Senate votes down gun curbs in wake of Calif. attacks

WASHINGTON In a pair of symbolic votes that underscored the partisan divide over guns, a polarized Senate voted down rival proposals Thursday that could make it harder for people the government suspects of being terrorists from purchasing firearms. The roll calls came a day after the country’s latest mass shooting.

The votes demonstrated that political gridlock over curbing guns remains strong, despite the recent rash of mass shootings in the U.S. and growing attention to potential threats from terrorist groups like the Islamic State.

By 54-45, senators voted down a proposal by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that would let the government bar sales to people it suspects of being terrorists. Though she initially introduced the proposal early this year, it received attention after last month’s terror attacks in Paris.

Minutes earlier, the Senate killed a rival plan by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, that would let the government delay firearms sales to suspected terrorists for up to 72 hours. Under that proposal, the transaction could be halted permanently during that waiting period if federal officials could persuade a judge to do so.

Senators voted 55-44 for Cornyn’s proposal, but it needed 60 votes to pass.

Both votes were mostly party-line. They came a day after a shooting in San Bernardino, California, killed 14 people and wounded 21 others.

Even had the provisions passed, the proposals were going nowhere because they were amendments to a bill eliminating most of President Barack Obama’s health care law, which he is certain to veto.

Democrats said Cornyn’s proposal was a sham because it would be easy for a lawyer to force enough delays to last 72 hours and let gun purchases proceed.

Republicans said the government’s terror watch lists include people who are included erroneously and should not be used to deny people their right to own firearms.

Via: http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article47813025.html 

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Jerry Brown signs gun control bill

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a gun control measure eliminating an exemption for certain semiautomatic pistols from California’s unsafe handgun law, Brown’s office announced Friday.

Assembly Bill 1964, by Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento, is designed to limit the exemption for single-shot pistols from the state’s unsafe handgun roster, excluding semiautomatic pistols altered to not fire in semiautomatic mode.

Gun control advocates argued the exemption allowed gun dealers to sell temporarily altered single-shot pistols to people who could convert them back into semiautomatic weapons that do not comply with state safety requirements.

The California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees, which opposed the bill, said it will “further narrow California’s already onerous and overly burdensome ‘not unsafe’ handgun roster and eliminate more firearms from the non-peace officer marketplace,” according to a legislative analysis.

The bill was passed in the Legislature largely on partisan lines, with Democrats in support and Republicans opposed. Brown, a Democrat, signed the measure without comment.

The measure was one of 15 bills Brown announced signing Friday. In another gun measure, Brown signed legislation requiring local courts to notify the Department of Justice more quickly when actions are taken that would result in a person being prohibited from owning guns, such as being found mentally incompetent to stand trial.

Assembly Bill 1591, by Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian, R-San Luis Obispo, shortens from two court days to one the time in which courts must make such a notification.

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A state audit last year found California courts did not file at least 2,300 prohibited person reports to the Department of Justice from 2010 through 2012.

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California trio introduces gun bill

WASHINGTON -- Nearly two weeks after a mass shooting left seven people dead in Isla Vista, a trio of California’s Democratic lawmakers introduced federal legislation intended to keep guns out of the hands of people who poses a risk of committing violence.

The Pause for Safety Act, sponsored by Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein with Rep. Lois Capps of Santa Barbara, would enable family members and others to seek a court order to stop a dangerous person from purchasing or possessing a firearm.

“We must do everything in our power to keep firearms out of the hands of those who pose a serious risk of harm to themselves or to others,” Feinstein said.

On May 23, 22-year-old Elliot Rodger killed six people, then himself, in a rampage near theUniversity of California at Santa Barbara. Rodger was undergoing treatment for mental illness and family members worried he might hurt himself or others. But law enforcement officers didn’t see any red flags when they interviewed him before the shooting spree.

“It is haunting to me that the family of the gunman was desperate to prevent an act of violence and alerted police, but they were still unable to stop this tragedy,” Boxer said.

Feinstein knows the issue personally. In November 1978, former San Francisco Supervisor Dan White shot and killed both Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk at City Hall. Feinstein, then president of the Board of Supervisors, found her colleagues’ bodies, and it fell to her to deliver the shocking news to the media.

Though a series of mass shootings in recent years in Virginia, Arizona, Colorado and Connecticut drove a new push for stricter gun laws, gun-rights groups have pushed back. A bipartisan bill to broaden background checks for gun purchases failed in the U.S. Senate last year, as did an effort by Feinstein to renew a ban on military-style assault rifles.

The latest bill comes as members of Congress are preoccupied with midterm elections. TheNational Rifle Association has typically opposed any legislation, state or federal, that seeks to limit firearms possession, and has funded efforts to defeat lawmakers who support such measures.

“Unfortunately this is another tragedy that was not prevented by gun control and there’s not ... another gun control law that could have been passed that would have prevented this awful situation from happening,” NRA spokesman Chris Cox said on a radio program this week, referring to the Isla Vista shootings.

via: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/06/05/6462105/california-trio-introduces-gun.html

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California lawmakers question gun confiscation shortcomings

Lawmakers pressed officials on Monday to improve the speed and efficiency of a state program used to seize guns from Californians prohibited from owning firearms.
Known as the Armed Prohibited Persons System, the program examined in a recent state audit targets Californians who became ineligible to own guns due to mental illness or criminal convictions. As of Jan. 1, the Department of Justice will be able to compare the list against a data on long gun purchases made after that date.

Among the issues spotlighted during a Wednesday hearing of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee were a massive backlog of gun owners yet to be reviewed and gaps in communication between courts and mental health providers, who are able to determine when someone forfeits his right to possess firearms, and the Department of Justice.

"I want to get this problem solved," said Assemblyman Allan Mansoor, R-Costa Mesa, who peppered witnesses with questions about data sharing. "I think it's embarrassing, quite frankly."

Three courts surveyed by the state auditor's office failed to consistently report banned individuals to the Department of Justice, State Auditor Elaine Howle said. The audit found 22 mental health facilities not on the Department of Justice's outreach list.
Howle recommended that courts, like mental health facilities, be required to communicate with the Department of Justice within 24 hours of determining someone should be barred from owning guns.

"We think the department of justice needs to do a better job of reaching out to courts and reminding them of their reporting requirements," Howle said.
Amid a broad push for tighter gun control laws, the Legislature this year approved an extra $24 million for recovering guns from people on the prohibited persons list. California has confiscated about 4,000 guns in sweeps since 2011, Howle said.

In a sign of strain on the program, the Department of Justice hadn't vetted the status of some 380,000 gun owners as of July. Steve Lindley, director of the California Department of Justice's Bureau of Firearms, said they have since reduced that backlog by about 47,000 people.
Enforcement appears to be lagging as well: the state audit found 20,800 people with mental illness who had not had their guns confiscated.

The department seems likely to have plenty of incoming information to occupy staff: Lindley noted that firearms sales have risen dramatically over the last few years, from 600,000 in 2011 to more than one million in 2013.

PHOTO: Blake Prior, center, completes paperwork for the purchase of a rifle at Auburn Outdoor Sports Wednesday December 11, 2013 in Auburn, Calif. The Sacramento Bee/Paul Kitagaki Jr.

via: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/12/california-lawmakers-question-gun-confiscation-program-backlog.html

Advocates urge Gov. Jerry Brown to veto gun bills

With Gov. Jerry Brown days away from deciding the fate of a stack of gun bills, Second Amendmentadvocates today delivered to the governor's office about 67,000 signed letters imploring him to veto the 14 prospective laws.

"California already has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation and these 14 measures are particularly onerous," said Craig DeLuz, a legislative advocate for the California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees.

Senate Bill 374 that bans detachable magazines in rifles and Assembly Bill 711 that prohibits the use of lead ammunition are among the measures the gun-rights groups want Brown to stop from becoming law.

SB 374 was authored by Sen. President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and AB 711 was from Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood.

While Brown has tipped his hand on a number of controversial bills, the governor has been decidedly tight-lipped on the gun bills, many of which grew out of the outrage following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut.

DeLuz and his colleagues suspect the governor will take a reasoned look at the bills and sign some and veto others.

"Politically, we want to make sure he understands there are a lot of voters out there who believe in the Second Amendment -- and that we are watching what he does."

PHOTO: Brandon Combs, managing director of the Firearms Policy Coalition, left, and Craig DeLuz, legislative advocate for California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees, deliver about 67,000 petitions urging the governor's veto of 14 gun bills. The Sacramento Bee/Christopher Cadelago

via http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/10/advocates-urge-gov-jerry-brown-to-veto-gun-bills.html

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California Senate Approves $24 Million for Gun Confiscation Program

The California Senate approved a $24-million expenditure on Thursday to speed the confiscation of guns from people who have been disqualified from owning firearms because of criminal convictions or serious mental illness.

Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) said budget cuts to the Department of Justice have hampered a program that targets people who purchased firearms legally but were later disqualified because of a subsequent conviction or determination of mental illness.

As a result of the cuts, there is a backlog of 19,000 people who have improper possession of more than 40,000 guns, including 1,600 assault weapons, and the number is increasing faster than their firearms can be confiscated.

"The mountain continues to grow," Leno said. "This is a serious and immediate threat to our public safety."

The Senate voted 31-0 to approve an urgency bill that would take the $24 million over three years from a Department of Justice account funded by gun owners who pay a fee when they register their guns with the state.

Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber) abstained from the vote, saying the $24 million is a surplus indicating gun owners are being overtaxed and that the Department of Justice is not properly managing its funds. "I argue we cannot reward this incompetence," Nielsen said before the vote to send SB 140 to the Assembly for consideration.

California is the only state that has such a computerized tracking program. Atty. Gen. Kamala Harrissaid the money would allow her to temporarily double the program staffing for three years to whittle down the backlog.

"Taking guns away from dangerous, violent individuals who are prohibited by law from owning them is smart and efficient law enforcement," Harris said in a statement.

via LA Times