California lawmakers send strong gun safety package to Governor
Bills improving firearm relinquishment, protecting our elections, and establishing a permanent Office of Gun Violence Prevention are among GIFFORDS-backed bills that passed.
Sacramento, CA — GIFFORDS, the national gun violence prevention organization founded by former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, praised the California Legislature for passing nearly 20 life-saving gun safety measures.
“California lawmakers have sent Governor Newsom another robust gun safety bill package that included the top priorities for California’s gun safety movement. From strengthening laws that remove firearms from dangerous situations to enshrining California’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention in statute, the California Legislature proved its resolve to prevent gun violence does not waiver,” said Ethan Murray, GIFFORDS State Policy Attorney. “Californians will be safer when this critical legislation is signed into law.”
Major bills for the gun violence prevention movement include:
- AB 1252 (Wicks/Gabriel) makes the Office of Gun Violence Prevention permanent by enshrining it into California statute. In 2022, GIFFORDS applauded Attorney General Rob Bonta for creating California’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which has already released several reports.
- AB 2642 (Berman/Gipson), The PEACE Act, improves protections for California’s voters and dedicated civil servants who administer elections. Under this bill, individuals who engage in intimidating, threatening, or coercive behavior towards election workers or voters may be subject to civil lawsuits in state court. The urgency for these protections is underscored by a joint report on guns and voting GIFFORDS co-authored with the Brennan Center for Justice.
- SB 899 (Skinner/Blakespear) creates a consistent process for courts to ensure that people deemed a threat to themselves or others no longer have access to firearms. It builds upon proven policy previously sponsored by GIFFORDS, SB 320 (Eggman) in 2021, which improved firearm relinquishment rates in domestic violence cases.
- SB 53 (Portantino): This bill creates critical barriers to suicide, unintentional shootings, and theft by requiring gun owners to store their firearms in a DOJ-certified and tested locked container or with a safety device.
- SB 1002 (Blakespear): This bill better ensures people who are prohibited from having firearms due to mental health crises relinquish their firearms. Critically, it begins to address the backlog of nearly 4,800 people who remain armed despite being prohibited from possessing firearms due to mental health concerns.
- SB 1019 (Blakespear): Working in concert with AB 2842 (Papan), this bill ensures that the firearms turned over in gun buybacks or confiscated by law enforcement in criminal investigations are destroyed. The bill closes, at least in California, a loophole in Federal law that allows gun destruction companies to destroy one part of the gun and resell the rest as gun kits.
- AB 2842 (Papan): Working in concert with SB 1019, this bill clarifies that law enforcement contracts with third-party firearm destruction companies must include provisions forbidding the resale of any parts of the firearms set to be destroyed.
- SB 902 (Roth): Based on research that links animal cruelty to future firearm violence, this bill prohibits a person who is convicted of misdemeanor animal abuse from having firearms for ten years.
- Additionally, Assemblymember Petrie-Norris sponsored a package of bills aimed at keeping children safe.
This year’s gun safety bill package follows impressive progress during the Newsom administration. In July, GIFFORDS released Leadership in the Storm: Gavin Newsom and Gun Safety in California. The report highlights how, despite significant challenges, California has continued to make enormous strides in gun violence prevention efforts.
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