[JURIST] California Governor Jerry Brown [official website] signed [official news report] a law which would require individuals to apply for a state-issued firearm registration number where they made their own weapons with parts they have purchased or found. Assembly Bill 857 [statute, PDF] will allow the state to keep track of weapons that individuals make on their own, furthering California’s strict stance on gun-control. Over the past month, Brown has signed into law [JURIST report] a variety of restrictions on guns, including a ban on semi-automatic rifles with detachable magazines and background checks for individuals purchasing ammunition.

Gun control [JURIST backgrounder] and the Second Amendment continue to be controversial topics across the US. Last month the US Supreme Court [official website] ruled [JURIST report] 6-2 that a state law conviction on reckless domestic assault is sufficient to bar possession of a firearm under federal law. Earlier in June Hawaii Governor David Ige signed a bill [JURIST report] requiring gun owners to be listed on an FBI database, notifying police if a Hawaii citizen is arrested in another state and providing a continuous criminal record check on those individuals seeking to possess a firearm. Also in June, the US Supreme Court denied certiorari [JURIST report] in two separate cases challenging bans on assault-style weapons. The court denied the appeals without comment, letting stand lower court rulings that had upheld the bans [JURIST report] as constitutional. In response to the mass killing in Orlando in June, the UN’s top human rights official urged [JURIST report] the US to increase its gun control measures. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] held [JURIST report] in June that the right to carry a concealed gun is not within Second Amendment right to bear arms.