A group of bills moving through California’s assembly and senate–including one to create a database for ammunition purchases–could create the strictest gun control laws of any state in the union.
According the San Jose Mercury News, the bills being heard in the state senate on August 12 would create a database of all ammo purchases in the state, “make it crime to have a gun that’s not locked up when it’s not being carried, and extend the time for which someone is banned from owning a firearm after making a violent threat.”
On August 13, another slate of bills will come before the State Assembly. These would ban all semi-automatic rifles with a detachable magazines, would “make it a crime to leave a gun unlocked when you’re out of the house, and require those who own high capacity magazines to get rid of them.”
A bill adding a 10 percent tax to all ammunition purchases is still moving through the legislature as well, although it seems to have lost momentum.
Gun control groups like the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C. are hoping that California’s new gun control laws will spur Congress to pass more gun control as well.
But National Shooting Sports Foundation’s senior vice president and general counsel Larry Keane says that is not going to happen: “While [gun control advocates] may try to reignite their lost momentum, I don’t think anything California does is going to affect what Washington does.”
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins.
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