California Gov. Gavin Newsom enacts new gun regulations
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Gavin Newsom. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed multiple gun control bills into law on Friday, expanding gun violence restraining orders and implementing harsher restrictions for the number of firearms Californians can purchase in a given month, the Sacramento Bee reports.
What's new: Newsom signed 15 bills in total on Friday, extending the length of gun violence restraining orders to a 5-year maximum, and requiring law enforcement agencies to implement written protocols on the use of the petitions.
- Starting July 2021, California residents will be able to buy a single long gun per month. Separately, the state will allow teachers and co-workers to request firearms be removed from those thought to be dangerous starting Sept. 2020. According to the AP, that makes California the "first state" to do so.
- Newsom also OK'd a law requiring ammunition vendors at gun shows to adhere to the same regulations as firearms dealers, and he signed a plan that would ban Californians from selling sizable quantities of guns without proper licensing.
The big picture: The state has already experienced dozens of mass shootings in 2019, data from the Gun Violence Archive shows.
- 17 other states and Washington, D.C. already had similar gun violence restraining order laws in place, but the bill Newsom signed on Friday makes the state's regulation the most expansive in the nation, AP notes.
Background: Previously, only family members and police officers were allowed to file gun violence restraining orders against individuals. Once an order has been filed against someone, that individual cannot purchase or possess a firearm.
