California lawmakers are considering legislation that would tighten state gun laws to include private purchases. Four separate but related Assembly bills addressing gun violence were introduced in early March at the State Capitol.
Assembly Bill 1674 would help expand California’s one-purchase-a-month handgun limit to include all firearms. It also would extend the limit to gun dealers.
In mass shooting cases, nearly 80 percent of shooters, including those in San Bernardino, obtained their guns legally.
Critics say more gun laws will not reduce or have any effect of the violence taking place in communities.
“It is clear that we have to have to do more than to keep firearms out of the hands of people who seek to harm our community,” said Assemblyman Mike Gipson of Carson, a former police officer.
Previously, policy makers have believed that the bulk of gun violence has been committed primarily with handguns.
"Absent any data collection and analysis to the contrary, this perception has held for several decades, and has resulted in current law in California, which limits new handgun purchases to one per month per person,” said Bill Quirk, member of the Assembly Committee on Public Safety.
Long guns are a significant part of California’s gun trafficking problem. Over the past 10 years, Californians have typically purchased more long guns than handguns, 538,149 guns in 2013.
The California Brady Campaign believes that handguns and long guns should be subject to the same laws.
According to the California Brady Campaign, 26,682 crime guns were entered into the Department of Justice Automated Firearms Systems database in 2009. The Department of Justice noted that nearly half the illegal firearms recovered were 11,500 long guns including both shotguns and rifles were in hands of people who weren’t supposed to own them.
Although AB 1674 passed out of committee on a 5-2 vote, opponents argued the law will eliminate the ability of a California gun owner to sell, buy or even trade firearms during the first 30-days of transaction.