Jerry Brown just made it more difficult for Californians to get permits to carry concealed weapons by signing a “bill that sets tougher standards for Californians to get a county sheriff’s permit to carry a concealed weapon.”
The new measure, Assembly Bill 2103 introduced by Assemblyman Todd Gloria (D-San Diego), requires all concealed carry applicants to complete at least eight hours of gun safety training and demonstrate competency with a live-fire exam.
Gun Violence Restraining Order Proposal
In other legal news, Governor Brown vetoed a proposal that would have expanded the number of people who could petition the courts for an order to remove guns from people they consider dangerous.
California state law currently allows only immediate family members and police officers to seek a “gun violence restraining order” from a judge to temporarily remove firearms from people thought to be a danger to themselves or others. Governor Brown vetoed a bill by Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) that would have allowed teachers, college professors, employers and co-workers to petition a judge for this type of restraining order.
Ting explained that he proposed the new measure in response to the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on February 14, 2018. Prior to the shooting, some school officials had expressed concern about Nikolas Cruz, the 17-year-old shooter who killed 17 students and staff in one of the most deadly school shootings in American history. Ting asserted that an expansion of who is legally allowed to petition a court to remove guns from dangerous individuals may prevent future shootings such as the Parkland from occurring.
Governor Brown feels the expansion of the restraining order policy is not necessary because teachers, healthcare professionals, employers and extended family members can all reach out to local law enforcement officers to express their concerns. It is then up to the law enforcement officers to decide which of the possibly thousands of concerns brought to them are valid and which are not. Supporters of Senator Ting’s bill worry that police officers will not have the time to investigate each and every name brought to them by concerned teachers, colleagues, and employers concerned about a potentially violent individual.
Bump Stock Bill
In other legal action, the Governor also signed a bill (Senate Bill 1346) that will strengthen a law prohibiting multi-burst trigger devices called “bump stocks,” (used by Stephen Paddock, a gunman in Las Vegas who killed 58 people and injured 851 more on October 1, 2017). This was the deadliest mass shooting committed by a single person in U.S. history, and sparked debate about gun laws and the use of bump stocks, which are used on semi-automatic rifles to fire at a rate similar to that of an automatic weapon.
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