 illegal immigrants could falsely have claimed in benefits over the six years of the fraud.
April 11. Delegates to the annual conference of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) agreed to a resolution calling on the government to prevent parents from withdrawing their children from classes about Islam. Richard Griffiths, from ATL's Inner London branch, told conference attendees that "parents with certain prejudices including Islamophobia" are pulling their children from Religious Education classes because they do not want them to learn about Islam. This, he said, is "significantly hindering" the ability of schools to "prepare a child for life in modern Britain."
April 12. Ibrahim Hussain, a 35-year-old man from Bradford, was sentenced to 23 years in prison for grooming, abducting and repeatedly raping a 12-year-old girl. Hussain later took the girl to a house in Leeds, where she was gang-raped by five unknown men. Judge David Hatton QC said the girl was raped by "essentially a pack of ravenous wolves." Hussain was already on bail for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl he had met through Facebook.
April 13. ITV News reported that Alexanda Amon Kotey, a British jihadi who previously belonged to the infamous four-member Islamic State cell known as "The Beatles," helped to organize a plot to execute soldiers and police officers in London. Kotey and other jihadis are suspected of guiding and funding the would-be attackers in the U.K. —apparently helping to organize the plot "by remote control" from Syria. Kotey, the London-born son of a Ghanaian father and Greek-Cypriot mother, reportedly converted to Islam in his early 20s after falling in love with a Muslim woman. He was arrested by Syrian Kurdish fighters in January 2018 while attempting to smuggle himself back to Europe.
April 14. A YouGov poll found that a large minority of Britons believe that multiculturalism has failed and different communities generally live separate lives. The poll found that 43% predicted relationships between different communities in Britain will deteriorate over the next few years compared to 14% who feel things will improve. More than one third of those who took part in the survey believe that Islam is a threat to the British way of life; 51% believe that immigration is putting pressure on schools and hospitals.
April 18. Shahid Ali, a 43-year-old Washwood Heath man previously convicted of terror offenses, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for deliberately running over a pedestrian's head in a road rage incident. Ali, who apparently became enraged because he thought his victim, a 35-year-old Irish national, was holding up traffic, fled the scene and later dumped his car. The incident was captured by a motorcyclist who had a GoPro camera attached to her helmet. Ali was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. In his defense, the court heard how he "prayed twice" soon after the incident that his victim "had not been affected in the worst way."
April 18. Rotherham Council was ordered by a government ombudsman to apologize for retaliating against Jayne Senior, a whistleblower who helped to expose the town's Muslim sexual grooming scandal. Senior revealed how the council, police and social services turned a blind eye to the abuse of at least 1,400 children by men of Pakistani origin. Local officials kept silent about the abuse for more than a decade, apparently due to a fear of being charged with racism.

In the city of Rotherham (pictured), the council, police and social services turned a blind eye to the sexual abuse of at least 1,400 children by gangs of men of Pakistani origin. Local officials kept silent about the abuse for more than a decade, apparently due to a fear of being charged with racism. (Photo by Anthony Devlin/Getty Images)

April 18. Exeter Mosque in Devon accepted donations totaling nearly £250,000 ($340,000) from Sheikh Sadiq Al-Ghariani, an extremist Muslim cleric who is on a terrorism watch list due to his support for al-Qaeda-linked jihadi groups in Libya. An online petition called on those who run the mosque to clarify how much money was received and what it was spent on. Trustees of the mosque said they "do not have any links to any form of extremism." Ghariani said the money was to be spent on "completing construction of the [Exeter] mosque," which he said represented "moderate Islam, free of extremism."
April 19. Adam Wyatt, a 48-year-old convert to Islam, was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison for disseminating a terrorist publication that said "Britain must atone for its sins in Palestine" and posting on social media that jihad was an obligation for all Muslims. Wyatt, of Salford, admitted owning booklets, including one called "The Mujahedeen Poisons Handbook."
April 20. Taiyab Hussain, Mohammed Hizar Rizwan, Shaheem Ratyal and Sohail Raja Ali, all from Burton, were collectively sentenced to 17 years in a young offender institution for sexually abusing five girls, aged 13 and 14. Judge Jonathan Gosling, said: "It is clear the girls meant nothing to them whatsoever. They were simply an agency to satisfy their adolescent lust of these men. One girl had only just passed her 13th birthday." Nevertheless, Gosling ordered that the men be released after serving half their sentence, which had already been reduced by 155 days, because the men were not "predatory paedophiles" but "schoolboys."
April 24. The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims called for a "working definition" of "Islamophobia," one that can be "widely accepted by Muslim communities, political parties, and the Government." The APPG is chaired by Sayeeda Warsi, the first Muslim woman to serve in the cabinet. She resignedfrom government in 2014, describing then Prime Minister David Cameron's pro-Israel policy as "morally indefensible." After resigning, she demanded that the government impose an arms embargo on the Jewish state. More recently, she saidthat British citizens who volunteer for the Israeli army should be prosecuted.
April 25. Wokingham Mayor Peter Lucey resigned after a "member of the public" complained that he had shared "politically incorrect" articles from Gatestone Institute, Dutch politician Geert Wilders and Canadian author Mark Steyn. In a statement, Wokingham Town Council said: "Councillor Peter Lucey has today resigned from Wokingham Town council for personal reasons."
April 25. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it was investigating 33 current and former police officers for potential misconduct in the Rotherham child sex abuse scandal. Operation Linden, the IOPC's operation looking into the allegations, grew to 98 investigations by the beginning of April 2018 compared with 62 investigations at the same point in 2017.
April 25. The home of a family member of a victim of a Muslim sex gang in Telford was set on fire, allegedly to stop the woman from cooperating with police. The arson attack appears to have achieved its objective: The woman, now in her 30s, decided against sharing the names of the members of the gang that operated in the 80s and 90s as she fears for the safety of her family.
April 27. Doctors, nurses and teachers are still nervous about being branded racist if they speak to families about female genital mutilation (FGM), according to Hazel Barrett, a professor at Coventry University and expert in FGM. In an interview with the Evening Standard, Barrett said that despite campaigns, many professionals are still unaware of their legal responsibilities, nervous about how to broach the issue, and concerned about being called racist and rejected by communities with which they work. The Serious Crime Act 2015 requires healthcare professionals, social workers and teachers in England and Wales to report to the police if they think a girl aged under 18 is at risk of FGM.
April 27. Komar Uddin, a 68-year-old Bangladeshi imam living illegally in Britain, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for raping a 19-year-old woman during an exorcism. Judge Timothy Spencer QC said:
"She was 19 years old...young enough to be your granddaughter. She was very vulnerable...grieving for (a family member) who had died. She, like the rest of her family, had a deep belief in the spirit world and in djinns (spirits). You encouraged the belief that you were skilled in ridding believers of bad spirits; evil djinns.... You were invited to their house and it was supposed to be for you to help that young woman with her distress, to rid her of the evil spirits. You used your power over her to violate her for your own sexual gratification and did nothing to assist her distress — you greatly added to her distress. You showed no restraint whatsoever. You had her completely at your mercy and you raped her. It's a shameful betrayal of your religion and the position you held within the Islamic community."
The Leicester Mercury was the only publication to identify Uddin as a Muslim. The BBC referred to the man as a "bogus faith healer." The Daily Mail called him a "spiritual healer."
April 27. Rabar Mala, a 33-year-old Iraqi living illegally in Britain, was sentencedto eight years in prison for helping hundreds of jihadis in Iraq, Syria and Turkey communicate online by activating mobile phone Sim cards for them in the UK. Mala, who lived in Warrington, became what amounted to an IT support worker for the Islamic State. Police determined that Mala had registered and activated 360 Sim cards and used them to help jihadis who had no easy means of registering social media accounts without drawing attention to themselves. Mala was caught only because police linked him to extremist material posted on YouTube.
April 30. Sajid Javid, a 48-year-old first-generation Briton of Pakistani origin, was named Home Secretary of the United Kingdom. As the first-ever British-Muslim to hold the post, the most important cabinet position after that of the prime minister, Javid will be in charge of the UK's immigration, security and counter-terrorism efforts.
Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.
© 2018 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
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California's Loss, Idaho's Gain. High Taxes Claim Another Golden State (??) Business



Price Pump to leave

 Sonoma for Idaho


LORNA SHERIDAN
INDEX-TRIBUNE BUSINESS EDITOR | April 30, 2018, 5:51PM

It’s the end of an era. Price Pump has grown and thrived in Sonoma for 70 years. But before the end of this year, the manufacturer of high-tech pumps will pull up stakes and move its headquarters – lock, stock and pump – to Boise, Idaho.
“It has simply become too difficult and too costly to run a manufacturing business in Sonoma Valley,” said Price Pump President Bob Piazza.
“To pick up and move is traumatic,” he acknowledged. “Some of our employees have worked here for 45 years.
Piazza, 74, shares the emotions of his employees. He has lived in California his whole life and he will also move with his wife of 53 years to Idaho.
“I don’t love change,” he said, “But the way things are going, we don’t have a choice.”
Price Pump was founded in 1932 by E. L. Price in Emeryville. During the 1930s and 1940s its focus was on the manufacture of agricultural pumps. The company relocated to Sonoma in 1948. Jack Price, the son of E.L Price, headed the firm during the 1950s. When Leon J. Paul acquired Price Pump in 1962, he retained the Price brand name because it had a good reputation in the business.
By 1979, Price Pump Company had outgrown its 3,600-square-foot rented space on Fourth Street East and moved to a 10,000-square-foot facility on Eighth Street East. In 1989, the company constructed a 32,000-square-foot facility two miles further down Eighth Street East at 1 Pump Way, where it still operates today. For now.
In 1992, Piazza was recruited to head up the company, bringing with him 24 years of pump experience in marketing, operations, engineering and sales.
So, why Boise?
Piazza is one of three shareholders who own the business, and one of his partners is based in Boise, a location that offers a much lower cost of doing business.
Piazza said that employee reaction to the move, including his own, has gone through stages.
“First it was shock… then everybody started getting interested in learning more about Boise,” he said. “Those that haven’t decided or aren’t moving are pretty quiet… and are thinking about the future here.”
For Quality Assurance Technician Ryan Daley, the news felt like déjà vu.
“When the news broke during a meeting, I was shocked that this is happening to me again,” he said. “I had lost a good job in Sonoma around 2007 due to a manufacturer moving outside of the state”
Piazza offered all employees an all-expenses paid trip with their families to Boise to see the area. A dozen employees have taken him up on the offer and the vast majority came back excited to move.
Daley and his wife visited Boise and the surrounding areas in March.
“We both agreed that the Boise area would be a fantastic place to raise our young family and keep the American dream alive,” he said. “Our quality of life will improve. We will surely miss the beauty, community, friends and mostly family here in Sonoma. I have lived most of my four decades in the Sonoma Valley, but my wife and I are ready for a new adventure.”
Piazza said it turned out to be hard to predict who would be excited to move and who wouldn’t.

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One of his employees is 66 years old and has never worked anyplace other than Price Pump.
“When he said he would move with us, I was surprised,” said Piazza. “But he explained to me that he had planned to work until 70 and it would be hard to get a different job now, but even more… he realized that when he ran the numbers, he wouldn’t even be able to retire in Sonoma at 70.”
Another employee lost his house during the 2009 recession and he’s moving because, he told Piazza, it will be give him a chance to be a homeowner again.
“He gets to keep the same pay, move someplace less expensive and he’ll get a moving allowance and be able to buy a house,” said Piazza.
Piazza’s employees have been pleased to find that they can buy a house in the Boise area that is comparable to their home in Sonoma for less half the cost.
For those who aren’t moving, Piazza has offered a 10 percent bonus to stay on until the end. He has reached out to both Nelson Staffing and Bolt Staffing to help those employees with next steps.
“One company has already reached out to us and they’re interested in hiring all of them,” he said.
Piazza’s long litany of complaints about the business climate in Sonoma center around hiring, the cost of living in California, taxation and labor laws. He has been getting more and more frustrated with “over-regulation” by the county and state government.
“Over the last few years, I found that I can’t ignore all the good reasons to move any longer,” he said. “We’re certainly not the only local manufacturing company that has fled the area.
“Our competitors are now based in Tennessee, Georgia, Louisiana and overseas,” he said. “Large corporations don’t want to do business here.”
He cited the example of a dishwasher manufacturing company. Stero, that was located for years on the corner of Frates Road and Highway 116 in Petaluma.
“They sold to ITW (Illinois Tool Works) and immediately moved the company to Pennsylvania and sold the building,” he said.
“I knew that I would either need to move the business or sell it,” said Piazza. “If I sold, I realized the new owners would face the same challenges and they also end up moving the business and selling the building.”
He said that paying entry level workers, even high school students in summer jobs, at least $15 an hour is a challenge. While Price Pump is outside the city limits, Piazza needs to match offers being made for jobs inside the city limits.
Meanwhile, he agrees that even $15 isn’t a living wage in Sonoma.
“It’s impossible to hire here as workers can’t afford to live here,” he said.
Price Pump owns its building at 21775 Eighth St. E., and it will go up for sale later this year. Piazza feels confident it will sell quickly.
“We’ve already heard from three folks who are interested,” he said. “Properties on Eighth Street East are at a premium and there isn’t much available like this.”
Piazza was recently invited to speak to the Sonoma County Taxpayers Association about the Price Pump move.
The theme of Piazza’s remarks?

“The government has all these progressive ideas but those measures have consequences… and the consequence here is us moving to Idaho,” he said.
Email Lorna at businessnews@sonomanews.com.
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