When you thought West Coast gun laws were already prohibitive, California Gov. Gavin Newsom swooped in on Tuesday and signed more than a dozen new ones.
Newsom, a career Democrat who previously served as the state's lieutenant governor of California and the mayor of San Francisco – the latter while Kamala Harris was district attorney – has always positioned himself as being "tough on guns" and this week was no exception.
"In the absence of congressional action, our state is once again leading the way by strengthening our nation-leading gun laws," said Newsom in a statement issued by his office alongside the bill signing of 24 measures.
While Newsom's office described the latest gun control package as "bipartisan" the Democrat-dominated (Assembly 62-17, Senate 31-9) state legislature sent most of the bills to his desk only after largely partisan votes with several Dems even crossing the line to canvas with the GOP on the more controversial proposals, such as SB 53.
The bipartisan label only comes as 11 of the 24 bills, AB 960, AB 1974, AB 1858, AB 2565, AB 2621, AB 2629, AB 2759, AB 2822, AB 2907, AB 3072, and AB 3083 – which take popular, and typically non-gun-related, moves to beef up school safety, expand risk assessments for court monitored family reconciliations, restrict domestic violence, and provide law enforcement training – received unanimous or near-unanimous support.
All the proposals were introduced and sponsored by progressive California Dems.
The anti-gun measures included:
AB 1252 by Asm. Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) – Codifies the Attorney General's gun-ban-advocating Office of Gun Violence Prevention. As detailed by the NRA-ILA, "While proponents claim the purpose is to conduct 'research,' the Office of Gun Violence Prevention and newly established Commission will likely only serve to advocate for gun control policies using taxpayer dollars."
AB 2642 by Asm. Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) – Create a presumption that a person who openly carries a firearm – real or fake – while near election-related activities would be presumed to have "engaged in prohibited intimidation."
AB 2739 by Asm. Brian Maienschein (D-San Diego) – Would deem an unlawfully carried firearm a nuisance and subject to forfeiture and destruction.
AB 2842 by Asm. Diane Papan (D-San Mateo) – Require a law enforcement agency that contracts with a third party to destroy firearms to ensure that the contract blocks the later sale of "any parts of, or attachments to, the firearm."
AB 2917 by Asm. Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Los Angeles) – Expands California’s existing "red flag" gun seizure law to make it easier for a court to issue such orders. The NRA-ILA notes, "If issued, Gun Violence Protective Orders result in a five-year firearm prohibition, subject to indefinite renewals. These so-called 'red flag' orders deprive citizens of their fundamental rights and property without due process safeguards and a clear evidentiary basis."
AB 3064 by Asm. Brian Maienschein (D-San Diego) – Adds pages of new guidelines to the state's already legally suspect approved roster of gun safes and safety devices. According to Gun Owners of California, "Unfortunately, this bill will do little to chill the criminal use of firearms, nor will it increase the overall safety of the public. Rather, it will force business entities to pay a fee to the state for the simple purpose of having a firearm safety device on the market in California. Further – and more significantly – the bill will place lawful, responsible gun owners in a precarious position of falling outside of the law should one of these devices no longer be on the certified list."
SB 53 by Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-Burbank) – Mandatory firearms storage. The NRA-ILA notes, "SB 53 ignores the U.S. Supreme Court decision in D.C v. Heller which argued that storage requirements that prevent gun owners from easily accessing their firearms are unconstitutional."
SB 758 by Sen. Thomas Umberg (D-Santa Ana) – Makes it a felony for an adult to "illegally transfer" a centerfire semiautomatic rifle to a minor.
SB 899 by Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) – Extends the firearm and ammunition surrender procedures that currently apply to domestic violence restraining orders to "red flag" gun seizure cases, including authorizing search warrants for ammo.
SB 902 by Sen. Richard D. Roth (D-Riverside) – Strips gun rights from those convicted of a misdemeanor animal cruelty crime. The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights lobbied against the move.
SB 965 by Sen. Dave Min (D-Irvine) – Requires detailed reporting of state inspections of firearms dealers and ammunition vendors.
SB 1002 by Sen. Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas) –Bans the possession of ammunition for individuals already subject to some mental illness-related firearms prohibitions and authorizes search warrants for compliance. California Attorneys for Criminal Justice opposed the measure.
SB 1019 by Sen. Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas) – Mandates that guns confiscated, seized, abandoned, unclaimed, or surrendered to law enforcement in the state that is marked for disposal have to be destroyed "in its entirety by smelting, shredding, crushing, or cutting all parts of the firearm, including any attachments."
