On October 11, 2019, Bearing Arms reported that California Governor Gavin Newsom signed over a dozen gun control bills into law.
This signing topped California’s “Gunmaggedon” of 2016, where previous Governor Jerry Brown signed bills that restricted the short-term lending of firearms, created a registry for so-called “assault weapons”, and banned high-capacity magazines.
Newsom’s “Gunmaggedon II” enacted new restrictions on firearm purchases, significantly expanded the state’s “red flag” law, and banned the presence of gun shows fat state-owned facilities, among other things.
“This continues California’s leadership in terms of gun safety,” Newsom sTAted at the 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 weapons guns if they have a hunting license.
The enhancements to California’s “red flag” law, will now virtually allow everyone to petition courts to confiscate people’s firearms.
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 signed another bill that expands the duration of gun violence restraining orders from one to five years, which means an individual could potentially be stripped of their Second Amendment rights for half a decade without ever being convicted of a criminal offense or adjudicated for a mental illness.
Additionally, Newsom signed AB 893, which bans the celebration of guns shows at the state-owned Del Mar Fairgrounds. Another bill, AB 1297, eliminates the maximum limit counties can charge for processing concealed carry applications. These give anti-gun sheriffs the ability to charge individual costs prohibitive fees for just defending themselves.
On top of that, AB 879 mandates that all “precursor parts” sold in the state be sold through a licensed “precursor parts dealer.” As a result, there will be background checks and fees on every purchase of a “precursor part” such as a trigger, a barrel, or an 80% lower.
Cam Edwards broke down what this entails:
This is modeled after California’s new ammunition background check law, which has had thousands of false denials and delays since it went into effect earlier this year. And just like California’s ammunition background check law, which makes it illegal for California residents to bring ammunition purchased out of state back home, this bill creates a new misdemeanor offense for anyone who brings “a firearm precursor part into the state without first having the part delivered to a licensed firearm precursor part vendor.”
California is continuing its descent as one of the most anti-gun states in the country. It is currently ranked 46th for best states for gun owners according to Guns & Ammo magazine. Californians will likely have to turn to nullification measures in order to see any semblance of gun freedom in their state.
