'This is a historic day': California lawmakers send governor sweeping gun control package
Spurred by outrage over recent mass shootings, California lawmakers on Thursday sent Gov. Jerry Brown an unprecedented package of gun control bills, including a ban on the sale of semiautomatic rifles with detachable magazines, background checks for those buying ammunition and new restrictions on homemade firearms.
In the wake of massacres in San Bernardino and Orlando, Fla., the flurry of legislative action once again puts California in the lead among states regulating firearms, and in stark contrast to inaction in the gridlocked Congress, officials said.
“I don’t know how much more blood needs to be spilled in our schools, in our community centers, in public spaces, until the members of Congress act and we can do this nationwide,” Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De León (D-Los Angeles) told reporters after the vote. “Until that happens, we will not stop moving forward forcefully to make sure that we protect our families, to protect our children, protect our communities. This is a historic day.”
But controversy over the gun control measures reached beyond Republicans who voted against them as an erosion of the 2nd Amendment. One measure that would allow Californians to petition courts to take guns away from co-workers also drew strong objections from the American Civil Liberties Union. The vote also came against the backdrop of a political tussle between De León and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has qualified a competing gun control ballot measure with many of the same provisions as those offered in the Legislature.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-cal-legislature-gun-control-package-20160630-snap-story.html#nt=oft12aH-2la1
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