California’s legislature has approved far-reaching bills to bolster the state’s strong gun restrictions, sending Gov. Jerry Brown a package of measures revived after the deadly attack last year in San Bernardino, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Lawmakers moved all 12 bills taken up, including those expanding the 1989 ban on assault weapons, barring possession of high-capacity magazines that accommodate more than 10 rounds of ammunition, instituting tighter deadlines for owners to report stolen firearms, and regulating ammunition sales.
While California’s gun control laws are among the nation’s toughest, the latest legislation effort comes amid a series of massacres dominating the headlines – from the December shooting in San Bernardino where husband-wife terrorists killed 14 people to the recent attack at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., where an aggrieved shooter gunned down 49 people and injured more than 50 others. Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León wrote the ammunition regulation bill after a past attempt requiring in-person ammo sales was tossed out in court for being too vague. He called it “ridiculous” that terrorist sympathizers and some gangs are exploiting broken gun laws to harm communities. The fate of the proposed measures is now with Brown, who has signed some gun bills and vetoed others in his second stint as governor. Brown suggested yesterday that he will again take mixed action on the gun control measures.