Gun-control laws may tighten in California

[alp227]

Source: SF Chron

California has the most restrictive gun laws in the United States, but in the wake of the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., lawmakers and other leaders are proposing ways to make it more difficult to own and use firearms here.

(...)

In addition to changes in law, state Treasurer Bill Lockyer has called on the state's public employee retirement programs - which wield enormous investment power - to examine their holdings and divest in companies that make guns that are illegal in California.

(...)

...state Sen. Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles...said he will introduce a bill to require annual permits ranging from $25 to $50 for anyone who wants to buy any type of ammunition available. Applicants for the permits would have to be at least 18 years old and undergo a background check to screen for anyone who is not allowed to buy or possess ammunition because of a prior criminal record or mental illness.

State Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, plans to introduce three gun-related measures: banning a feature on magazines that technically classifies them as nondetachable; requiring firearms to be stored with a trigger lock and in a locked case; and requiring annual registration and background checks for gun buyers.

Lifetime ban
And state Sen. Ted Gaines, R-Roseville (Placer County), wants a lifetime ban on gun ownership for anyone deemed by a court to be dangerous because of a mental disorder or illness. Current law allows for such people to petition a court for the ability to possess a gun after treatment.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Gun-control-laws-may-tighten-in-California-4129821.php

[AtheistCrusader]

1. Well, that point is disgusting.

Lifetime ban
And state Sen. Ted Gaines, R-Roseville (Placer County), wants a lifetime ban on gun ownership for anyone deemed by a court to be dangerous because of a mental disorder or illness. Current law allows for such people to petition a court for the ability to possess a gun after treatment.

On what grounds? Really? Someone who has a mental health issue, and gets treatment, and is at some point good to go, is forever assumed to be broken? We don't even do that to violent felons. They can always at some point petition for their rights to be restored.

Mental Health illnesses aren't plutonium. They aren't always forever, on human timescales.

That's just medically ignorant.

[JoeyT]

3. We're busy demonizing and

further stigmatizing mental illness here, we don't need none o' yer stinkin due process.

[Xithras]

6. There's little to no chance of that surviving a Constitutional challenge.

Heller established that gun ownership is an individual right. While courts have upheld the right of the government to keep weapons from people with mental illnesses, it cannot do so when there is no mental illness present.

If a college kid get depressed at 22 years old and spends a few months getting help, there is no way the government can justify keeping him away from firearms at 42, two decades after completing his treatment. They can try, but there's no real question that the courts would toss it as discriminatory and unconstitutional.

[AtheistCrusader]

7. I just re-read it and realized it was proposed by a Republican.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. The Bullet Button has been annoying them for some time

Problem is finding a way to write the law that does not impact non evil not black rifles.

[hack89]

4. de Leon needs to read Heller first.

it says that it is unconstitutional to require trigger locks and locked cases when the gun is in the house.

[Odin2005]

5. Oh great, lets stigmatize the mentally ill even more, Mr, Gaines!