Gavin Newsom smiled and shook hands with an assembly of state lawmakers and anti-gun activists after he signed a desk full of new regulations and taxes on firearms in California. 
 
The Democrat, in a nearly hour-long press conference alongside state Attorney General Rob Bonta, dropped his signature on no less than 23 bills forwarded to him by the Dem-controlled legislature in Sacramento. The measures aim to restrict lawful concealed carry in most places, require controversial microstamping on handguns, double the tax on guns, ammo, and gun parts; and beef up programs to remove firearms from individuals. 
 

 
Gun policy bills Newsom signed this week include:
 

• AB 28 Adds an 11 percent excise tax to firearms, ammunition, and some gun parts.
• AB 92 Body armor prohibition for those prohibited from possessing a firearm.
• AB 97 To collect data on unserialized firearms.
• AB 301 Allows courts to consider possession of body armor as a cause to issue a gun violence restraining (temporary gun seizure) order.
• AB 355 Installs an exception for ranges to have an "assault weapon" so long as it is used for peace officer training.
• AB 455  Ups the restrictions against firearm possession for those in pre-trial diversion programs. 
• AB 574 Requires gun dealers to confirm with each buyer the "possession of every firearm that they own or possess." 
• AB 724 Requires that mandatory gun safety certificate instructional materials be made available in Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Korean, Dari, and Armenian.
• AB 725 Expands the definition of a firearm when it comes to mandatory reporting of lost and stolen guns to include the frame or receiver or a "firearm precursor part."
• AB 732 Amends state law by requiring a defendant not in custody to relinquish their firearms within 48 hours.
• AB 762 Ups the annual state grant amount to the California Violence Intervention and Prevention (CalVIP) Grant Program – which frequently issues funds to programs to run "equitable gun violence response" initiatives – to $2.5 million.
• AB 818 Requires police to enter guns into the state's Automated Firearms System if the firearm is found at the scene of a domestic violence incident or during service of other orders.
• AB 1089 Requires anybody who uses a 3-D printer or CNC milling machine to manufacture a firearm to be a state-licensed manufacturer.
• AB 1406 Stretches the state-mandated waiting period for gun purchases from 10 days to as many as 30 days to complete background checks. 
• AB 1420 Ups the ability of the state to inspect conduct inspections and assess civil fines on licensed firearm dealers. It also makes several technical changes including mandating that dealers collect buyer's email addresses.
• AB 1483 Narrows the ability to purchase more than one firearm, completed frame, receiver, or certain "firearm precursor parts" per month. 
• AB 1587 Requires firearms merchants to use credit card merchant category codes for gun and ammo sales.
• AB 1598 Requires updates to the state's $25 mandatory firearm safety test including "the increased risk of death to someone in the household by suicide, homicide, or unintentional injury."
• SB 2 Changes California’s concealed gun permit law by adding stronger storage and training requirements, setting aside a wide range of "sensitive places" as "no gun" zones to include within 1,000 feet of the grounds of any public or private school. Further, it allows agencies issuing permits to require additional fees or liability insurance before granting a CCW. 
• SB 241 Mandates that firearm dealer licensees and any employees annually complete a state-specified training course that includes a written exam.
• SB 368 Expands requirements for licensed firearm dealers for temporarily stored guns. 
• SB 417 Requires licensed firearm dealers in the state to prominently post a 739-word notice written in 1-inch-high font warning potential gun buyers/owners of state firearm laws and the dangers of owning guns.
• SB 452 Drops the state's controversial microstamping requirement until 2028 when it would snap back into effect, barring any licensed firearms dealer from "selling, offering for sale, exchanging, giving, transferring, or delivering a semiautomatic pistol" without the feature. 
   

Sued on Day One

Taking aim at SB 2's "sensitive places" restrictions, three individuals joined by Orange County Gun Owners, San Diego County Gun Owners, the California Gun Rights Foundation, and the Firearms Policy Coalition, filed a Second Amendment lawsuit against Newsom and state officials on Tuesday. 

"SB2 restricts where persons with licenses to carry a concealed weapon may legally exercise their constitutional right to wear, carry, or transport firearms. And it does so in ways that are fundamentally inconsistent with the Second Amendment and the Supreme Court’s decision in Bruen," argues the 20-page complaint.
 

 

"With Gov. Newsom’s signing of SB2 today, California continues to exhibit its disdain for the rights of Californians, the U.S. Constitution, and the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision,” said Cody Wisniewski, the FPC Action Foundation’s General Counsel and Vice President of Legal, and FPC’s counsel. "Unfortunately for California, and contrary to Governor Newsom’s misguided statements, the state does not have the power to unilaterally overrule individual rights and constitutional protections. Fortunately, courts across the nation have already struck down laws just like SB2, and we expect the same result here."

Further, the National Rifle Association released a statement making clear they intend to walk down the same road. 

"These laws will do nothing to impact criminal elements who operate in California; they will only install more roadblocks and hinderances for law-abiding gun owners across the state," said the group. "NRA's legal team will be exploring and pursuing legal challenges to help protect your rights in California and beyond."

Banner image: The Glock 47 9mm, not currently available in California for new commercial purchases due to assorted restrictions. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)