I promised Machtinger a review quite a while back, and apologize it’s taken this long. I read the book and then pondered (while being rather occupied filming robots in space) how to approach the review. In a way the delay answered my question.

If you just sat down and read the book you’d have a good overview of how to avoid, uh, “Imperial entanglements” and a shocking glimpse at how few basic liberties are still available in California. But that may not be the book’s strongest suit. Absorbing it that way makes for a fairly dry read, and you’re likely to be distracted by the “mission adequate” art work. (There was clearly no budget for an illustrator. Fair enough: you aren’t buying this for the pictures.)

During this long delay I’ve had questions from several people about California gun law. One wanted to know about bringing in a handgun from out of state, for example. It took me just minutes to find the answers in Machtinger’s book.

That’s where the book really shines: You have a question, you look up the answer, and in no time at all you have a helpful, if not comforting, dose of advice.

I’m not a lawyer, but Machtinger is. So if you live in California and own a gun, you have my pity. And you should probably have a copy of this on the shelf to keep you, as the title says, out of jail. Especially if you ever, say, want to actually transport your gun in a car. You wouldn’t believe the stupid hoops you’ll have to jump through.

NB: He provides updates on his web site so if you get the 2008 edition you can go here for what Machtinger calls the “mercifully short” 2009 update.