New gun-control laws approved in California

SACRAMENTO >> Responding to last year’s deadly terrorist attack on San Beardino and other mass shootings, the state Senate on Thursday approved a package of sweeping gun-control legislation.

The Senate approved measures that would regulate the sale of ammunition, make several changes to the assault weapons ban lawmakers passed almost two decades ago and close a loophole that allows anyone to borrow a gun for up to 30 days without background checks. Democrats acted over the objections of Republicans, who argued that the new rules would unfairly punish law-abiding gun owners.

Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, hopes to use the Senate’s actions to create momentum in the Capitol that helps carry the bills through the Assembly and to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk as soon as next week. Swift success, he hopes, will convince Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom to yank an initiative from the November ballot that tackles many of the same problems the legislation addresses.

“Hiram Johnson’s vision for empowering citizens didn’t involve burying citizens with an avalanche of initiatives,” de León said of the Califoia goveor credited with creating the state’s cherished system of direct democracy almost a century ago. “This is a common-sense approach.”

But none of it will be easy. Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, has not yet endorsed de León’s strategy, the goveor’s position on the gun legislation remains uncertain and Newsom has vowed not to pull his measure from the ballot no matter what the Legislature does.

Legislation authored by de León in 2009 regulated the sale of ammunition, but a judge later ruled that its definition of ammunition was too vague to enforce.

De León’s Senate Bill 1235 and Assembly Bill 156, authored by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, seek to remedy the problem by defining ammunition as “one or more loaded cartridges consisting of a primer case, propellant and with one or more projectiles.”

The Senate approved both measures on a 24-15 vote.

Sen. Jeff Stone, R-Riverside, insisted that the bills would do nothing to deter criminals from obtaining ammunition, and he noted that Brown has already vetoed a similar piece of legislation.

“They’ll go to the black market to buy their ammunition,” Stone said. “I’m going to stand with the Second Amendment. I urge a no vote.”

The SB 880, authored by Sens. Isadore Hall, D-South Bay, and Steve Glazer, D-Walnut Creek, and AB 1135, authored by Assemblymen Marc Levine, D-Marin County, and Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, seek to modify the assault weapons ban to effectively prohibit “bullet buttons.”

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Aiming to work around current law, which bans long guns with detachable magazines, firearms manufacturers began selling “Califoia compliant” assault weapons with recessed buttons that allow users to instantly detach a magazine by pressing it with the tip of a bullet or another small tool.

The Senate approved these measures on a 24-14 vote.

Califoia’s assault weapons ban has been on the books for close to two decades now, and it baed the importation, manufacture and sale of large-capacity ammunition magazines. It did not, however, place any restrictions on possession of high-capacity magazines.

The SB 1446, authored by Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, would prohibit possession of ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. San Francisco, Suyvale and Los Angeles have already passed local ordinances that make possession of large-capacity magazines a misdemeanor. The Senate approved the measure on a 22-15 vote.

The final two bills the Senate approved this moing are SB 1407, authored by de León, and AB 857, authored by Assemblyman Jim Cooper, D-Elk Grove, which aim to eliminate the proliferation in recent years of so-called “ghost guns,” which are manufactured at home from parts that don’t have serial numbers and can’t be traced by law enforcement officials when they’re used to commit crimes.

The measures would require anyone who manufactures a gun at home to apply to the state Department of Justice for a unique serial number and engrave or permanently affix the number to that firearm within 10 days. The Senate approved those two measures on a 24-14 vote.