Good News -- the petition has the attention of the Sacramento City Council! Both the Offices of Councilmembers Caity Maple and Phil Pluckebaum reached out and we had a meeting with members of the Office of Arts & Culture in attendance. It was well received and they've asked me to develop some talking points to support overturning the ordinance in an upcoming legislative session of the City Council. 

This deserves a huge thank you to all the petition signers, sharers, and people who have motivated me to take on this effort. 

The next step is I'm gathering talking points in support of overturning the law for the broader council to consider, and -- at some point -- will likely address the council to encourage them to overturn this law. 

In prep for those talking points, I was challenged to find the answer to the lingering questions of  "What is the punishment for this antiquated law? What happens to somebody if they are charged?"

Well, after some digging, I found the answer!

In Section 3, the City Code says:

Any person, firm, or corporation violating any of the provisions of this ordinance shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not exceeding Five Hundred Dollars, or by imprisonment in the City Jail for a term not exceeding six months, OR by both fine and imprisonment. 

I am absolutely baffled by the idea that a comic creator like me could go to a comic book signing at a local comic shop, library, or even an art museum and could end up in jail or with a stiff fine if I sold one of my books to a 14 year old kid. Several of my books depict "bloodshed" and many depict attempted crimes on the list... In the text of the original ordinance, it also talks how books that are sold under the guise of being "adventurous" and "humorous" which mine are... (at least humorous depending on who you ask) --- and to think I could be jailed for what I created and sell is simply ludicrous and stands against the simple tenets of the 1st Amendment.

Redress isn't to jail a creator or a comic book, it's to take the book away from your kid and say "I don't really care how you got that, but I don't think you're ready to read that, bud. Maybe we can find something else in the meantime, because I want to encourage you to read."  

Anyway -- thank you all for signing the petition, for sharing the petition, and helping to support this issue. I know it's a small and simple victory, but (a) only caring about your own rights is exactly how we lose them and (b) we can do small easy preventitive things while we take steps toward addressing the bigger and harder things. 

Thank you. I'll continue to update you on the progress and hopefully we can celebrate this victory soon.