Governor Brown takes action on Gun Bills

GAINES & ASSOCIATES

 SPECIAL REPORT

CALIFORNIA STATE LEGISLATURE

Earlier today, Governor Jerry Brown took action on several gun control bills placed on his desk late yesterday by a State Legislature anxious to get the proposals to the Governor prior to breaking for their month long Summer Recess today.

As you are aware from recent “Gaines & Associates – Special Reports – California State Legislature Updates”, in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting in early December 2015, the 2016 Session of the California State Legislature has largely been dominated by firearms-related bills since it began in January.

However, in late April, when Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom announced he had collected the necessary signatures to qualify his highly aggressive “Safety for All Act of 2016” gun control initiative for the November 2016 statewide ballot, it further fueled a rift between liberal urban State Legislators and Newsom over who was in the lead on gun control in our state – launching a second wave of anti-gun bills at our State Capitol.

This past week – with the 2016/17 State Budget passed and lawmakers scheduled to break for their July summer recess today – anti-gun Legislators pushed hard to move their gun control package to the Governor’s desk before the break.  The fast and furious activity concluded late yesterday afternoon with several gun bills being delivered to the Governor for his consideration.  With the Governor slated to leave for his own vacation in Europe this afternoon, all indications were that he would act quickly…and he did.

Below is his press release.

In an all-out effort to slow the anti-gun onslaught, Gaines & Associates has been actively working the State Capitol over the past several weeks and days, alongside the California Rifle and Pistol Association, California Waterfowl Association and a small handful of other united interests.  Yesterday afternoon, just moments after the gun bills were passed to his desk, we also met with the Governor’s Office to discuss our very serious concerns. That meeting was followed up yesterday evening with the delivery to the Governor of five coalition letters coordinated and written by Gaines & Associates and signed by twelve different conservation organizations requesting his veto. In short, we collectively did all we could to stop the anti-gun push of California’s liberal urban Legislators.

Although we all know it is a major uphill battle, Gaines & Associates is committed to working with all our partners in conservation on possible follow-up legislation next year to address some of the many serious concerns the law-abiding hunting and shooting community has with those gun bills signed into law today.

To view the Governor’s press release on all of today’s action, click Governor Brown Issues Legislative Update

Although all of the firearms bills signed today are certainly of serious concern, below is a briefing on those gun bills which will have the most significant impact to the hunting and shooting community.

To view the text of the bill, click on the bill number and author in blue.

For more information on any of the below bills, please contact Gaines & Associates at [email protected]

·         AB 1135 (Levine/Ting) – Assault Weapons – SIGNED

AB 1135, legislation by Assembly Members Marc Levine (D/10-San Rafael) and Philip Y. Ting (D/19-San Francisco), reclassifies some common semiautomatic hunting and target shooting rifles as assault weapons. Specifically, AB 1135 revises the definition of assault weapon to include many common semiautomatic centerfire rifles and pistols that are equipped with a magazine locking device, or “bullet button”, which prevents the removal of the magazine without a tool. The bill exempts those firearms legally possessed prior to January 1, 2017, but does require those possessed from January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2016 to be registered before January 1, 2018.

To view the conservation coalition letter urging a veto on AB 1135 and SB 880, click AB 1135 & SB 880 Coalition Veto Letter

·         AB 1511 (Sanitago/Chiu) – Firearms: Lending – SIGNED

AB 1511 by Assembly Members Miguel Santiago (D/53-Los Angeles) and David Chiu (D/17-San Francisco) will require the loan of a firearm to anyone – except a spouse or registered domestic partner, or to a parent, child, sibling, grandparent, or grandchild – to be conducted through a licensed firearms dealer. The bill will also require any handgun loaned to be registered to the person loaning the handgun.

Prior to passage of this bill, the law allowed for the loan of a firearm between persons who are personally known to each other, if the loan was infrequent and did not exceed 30 days in duration. Prior law also contained an exemption allowing the loaning of a firearm to someone you knew who had a hunting license for the duration of the hunting season.

To view the conservation coalition letter urging a veto on AB 1511, click AB 1511 Coalition Veto Letter

·         AB 1674 (Santiago) – Firearm Transfers – VETOED

AB 1674 by Assembly Member Miguel Santiago (D/53-Los Angeles) would have prohibited the purchase of more than one long gun (e.g. shotgun or rifle) within any 30-day period. Recent amendments taken to the bill would have exempted those who have a valid hunting license, as well as those who obtain a long gun(s) at an auction or event conducted by a nonprofit for fundraising purposes.

However, even as amended, AB 1674 would have had a substantial impact on many of those who participate in our shooting sports and who legally collect firearms. Further, reducing long gun sales to these law-abiding citizens would have also had a significant impact on federal Pittman-Robertson (PR) funding annually made available to our state to manage our wildlife resources and the habitats they depend upon.

To view the conservation coalition letter urging a veto on AB 1511, click AB 1674 Coalition Veto Letter

To view the Governor’s Veto Message on AB 1674, click AB 1674 Veto Message

·         SB 880 (Hall/Glazer) – Assault Weapons – SIGNED

SB 880 by Senators Isadore Hall (D/35-San Pedro) and Steven Glazer (D/07- Walnut Creek) would revise the definition of assault weapon to mean a semiautomatic centerfire rifle, or a semiautomatic pistol that does not have a fixed magazine, but has any one of several specified military type features. Further, the bill closes the “bullet button” loop hole by redefining “fixed magazine” as “an ammunition feeding device contained in, or permanently attached to, the firearm in such a manner that the device cannot be removed without disassembly of the firearm action”.

The bill will require any person who lawfully has possessed an assault weapon from January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2016 that does not have a fixed magazine, as defined – including those with a “bullet button” magazine release – to register the firearm before January 1, 2018.

To view the conservation coalition letter urging a veto on AB 1135 and SB 880, click AB 1135 & SB 880 Coalition Veto Letter

·         SB 894 (Jackson) – Lost or Stolen Firearm: Reporting – VETOED

SB 894 by Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D/19-Santa Barbara) would have required every person to report the theft or loss of a firearm they own or possess to a local law enforcement agency within 5 days of the time they knew or reasonably should have known that the firearm had been stolen or lost. The bill would have also required every person who has reported a firearm lost or stolen to notify the local law enforcement agency within 48 hours if the firearm was subsequently recovered.

Law-abiding hunters and shooters already readily report any theft of a firearm they own or possess, as soon as they become aware. SB 894 would have placed them in jeopardy of criminal prosecution – regardless of whether they knew or not that their firearm was stolen – if law enforcement believed “they should have known” it was stolen.

To view the conservation coalition letter urging a veto on SB 894, click SB 894 Coalition Veto Letter

To view the Governor’s Veto Message on AB 1674, click SB 894 Veto Message

·         SB 1235 (de Leon) – Ammunition – SIGNED

SB 1235 by Senator Kevin de Leon (D/24-Los Angeles) will, among many other things, require all ammunition vendors to obtain an ammunition vendor license and require the Department of Justice (DOJ) to maintain a detailed database on vendors; require DOJ to establish a database on those who purchase ammunition including their name; date of birth; address; driver’s license number; and brand, type, amount and date of sale of ammunition purchased; require DOJ to electronically approve the purchase or transfer of ammunition to the buyer by cross-referencing their information with data maintained in the Automated Firearms System; and require ammunition to be purchased “face-to-face” with few exceptions – thus prohibiting all internet and mail order purchases unless done through a licensed dealer.

As amended in late June, SB 1235 would make some changes to the language of Newsom’s “Safety for All Act”, should the Act pass in November – including delaying implementation of many of the Act’s provisions until July 1, 2019, and charging ammunition purchasers and transferees a per transaction fee not to exceed $1.

To view the conservation coalition letter urging a veto on SB 1235, click SB 1235 Coalition Veto Letter

To view the Governor’s signing message on those bills he signed into law, click Governor’s Signing Message

 “Safety for All Act of 2016” Initiative

Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom’s “Safety for All Act of 2016” – a.k.a. “The Newsom Initiative” – is easily the most aggressive single gun control package ever brought forward in California or beyond. Among other things, this vicious initiative, which reportedly will be brought before all California voters on the November 2016 ballot, would:

• Ban all on-line and mail order sales of ammunition;
• Require all who purchase ammo to apply for a “firearms purchaser certificate” which would cost up to $50, take up to a month to obtain, and have to be renewed every 2 years;
• Require the tracking of what type of ammunition you buy;
• Require all who sell more than 500 rounds in a year to register with the CA Department of Justice (DOJ);
• Ban possession of, and confiscate lawfully purchased magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds – regardless of when you purchased them;
• Ban all private transfer of ammunition – including, for example, giving youth any ammunition in the field, during hunter education courses or at the range;
• Prohibit bringing ammunition purchased out of state back into CA;
• Prohibit any ammunition purchased at a range from leaving the range; and
• Require ammunition buyers to undergo a background check before they purchase any

Although each of the above “gun control” tactics have been proposed in some form or another in the California State Legislature in the past, never have they all been rolled up into one omnibus proposal, nor put to a statewide vote. In fact, this proposal is so aggressive that it has ignited a feud between Newsom and anti-gun Legislators at our State Capitol who believe it goes so far that, it could not only fail, but it could also derail the more much calculated attack on firearms well underway at the State Capitol.

Helping to defeat this proposal in November will be a top priority of Gaines & Associates.

To view the entire text of this massive attack on our Second Amendment rights, click “Safety for All Act of 2016”

This Gaines & Association “Special Report” provides the current status of those gun control bills of greatest interest to our clients. For full detail on any other piece of legislation or any other issue of concern, please contact us at [email protected]

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