Gavin Newsom Signs Bill Restricting Rifle Purchases by Californians

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed legislation Friday to limit rifle purchases by Californians.

The Sacramento Bee reports the legislation limiting rifle purchases was sponsored by Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge). The Bee also reports similar legislation was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown (D) on three different occasions.

But Newsom signed it, thereby expanding California’s one-handgun-a-month rule to include semiautomatic centerfire long guns as well.

In the signing the purchase limits, Newsom intimated he is still unsure about the number of  guns Californians should be able to buy.

He said:

There’s a sense that if you feel like someone has a right to access something, you can restrict it but with certain limitations. We’ve done that with other types of weapons and used that model of one a month for those types of weapons, so my thinking was, “All right, this is at least consistent with previous established efforts.’ But it’s a legitimate and open-ended question of what’s that appropriate number.”

Newsweek reports Newsom also signed a bill will requiring that firearm parts–particularly those use to build rifles at home–will now have to be purchased, “through a licensed vendor.” California already has the same law for ammunition, prohibiting bullets purchases from anyone other than state-approved vendor.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News 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.