California lawmakers passed four new gun control bills during the recent legislative session, all four of which are now headed to Gov. Jerry Brown’s (D) desk for a signature.
California has universal background checks, firearm registration requirements, gun confiscation orders, and a requirement that would-be gun buys first acquire a gun safety certificate from the state. California also has a 10-day waiting period on gun purchases, a one-handgun-a-month purchase limit, an “assault weapons” ban, and “good cause” requirement for concealed carry permit issuance. Campus carry is prohibited in California and K-12 teachers with concealed carry permits are barred from possessing a gun on their campuses for defense of themselves and/or their students.
Yet California Democrats want more gun control.
On August 31, 2018, Breitbart News reported that lawmakers passed an bill raising the minimum age for long gun purchases from 18 to 21. Supporters of the measure pointed to the May 18, 2018, Santa Fe High School shooting, in Texas, and the December 14, 2012, Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, in Connecticut. They did not mention that in both situations the attackers used guns that belonged to other people, so an increased age requirement would have been impotent to stop them.
Guns.com reports that state lawmakers also voted to expand Gun Violence Restraining Orders, thereby broadening the number of people who can petition a court to have firearms confiscated from a particular gun owner. Another bill would ration long gun purchases to one a month, just like handguns, while a fourth bill bans gun shows from historic Cow Palace.
The legislation against gun shows was sponsored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who said, “Our country is awash in guns, and schoolchildren are dying. We need fewer guns, and we need to stop the proliferation of guns whose only purpose is to kill as many people as possible as quickly as possible.”
Wiener did not point to a single shooting in which the attacker acquired his or her guns at a gun show.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.