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Category: California News

Sacramento, California - Building on budget investments in gun violence prevention, Governor Gavin Newsom today signed a package of 15 bills aimed at strengthening gun violence protections. The bills strengthen gun violence restraining orders, regulate ghost guns to mitigate the use of untraceable firearms by criminals, and will prohibit the sale of firearms and ammunitions at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in the County of San Diego, the City of Del Mar and the City of San Diego starting next year.

“Gun violence is an epidemic in this country, one that’s been enflamed by the inaction of politicians in Washington,” said Governor Newsom. “While Washington has refused to act on even the most basic gun safety reforms, California is once again leading the nation in passing meaningful gun safety reforms.” 

“California continues to be a leader in fighting the threat of gun violence,” said former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, co-founder of Giffords: Courage to Fight Gun Violence. “The legislative package Governor Newsom signed today will help make California safer for all who call it home, and it shows the nation what committed, active, and thoughtful leadership on gun safety looks like. Giffords is proud to have played a strong role in helping craft this package and to have partnered with Governor Newsom, the legislature's gun violence working group, and so many other courageous leaders in California to push these bills to become law.”

The bills signed today by Governor Newsom include the following: 

Strengthening gun violence restraining orders 

Regulating firearms sales 

Additional legislation 

In the 2019-20 state budget, Governor Gavin Newsom and the Legislature made significant investments in gun violence prevention, security for hate-crime targets, and gun safety measures. The budget triples funding for the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Program, which funds support services such as community education, diversion programs, outreach to at-risk transitional age youth and violence reduction models. The budget also secures long-term funding for the Firearm Violence Research Center at the University of California, Davis to circumvent NRA-backed federal limits on research. Previously, the Governor signed AB 1292 by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) which specifies circumstances following the death of a firearm owner, and circumstances in which a person takes a gun from someone committing a crime against them, which allow a firearm to be transferred from one person to another by operation of law without the need to go through a firearms dealer. 

In total, the Governor signed the following gun-related bills:

The Legislature also passed the following resolution, not requiring the Governor’s signature: