NEW CALIFORNIA GUN LAWS SIGNED, OTHERS VETOED

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By Miriam Raftery

October 11, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) – If you leave a loaded gun where a child can access it, you’ll be committing a crime in California. If you store a loaded gun where someone prohibited from owning a gun has access and injures someone, you'll be guilty of criminal storage.  These are among nearly a dozen new gun laws signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown.

If you own a long gun, you’ll need to earn a safety certificate under a bill authored by Senator Marty Block (D-San Diego).

Pscyhotherapists will be required to report a serious threat of violence made by a patient against any specific victims to police within 24 hours. Police must notify the California Justice Department within a day after getting the report. The bill seeks to prevent a tragedy such as the Aurora, Colorado theater massacre; the shooter had threatened violence to his psychiatrist but doctor-patient confidentiality law prohibited the psychiatrist from notifying police.  A patient who threatens a psychotherapist will be banned from owning a gun for five years (currently the limit is six months). 

You won’t be able to use  lead ammunition for hunting starting in mid-2019.    

Permits will no longer be issued to organizations for assault weapons, machine guns, or .50 BM rifles.  Individuals will still be allowed to own these weapons. However conversion kits that turn regular magazines into high-capacity magazines will be banned under another measure signed into law.

The Governor vetoed, a bill that would have  created the strictest assault weapons ban in the nation.  The measure would have barred all semi-automatic rifles with detachable magazines. Brown said he vetoed it because it would have also applied to some weapons commonly used for hunting, firearms training and target shooting, as well as historical collector’s items.  He also vetoed a bill that sought to ban any shotgun with a revolving cylinder and rifled bore. 

In addition, Governor Brown vetoed a measure that would have required gun owners to report a gun theft or loss to police within one week of discovering the loss or theft. 

For details, see http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_24291225/list-california-gun-bills-signed-or-vetoed-by .


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