Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a ballot initiative Thursday that could make California the only state in the nation to require background checks at the point of ammunition sales. Gavin Newsom also wants to require gun owners to report lost or stolen guns to police and force owners to give up assault-style large-capacity magazines.
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If passed, the initiative would make California the only state to require background checks for anyone seeking to buy ammunition, which could only be bought from a licensed dealer. No other state requires background checks for ammunition purchases. “They can’t repeal the Second Amendment, so they’re trying to chip away our rights until there is nothing left”.
According to the poll, 60 percent of state Democrats favor Newsom, as do voters in Northern California, where Newsom leads at 52 percent.
– Firearms database: The California Department of Justice would have to notify the federal instant criminal background check system when someone is added to the database of those prohibited from purchasing or possessing a firearm. “There are a few really substantial things that can be done, but what he’s doing is really nothing more than window dressing”.
The lieutenant governor, who has said he will run for governor in 2018, shrugged off suggestions that politics played a role in his support of the gun control measure.
It also would ban possession of detachable high-capacity ammunition magazines, defined as one that can hold more than 11 bullets.
Last, gun owners would finally be required to report lost or stolen weapons.
Brandon Combs, president of the Firearms Policy Coalition, pledged to campaign against the proposal. “Gun owners need to start actively working on this now and be ready to show up in 2016”.
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Among the many responses Newsom’s statement was a blunt statement from the NRA. As San Francisco’s mayor in 2004, he ordered city officials to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples – a decision later overturned by the state Supreme Court, but which sparked years of legislation and litigation that eventually ended with the right to marry extended to all.
