The Governor’s Signatures and Vetoes 2013-2014 Legislative Session

Sam Paredes, Executive Director
Gun Owners of California

 

BILLS SIGNED BY GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN 2014:

On the last day for Jerry Brown to take action on bills sent to him by the State Legislature, the Governor attempted to straddle the fence by vetoing one bill and signing three others.  If there was ever any doubt as to where Governor Brown stands in relationship to the Second Amendment, all doubts should be cast aside.

 

In signing AB 1014 by Assemblywoman Skinner-D (Temporary Restraining Order for Gun Violence-TROGV), the Governor has approved a system that will not prevent anyone with a mental or emotional condition, such that they are a danger to themselves or others, from committing an atrocity if that is their intention. The only thing this bill will do is prevent anyone served with one of these TROGV’s from purchasing a firearm from a licensed dealer and they will be required to divest themselves of any firearms in their possession.  Nothing in this bill prevents them from obtaining firearms through illegal means or using anything else like a car or a machete to commit an atrocity. An even bigger problem is that this law does not allow anyone issued one of these TROGV’s from addressing a court to contest the issuance for 14 days. That would be a violation of due process under the U.S. Constitution.
Our greatest concern is that even though the language of the law states that only an immediate family member can request a TROGV, immediate family member is defined as anyone who has lived with the individual over the past 6 months.  This could include roommates, girl or boyfriends, who might be disgruntled.  AB 1014 does make it illegal to file a frivolous request but fails to define what that means. We believe that this leaves a large window for abuse and that is a big concern.

AB 1609 by Assemblyman Alejo-D, prohibits any California resident from bringing into the state any firearms they purchased or otherwise obtained unless they have the gun delivered to a licensed CA firearms dealer for all the legal processing, including background check and waiting period.  Even though that is already existing law, we guess they wanted us to know that they really mean it this time…

SB 199 by Senator DeLeon-D, basically says that if your BB or Airsoft guns are not made to look like toy guns with painted tips and bright colors, or are made of transparent materials they will be considered imitation firearms which are illegal.  They want police and sheriffs to think that if they see colored guns then they must be toys and not for real.  News Flash-San Jose Mercury News 9/4/14 – Headline: “San Leandro police find assault rifles made to resemble toy guns in raid.” It appears that drug gang members had painted a couple of semi-automatic AK 47’s with orange tips in order to emulate toy guns.  Well…there goes that theory.

VETOES:

SB 808 by Senator DeLeon-R was vetoed by Governor Brown.  This means that all 80%ers (those of you who have one know what I mean) and personally manufactured firearms will NOT have to apply to the California Department of Justice for a serial number and have your gun registered…at least for now.  We all know that Senator DeLeon is the anti-gun version of the “energizer bunny” and he will be back next year with more legislation that is sure to violate the Second Amendment. The only hope is that as he will be returning as the new Senate President Pro-Tem he might be too busy to bother with any more anti-gun bills.  As they say, hope springs eternal…or is it infernal?  (Governor’s  Veto Message)

 

BILLS SIGNED BY GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN 2013:

AB 48: Bans Large Capacity Magazines/Conversion Kits – Beginning on January 1, 2014, anyone who purchases and/or brings into the State of California a collection of parts that can be assembled into an high capacity magazine will be in violation of the law.

AB 170: Expands Assault Weapons Restrictions & Permit Requirements – Beginning January 1, 2014, this law affects only training and security companies who acquire assault weapons permits from the Department of Justice.

AB 231: Requires Guns to be Locked Up – Beginning January 1, 2014, this law imposes liability if a person negligently stores or leaves a loaded firearm in a place where he or she knows that a child is likely to access it.

AB 500: Requires Guns to be Locked Up & Extends Background Checks to 30 Days – Beginning January 1, 2014, this law requires gun owners to lock up their guns if they reside with a prohibited person and allows the Department of Justice 30 days to drag their feet in approving a background check.

AB 711: Lead Ammunition Ban (Governor’s Signing Letter) – Amendments recently taken to this law extends the time period of implimentation from July 1, 2018 to July 1, 2019. Existing requirements in the present condor range continue. Requires that the prohibition of the use of lead ammo shall be temporariliy suspencded upon finding that no non-lead ammunition is available in that caliber or the Federal Government considers it armor piercing. If either of these become the case, the determination of this law’s enforcement will be at the whim and sole discretion of the appointed Director of the Department of Fish and Wildlife. This law sets in stone the building blocks of a total hunting ban by 2019. The costs of non-lead ammunition has been documented to be at least double the expense of the most popular loads of hunting ammunition containing lead. The law was sponsored by the Humane Society of America, who has openly stated their goal of banning hunting across the board, thus, this is a major step in accomplishing their goal.

SB 683: Requires Safety Certificate for Any Firearm Purchase – Beginning January 1, 2014, this law requires all firearms purchasers to take a firearms safety certificate test, which includes both long gun and handgun components. If you are purchasing a hund gun and have already passed the handgun safety certificate test, your certificate will still be valid until it expires, as usual. However, if you are purchasing a long gun, you will now be required to take a safety certificate test that will encompass the handgun safety information as well. This certificate will be valid for 5 years. Even if you never intend on purchasing one or the other types of firearms, you will still be required to pass a test in order to receive your gun.

 

VETOES:

SB 374: Banned Semi-Automatics (Governor’s Veto Message)

SB 475: Banned Gun Shows at the Cow Palace – This is a bill that Senator Mark Leno has introduced year after year, regardless of the Governor’s continued vetos. The Senator wants to ban gun shows from a public facility. (Governor’s Veto Message)

SB 567: Revised the Definition of a Shotgun – Would have basically, only banned one known shotgun that was based on a late 1800’s design. (Governor’s Veto Message)

SB 755: Expanded the list of misdemeaners to include some intoxication & controlled substance crimes that prohibit the purchase and possession of firearms (Governor’s Veto Message)

AB 169: Banned Private Party Transfers of Handguns Legally Purchased Prior to the “Safe Handgun List” – Would Have Banned Transfers to Your Kids, etc (Governor’s Veto Message)

AB 180: Allowed the City of Oakland to Make Own Gun Laws – If this bill would have passed, other cities would have certainly followed suit, which would have made innocent, law abiding citizens criminals, upon crossing boarders from one city to another. (Governor’s Veto Message)