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Brady Applauds California Governor Newsom for Signing Comprehensive Package of Gun Safety Bills
Sacramento, California, October 11, 2019 — Brady and its California chapters applaud Governor Newsom for signing a comprehensive package of gun safety bills into law. Newsom held a press conference Friday, joined by Brady California’s Legislative Chair Amanda Wilcox, to announce the signing of laws that will strengthen restrictions on semi-automatic rifles and ghost guns, improve the state’s Gun Violence Restraining Order (GVRO) law (sometimes called a “red flag law*”), and improve the implementation and enforcement of California's already strong gun laws.
Members of Brady’s California chapters lobbied, and placed more than 1,300 calls into offices to ensure the bills were signed into law. Wilcox was one of the few individuals to testify at committee hearings on SB 61, AB 1669, and many other gun violence prevention bills that Newsom signed into law.
SB 61 (Portantino) will limit the number of semi-automatic rifles that a person can purchase within a 30-day period and further restrict the sale of semi-automatic weapons to people under the age of 21. These weapons have been used in numerous mass shootings in California. AB 1669 (Bonta) will assist in covering the costs of vital measures like background checks by raising the dealer’s record of sale fee consumers pay when purchasing a firearm.
Wilcox stated, “These bills strengthen California’s already strong gun laws and are evidence that California continues to invest in and protect the safety of our communities. I’m incredibly proud of our Brady California chapters and their hard work that ensured these bills were signed into law. I’m grateful that Governor Newsom has been such a strong ally of the gun violence prevention movement, understands the importance of keeping guns out of the wrong hands, and has taken action to show his commitment.”
Mattie Scott, President of Brady California added, “Since the beginning of this year’s legislative session, California has suffered numerous high-profile massacres, including those at the Garlic Festival in Gilroy and at the Chabad of Poway synagogue. In just these two shootings, four people were killed, and 20 lives were changed forever. This doesn’t even include the daily gun violence in California that kills 3,000 Californians each year. Despite the fact that California has some of the strongest gun laws in the country, and has seen a decline in gun deaths four times greater than the rest of the nation, there is still more we can do. Brady is proud to stand with the Governor today as he signs these critical bills into law.”
Brady also supports a range of other gun violence prevention bills that the Governor signed, including:
AB 879 (Gipson) — Requires parts needed to assemble or manufacture a gun to be purchased from a licensed firearm precursor part vendor and includes an instant background check and record. This bill works to prevent the creation of ghost guns or 3D guns by prohibited purchasers
AB 339 (Irwin) — Requires local law enforcement agencies to establish policies and standards for implementing the state’s gun violence restraining order (GVRO)
AB 521 (Berman) — Establishes a program to train physicians how to talk about gun safety with their patients
AB 61 (Ting) — Expands GVRO petitioners to include school employees and work colleagues, as specified
AB 1493 (Ting) — Allows the subject of a GVRO petition to submit a form to the court voluntarily relinquishing their firearm rights and stating that the subject is not contesting the petition.
AB 1297 (McCarty) — Requires the issuing authority (i.e. sheriff) to charge a fee sufficient to cover the cost of issuing and enforcing a concealed-carry permit.
AB 1603 (Wicks) — Codifies the establishment of the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant Program.
AB 164 (Cervantes) — Prevents individuals who are subject to out-of-state restraining or protective orders from purchasing or possessing a firearm in California.
SB 376 (Portantino) — Brings the sale, lease, or transfer of long guns in line with California’s regulations exempting infrequent transfers of handguns from the requirement to be a licensed dealer, and requires anyone manufacturing 50 or more firearms per year to be licensed as a manufacturer.
AB 645 (Irwin) — Requires that the warnings on packaging of firearms sold or transferred in California by a licensed dealer to include the national suicide prevention lifeline phone number. It also requires that this specified statement be included in the warnings provided to a person taking the firearm safety certificate test.
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Brady California is the largest and most effective gun violence prevention group in the state. Over the past 20 years, our advocates have successfully carried more than 70 pieces of improved legislation from concept through enactment. Those carefully crafted laws have made California one of the safest states in the country.