It’s no secret.
California has some of the strictest gun laws in the country.
Concealed carry permits are difficult to get.
Some semi-automatic weapons are illegal.
And as of July 2019, buying ammo will require background checks.
But have ever wondered how did the farthest state in the Wild Wild West reject its ‘guns
‘a blazing’ history to be emblematic of...well, the opposite.
This story starts here.
“Am I under arrest?
Am I under arrest?”
It’s 1967.
As an act of protest against a proposed gun bill, The Black Panther Party walked inside
the California State Capitol, carrying pistols, shotguns, semi-automatic rifles.
Hours later:
“There’s no need for guns,” Reagan.
That’s former President Ronald Reagan.
At the time, he was the Republican governor of California.
After the panthers took their guns to the Capitol, Reagan signed a state law banning
people from carrying loaded weapons in public.
The Mumford Act.
It was the beginning of the something happens, California reacts gun policies.
A man walked onto Cleveland Elementary School’s schoolyard in Stockton toting a pistol he
legally purchased in California and an AKM-47, he legally purchased in Oregon.
Now for those who don’t know, an AKM-47 is a semi-automatic rifle.
A modern version of the AK-47.
It can either fire rapid shots, fire several hundred rounds or bullets per minute.
Back to the story…
The school shooter, a 24 year old with a long rap sheet, though not a felon, killed five
children and injured 30 more people--in less than 3 minutes.
Shortly after school shooting, republican governor George Deukmejian, signed a law classifying
some semi-automatic guns as “assault weapons” and banning magazines with the capacity that
hold more than 10 rounds.
California was first, and eventually the federal government banned assault weapons too.
After the federal law expired, California kept its ban/
While that ban is one way California restricts guns, it’s not the only way.
The state has a lot of rules.
More than I can name, but here are a few, well, maybe more than a few.
-no semiautomatic, center-fire rifle with a forward pistol grip and a detachable magazine
-no guns for someone who has a domestic violence conviction
-no rapid-fire “bump stocks” which turn semi-automatic rifles into rapid-fire machine
guns -AND no selling high-capacity magazines
Do California’s gun laws work?
There’s no clear answer.
Here are the facts:
Yes, California has had more mass shooting deaths in recent decades than any other state.
But we’re by far, the biggest state in the country.
Our gun death rate per capita is the seventh lowest among all states, and it’s been dropping
for more than a decade
Think of gun laws in California like a game of cat and mouse.
Tragedy strikes.
The state makes a rule.
Gun owners figure out a way to get around it.
Repeat.
And repeat.
For example, as the state has gotten stricter on what’s legal and what’s not.
Gun owners have taken to YouTube to build their own firearms.
Building guns for personal use is not illegal.
Owners just have to get a serial number from the state and etch it into the firearm.
California’s focus on gun laws is not going away.
New Democratic governor Gavin Newsom wants to put more money into gun enforcing the state’s
strict gun laws.
That means more money to seize guns from ineligible residents, enforce gun sales laws and support
the Firearms Violence Research Center at UC Davis.
For more on California gun laws, check out our explainer card deck at Calmatters.org.