Gun control: California Senate passes sweeping new restrictions on firearms owners

State Sen. Isadore Hall III, D-Compton, left, gives a thumbs up as the “bullet button” bill he and Sen. Steven Glazer,D-Orinda, right, authored was approved by the Senate, May 19, 2016. (Rich Pedroncelli / AP)

SACRAMENTO — Quickly moving from one bill to the next, the California Senate on Thursday approved a package of sweeping gun-control measures, setting up a showdown featuring top Democrats over how best to tackle one of the year’s most incendiary issues.

The Senate approved legislation to regulate the sale of ammunition, close several loopholes in the state’s assault weapons ban and establish a Firearm Violence Research Center at the University of California — all over the objections of outnumbered Republican lawmakers.

Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, said he wants to use Thursday’s votes to create enough momentum to carry the bills through the Assembly and to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk as soon as next week. Swift success, he hopes, will convince Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom to yank his gun control initiative from the November ballot.

But none of that will be easy. Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount, has not yet endorsed de León’s strategy. And Brown’s position on the proposals — some of which he has vetoed before — remains unclear. On top of that, Newsom, who is running for governor in 2018, has vowed not to pull his measure from the ballot no matter what lawmakers do.

This year, sponsors of initiatives for the first time can choose to yank them from the ballot if the Legislature takes action and they’re satisfied with the results.

De León and many other Democratic lawmakers argue that the bills passed Thursday by the Senate are remarkably similar to the provisions in the ballot measure Newsom is championing.

Speaking to reporters after the votes, De León thanked Newsom for “keeping gun control on the front burner” and inspiring the Legislature to act. But citing concerns that Newsom’s measure could fail, he insisted the Capitol is the best place to craft tighter rules for gun owners — not the ballot box. In addition, many Democratic leaders worry that the measure could drive pro-gun voters to the polls in November and swing close congressional and legislative races.

“Given the complexity of firearms policy, I believe the legislative process is the most responsible path forward,” said de León, who hasn’t spoken with Newsom in several weeks. “We owe it the voters to tackle tough issues and not force them to do our jobs for us.”

A Newsom spokesman on Thursday did not respond to a request for comment on the Senate’s action.

John Donohue III, a Stanford law professor and expert on gun politics, said it’s difficult to predict the end result.

“It’s too soon to know how it will all shake out,” Donohue said.

The 11 bills the Senate approved Thursday include some the upper house vetted in policy committee hearings along with others that, until a few days ago, looked like totally different pieces of legislation on unrelated topics. That was before the proposals were “gutted and amended” — a maneuver lawmakers use to craft new bills once legislative deadlines for new bills have passed.

Legislation authored by de León in 2009 regulated the sale of ammunition, but a judge later ruled that its definition of ammunition was too vague to enforce.

De León’s Senate Bill 1235 and Assembly Bill 156, authored by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, seek to remedy the problem by defining ammunition as “one or more loaded cartridges consisting of a primer case, propellant and with one or more projectiles.”

The Senate approved both measures on a 24-15 vote despite Republican protests that the bills and other pieces of the package trample on Californians’ Second Amendment rights, create more red tape for law-abiding gun owners and will do little to reduce violent crime.

Senate Republican leader Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield, criticized Democrats for seeking new firearms rules before the state has fully implemented a law on the books that instructs the attorney general to seize guns from people, such as felons and the mentally ill, who are prohibited from owning them.

The state “invested millions of taxpayers’ dollars for Attorney General Kamala Harris to remove illegal guns off the streets, but Harris’ office has failed to do so,” Fuller said. “We should be focusing on criminal activity and taking illegal guns off our streets.”

Disputing Fuller’s claim, David Beltran, a spokesman for the attorney general, said she had seized more illegal firearms “than any other attorney general, ever.”

“The courageous and dangerous work that our Armed and Prohibited Persons System special agents perform daily to keep our communities safe should not be used as an excuse to oppose reasonable gun safety laws,” Beltran said.

Lawrence Keane, senior vice president and general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade group for the firearms industry, released a statement after the votes raising similar concerns: “Law abiding, responsible California gun owners and firearm retailers were the ones truly hurt by today’s actions,” he said.

Other measures the Senate passed include SB 880, authored by Sens. Isadore Hall, D-South Bay, and Steve Glazer, D-Walnut Creek, and AB 1135, authored by Assemblymen Marc Levine, D-Marin County, and Phil Ting, D-San Francisco. The measures seek to modify the assault weapons ban to effectively prohibit “bullet buttons.”

Aiming to work around current law, which bans long guns with detachable magazines, firearms manufacturers began selling “California compliant” assault weapons with recessed buttons that allow users to instantly detach a magazine by pressing it with the tip of a bullet or another small tool. The Senate approved these measures on a 24-14 vote.

SB 1446, authored by Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, seeks to make another revision to the state’s assault weapons ban by restricting possession of ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. California’s 1999 update of the quarter-century-old assault weapons law only banned the importation, manufacture and sale of large-capacity magazines. The Hancock measure was approved on a 22-15 vote.

Sen. Jeff Stone, R-Riverside, who spoke out against almost every gun bill the Senate considered Thursday, called SB 1446 especially “egregious” because it allows for “the incremental beginning” of the government’s ability to confiscate weapons.

Starting July 1, 2017, the bill would require owners of magazines of more than 10 rounds to sell them, move them out of state or turn them in.

“I’m going to quote Adolf Hitler,” he said, to gasps in the Senate chamber. “To conquer a nation, first disarm its citizens.”