New state gun laws limit buyers, expand seizures
Newsom signs 15 bills that tighten firearms restrictions in response to mass shootings
SACRAMENTO >> Following a string of mass shootings across the country this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday toughened California’s already strict gun control laws, signing a raft of bills of bills that included a major expansion of the state’s red flag law and a ban on the purchase of more than one semiautomatic rifle per month.
Newsom, who was elected last year on a campaign that promised strict limits on firearms, signed 15 bills that are in response to recent mass shootings.
“This continues California’s leadership in terms of gun safety,” Newsom said at a state Capitol bill signing ceremony.
The measure restricting purchases, SB 61, prohibiting Californians from buying more than one semiautomatic rifle per month, was one of three gun bills by state Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge. It also bans the sale of semiautomatic centerfire rifles to people under the age of 21, removing a provision of the law that allowed younger people to buy such
guns if they have a hunting license.
“Our efforts to keep high capacity weapons out of the hands of teenagers, continuing to close loopholes in law, and working with the DOJ and governor’s office this past year on this slate of bills is important and appropriate work that will continue to make our communities safer,” Portantino said Friday.
The restrictions on gun buying were opposed by groups representing gun owners, including the National Rifle Association and its state affiliate, the California Rifle and Pistol Association.
“This bill places burdens on law-abiding residents,” said Amy Hunter, a spokeswoman for the NRA, about SB 61. “It will not make anyone safer.”
Another Portantino measure signed by Newsom reduces the number of firearms an unlicensed individual is annually able to sell and the frequency with which they are able to sell.
“It is my hope that these bills can prevent a future horrendous violent situation,” Portantino said.
Newsom’s action comes just days after a new poll found that 68% of Californians say laws covering the sale of guns should be more strict. The poll, released Oct. 2 by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California, found that 38% of state residents said they are very concerned about the threat of a mass shooting in their area, an increase from the 28% who had the same fear in a PPIC poll two years ago.
Republican legislators opposed the one-gun-amonth bill and criticized the state for failing to remove guns from the hands of thousands of felons and people judged by the court to be severely mentally ill as it is already empowered to do.
“Instead we continue
“Thoughts and prayers are no longer enough. With school and workplace shootings on the rise, it’s common sense to give the people we see every day the power to intervene and prevent tragedies.”
— Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco
to do more and more legislation that interferes with the law-abiding citizen’s right to own and possess firearms, which is their constitutional right to do,” said Assemblyman James Gallagher, R-Yuba City.
The measure eliminating an exemption to the rifle-purchase ban for those under 21 who have hunting licenses was proposed after law enforcement discovered that the 19-yearold who committed a mass shooting at a synagogue in Poway had applied for a hunting license.
However, the hunting license wasn’t valid at the time of the April shooting, which left one person dead and three injured.
A mass shooting that left 17 dead at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in 2018 was cited by lawmakers who approved legislation to expand red flag laws that allow people to petition the courts to remove guns from persons judged a danger to themselves or others.
The law currently allows law enforcement and family members of troubled individuals to ask the courts to issue a “gun-violence restraining order” that takes away their firearms, but the measure signed Friday by Newsom adds teachers, school administrators, employers and co-workers to the list of those who may petition the courts to remove guns.
Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, authored the bill after school officials said they had raised concerns about the behavior of the Parkland shooting suspect before he allegedly went on a rampage in February 2018.
“Thoughts and prayers are no longer enough,” Ting said Friday. “With school and workplace shootings on the rise, it’s common sense to give the people we see every day the power to intervene and prevent tragedies.”
Newsom, who led the 2016 campaign that won voter approval of the gun control initiative Proposition 63, had signaled for months that he wanted to expand the state’s red flag law.
Another measure signed by the governor extends the length of gun-violence restraining orders from one to five years.
Despite gun laws that are the strictest in the nation, California has seen its share of mass shootings, including one July 28 at the Gilroy Garlic Festival that left three people dead and 17 injured.
Within days of the Gilroy shooting, a gunman killed 22 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and another man gunned down nine people outside a nightclub in Dayton, Ohio.
Portantino and Newsom criticized Congress on Friday for failing to take action of its own on gun violence.
“I am very pleased that California continues to lead the nation on gun control, but saddened that despite tragedy after tragedy Washington remains incapable of acting on a national level in the best interests of all our communities,” Portantino said.