Anti-Gun Legislative Floodgates Opened – and It Ain’t Pretty!

The anti-gun legislative floodgates have officially opened, and as it happens with any rush of sludgy muck, the results sure ain’t pretty.

2,576.  That’s how many bills have been introduced for 2019 session and last week alone, an incredible 1,556 bills were proposed in order to beat the introduction deadline of February 22.  The really rotten news is that over 50 are specific to firearms.

Without question, the election of Gavin Newsom as governor has emboldened the anti-gunners and their legislative minions, and thus, we in the 2nd Amendment community have our work cut out for us.  Sadly, along with Newsom, the people of California have elected a bunch of hefty lefties who treat the Constitution like toilet paper, and going after the 2nd Amendment is in their DNA.  That being said, we may be discouraged at the stupidity of California’s politicians, but we are hugely encouraged with the opportunities we have in the courts to overturn a lot of these bad boys.

GOC is following over 40 bills, and obviously, some are more significant than others which are highlighted below.  For the complete list of 2019 GOC tracked bills and text, click here.

AB 12 / Irwin (D) | OPPOSE
Expands duration and renewal of the gun violence restraining order. Removes, for the purpose of search warrants, the requirements that a person has been lawfully served with the gun violence restraining order and has failed to relinquish the firearm prior to a search warrant being issued.

AB 18 / Levine (D) | OPPOSE 
Seeks to imposes an excise tax on the sales of handguns and semiautomatic rifles and requires the revenue collected from that tax to be used to fund grants through the CalVIP program.

AB 61 / Ting (D) | OPPOSE
Expands Gun Violence Restraining Orders; authorizes filing by an employer, a coworker, or an employee of a secondary or postsecondary school that the person has attended in the last 6 months.

AB 276 / Friedman (D) | OPPOSE
Requires occupants of a residence, while that person is outside that residence, to ensure that any firearm that person owns or controls is securely stored against theft or unauthorized access.

AB 503 / Flora (R) | SUPPORT
Permits a person who holds a valid concealed carry license and has the written permission of school authority to possess a concealed firearm in a church, synagogue or other place of worship held on the grounds of a public or private school.

AB 688 / Chu (D) | OPPOSE
Increases requirements for proper storage of a firearm in a vehicle; makes it applicable to all firearms and requires the use of a steel cable lock or chain and padlock or in a locked container that is secured or that is permanently affixed to the vehicle.

AB 879 / Gipson (D) | OPPOSE
Requires the sale of firearm precursor parts to be conducted by or processed through a licensed firearm precursor part vendor.

AB 893 / Gloria (D) | OPPOSE
Prohibits the sale of firearms and ammunition at Del Mar Fairgrounds property located in the 22nd District Agricultural Association.

AB 1064 / Muratsuchi (D) | OPPOSE
Imposes significant fines on firearms dealers, plus requires video and audio recording of all firearm and ammo transactions, requires video surveillance of all storage/displayed firearms and exterior of store; mandates $1 million in liability insurance.

AB 1096 / Melendez (R) | SUPPORT
Requires the sheriff or the chief of a municipal police department to issue a license to carry a concealed handgun or to carry a loaded and exposed handgun if good cause exists for the issuance and the applicant is of good moral character.

AB 1292 / Bauer-Kahan (D) | OPPOSE
Highly technical bill that requires the administrator of a will or trust to have an unexpired handgun safety certificate (which doesn’t exist) if the estate or trust includes a handgun.

AB 1297 / McCarty (D) | OPPOSE
Mandates local law enforcement to charge CCW fees.  This is nothing more than a personal vendetta that Assemblyman McCarty against Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones (read details here.)

AB 1559 / Melendez (R) | SUPPORT
Permits an individual who has been victimized and is in immediate and grave danger to apply for a temporary emergency license to carry a concealed firearm.

AB 1602 / Low (D) | OPPOSE
Prohibits an insurer from either selling or advertising liability coverage for bodily injury or property damage resulting from the insured’s discharge of a personal firearm.

AB 1669 / Bonta (D) | OPPOSE
Amends the Safety For All Act. Prescribes the rules and regulations for gun shows and events to be consistent with the sale of ammunition at gun shows and events as authorized by the Act.

AJR 4 / Aguiar-Curry (D) | OPPOSE
Urges Congress to “swiftly” enact House Resolution 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, to require background checks for all firearm sales.

AJR 5 / Jones-Sawyer (D) | OPPOSE
Urges the federal government to use California as an example of “firearm safety and for stronger firearm laws to protect all citizens.”

SB 55 / Jackson (D) | OPPOSE
Greatly expands the list of misdemeanors that prohibit someone from owning a firearm within ten years after conviction; applies the prohibition to a person who has been convicted of multiple specified misdemeanors involving alcohol intoxication or possession of controlled substances for sale.

SB 61 /  Portantino (D) | OPPOSE
Expands the purchase of one handgun a month to all firearms.  This is a re-do of his bill last year that Governor Brown vetoed.

SB 136 / Wiener (D) | OPPOSE
Sentence reduction for felony convictions; deletes the provision which imposes, for non-violent felonies, an additional one-year term for each prior separate prison term or county jail felony term.

SB 172 / Portantino (D) | OPPOSE
Similar to AB 276/Friedman. Requires occupants of a residence, while that person is outside that residence, to ensure that any firearm that person owns or controls is securely stored against theft or unauthorized access.

SB 220 / Hill (D) | OPPOSE
Requires each of the firearms held by a firearms dealer to be secured by storing the firearm in a secure facility involving a safe or vault.  Senator Hill tried this bill last year, but it was vetoed by Governor Brown.

SB 281 / Wiener (D) | OPPOSE
Wiener is making another go at it after Governor Brown vetoed similar bill last year.  Opens door to banning gun shows at the Cow Palace; transfers property from the 1-A District Agricultural Association to the Cow Palace Joint Powers Authority.

SB 376 / Portantino (D) | OPPOSE
Redefines the word “infrequent” to mean less than six firearm transactions per calendar year, regardless of the type of firearm within regulations controlling transfers of firearms.

SB 701 / Jones (R) | SUPPORT
In a nod to innocent until proven guilty, removes the prohibition on possession of firearms if an individual has an outstanding felony warrant.

If you feel as if you were just waterboarded with a flood of bad policy, welcome to our world!  Regardless, GOC is like a dog on a bone, and for those bills that dismantle your rights, we will be steadfast and downright noisy in our opposition because it’s the right thing to do.  We will fight for the few good ones, too, and while we concede most of the bad ones will likely pass, we will continue to focus where we can make some real headway:  the courts.  This is an expensive proposition, however – we need resources to file lawsuits.

For an update on court cases and GOC’s “friend of the court” activity, click here.

5 Comments

  1. Stephen Milano on February 28, 2019 at 7:03 pm

    That’s the problem with all our lobbyists: As they just said, They concede most of the bad bills will pass. And will continue to focus on bills they feel they can make headway in. Seriously? This is what we pay dues for, to have our lobbyists concede most bad gun bills will pass? Great investment.



  2. Dan on March 4, 2019 at 9:36 pm

    There is no duty to obey or enforce any unconstitutional infringements and bans. When tyranny becomes law resistance becomes duty.



  3. Jeff on March 6, 2019 at 6:16 am

    Lol!
    This is why I moved to Idaho



    • Sam S on March 9, 2019 at 5:54 am

      right behind you bro



  4. Matt on March 6, 2019 at 6:29 am

    I’ll remain in AZ. Although I’m about 3 miles from the CA border. I never go there.