Lawmakers announce gun violence working group

Sixteen California lawmakers met Monday with former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, who was gravely wounded in a 2011 mass shooting, to announce a working group to put together a package of gun legislation, including new taxes on firearms to fund anti-violence programs.

Bills already introduced this year would ban the purchase of more than one gun a month, require guns kept in homes to be locked away from children, and give teachers and co-workers the ability to ask the courts to temporarily take guns from people deemed a public danger.

The package of new bills being developed could seek to expand violence prevention programs in communities, including crisis intervention, mediation and trauma counseling.

Assemblyman Marc Levine of San Rafael has also proposed raising money for prevention programs with a $25 tax on the sale of semiautomatic firearms, such as the handgun used Nov. 7 in a shooting at the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks that left 12 people dead.