California Governor Gavin Newsom made a considerable move pertaining to gun control on Tuesday when he signed more than 20 bills into law related to firearms. The laws encompass a multitude of areas including an increase in taxes, requirements for gun dealers, waiting periods, criminal penalties, and a prohibition on certain individuals from owning firearms. They also include provisions concerning the distribution of safety materials.
The legislation includes Assembly Bill (AB) 1598, which mandates that a gun dealer must provide the most recent safety pamphlet to anyone purchasing a firearm. Furthermore, it necessitates that a purchaser complete a written safety examination, which outlines “the reasons for and risks of owning a firearm and the increased risk of death to someone in the household by suicide, homicide, or unintentional injury”.
Additionally, the AB-724 expands language options for safety instruction manuals and written tests beyond English and Spanish – a move aligning with demographic demands. The new law includes additional languages such as traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Korean, Dari and Armenian.
A key bill from this recent signing is the AB-28. This law imposes an excise tax on firearms and ammunition within the state. The legislation seeks to address the brutal fact that gun violence is now the leading cause of death or injury for children and teenagers, disproportionately affects the Black community, and is exacerbated by some gun dealers selling guns to the illegal market. Therefore, the state will impose an 11 percent tax on firearms dealers and manufacturers, as well as ammunition vendors, with revenues being channelled into programs to assist those affected by gun violence.
Newsom stated:
“While radical judges continue to strip away our ability to keep people safe, California will keep fighting — because gun safety laws work. The data proves they save lives: California’s gun death rate is 43 [percent] lower than the rest of the nation. These new laws will make our communities and families safer.”
These developments come amidst controversial rulings related to gun control in the United States. Most notably, a federal judge recently deemed California’s law banning high-capacity gun magazines unconstitutional, considering it violated the Second Amendment.