California governor signs gun control laws News
California governor signs gun control laws

California Governor Jerry Brown [official website] on Friday signed 20 bills into law [legislative list], six of which were bills altering the gun laws in the state [LA Times report]. Brown stated [text, PDF] that he signed the bills “to enhance public safety by tightening our existing laws in a responsible and focused manner, while protecting the rights of law-abiding gun owners.” The bills have various effects, such as expanding the definition of “assault weapon” [AB 1135 text; SB 880 text], specifying relationships qualified for lending weapons [AB 1511 text], making it a misdemeanor to make a false report about a lost or stolen firearm [AB 1695 text], creating regulations regarding who can purchase ammunition [SB 1235 text], and prohibiting possession of a large-capacity magazine capable of holding more than ten rounds [SB 1446 text]. The laws come after months of debate within the state following the San Bernardino shootings.

Gun control [JURIST backgrounder] and the Second Amendment continue to be controversial topics across the US. Last week 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.

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