Governor signs, vetoes new gun laws for California

Gov. Jerry Brown’s decision today to sign six gun control measures into law was roundly criticized by two Riverside County Republication legislators, who characterized the bills as an attack on the freedoms of` “law-abiding citizens,” while Democratic Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia praised Brown’s action.
“I am disappointed that the governor sided with those who do not believe the Second Amendment to the Constitution should be respected and followed,” said state Sen. Jeff Stone, R-Palm Desert.
“The bills the governor signed target law-abiding citizens who choose to exercise their constitutional rights to keep and bear arms (and) will do nothing to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.”
Brown signed Assembly Bills 1135, 1511 and 1695, as well as Senate Bills 880, 1235 and 1446. He vetoed five other gun control proposals approved by the Legislature.
Brown also vetoed a bill by Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, which sought to reinstate felony penalties for gun thefts.
AB 1176 would have offered voters an opportunity in November to revise a provision in Proposition 47 that reduced most firearms thefts to misdemeanors.
“It’s baffling. After a week where the Legislature passed numerous anti-gun laws aimed not at criminals but at law-abiding citizens, the only sensible legislation that specifically targeted criminals the governor vetoes,” Melendez said. “When will the Democrats stop protecting criminals and start defending the rights of Californians?”
In his veto message, Brown said that Melendez’s proposal was “nearly identical to one which will already appear on the November ballot.”
Melendez opposed all six gun control measures signed by the governor, as did Stone, Sen. Richard Roth, D-Riverside, and Assemblyman Chad Mayes, R-Rancho Mirage.
Garcia, D-Coachella, supported all of them, and Assemblyman Jose Medina, D-Riverside, voted for three — AB 1695, SB 1235 and SB 1446 — while either opposing or abstaining on the others.
Medina did not respond to a request for comment, but Garcia said “I commend the governor for signing a handful of common sense guns laws that save lives in California, while continuing to protect the rights of gun owners.”

“If these new gun laws save one life — and they will — it is worth it,” said local Moms Demand Action leader Dori Smith. “Why do gun advocates’ rights trump the rights of other Californians to live, work and be happy without the fear of being shot down in their own homes, in their offices, in their churches, at the movies? Or while walking into a deli like Chris Martinez was doing when he was killed in Isla Vista?”
Brown said he signed the six bills “to enhance public safety by tightening our existing laws in a responsible and focused manner.”
Senate Pro Tem President Kevin De Leon, D-Los Angeles, said the measures
represented a “sensible (approach) to make it harder (for criminals) to get their hands on guns and ammunition.”
De Leon’s SB 1235 will require anyone purchasing ammunition to undergo a background check and prohibit online sales of ammunition except to authorized
dealers.
The bill is much like the California Handgun Ammunition Registration Act De Leon pushed as an assemblyman in 2009 and then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
signed into law. However, it was invalidated by an appellate court ruling in 2011 for being an infringement on lawful commerce.
AB 1135 and SB 880 together broaden the definition of “assault weapon” to include any rifle configured to accept detachable magazines, prohibiting sales of a large number of currently legal rifles and requiring current owners to register their firearms with the state.
AB 1511 will limit a firearm owner to loaning his or her gun to immediate family and grandparents only, and SB 1446 will prohibit possession of so-called “large capacity magazines” that hold 10 or more rounds.
AB 1695 will make it a misdemeanor crime to falsely report a gun as lost or stolen.
Most of the bills take effect next year.
The Firearms Policy Coalition argued that SB 880, which is expected to prompt lawsuits that may put the measure in legal limbo, will inaugurate the “largest gun ban in California history,” forcing the “registration of millions of semi-automatic rifles in common use and protected under the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence countered that the bill will rectify an “imprecise definition (in the California assault weapons ban) to evade the intent of the law…. This loophole must be closed.”
“Many of the bills signed today will certainly be litigated as they clearly are in violation of the Second Amendment,” Stone said.
“We all want to see a decrease in gun violence, but criminalizing gun ownership instead of prosecuting criminals who use guns to commit crime is not the answer.”