California has a history of enacting some of the strongest gun laws in the nation. This year, Governor Brown signed two new measures to improve upon the state’s laws by helping to protect Californians from gun violence in public and in their homes. On September 28^th, the governor signed AB 1527. The new law prohibits the open carrying of unloaded rifles and shotguns in public.  After a similar measure banning the open carrying of unloaded handguns was enacted last year, members of the so-called “open carry movement” responded by openly carrying rifles and shotguns at shopping malls, beach areas and other crowded public places.  This activity greatly alarmed the public and law enforcement statewide, resulting in the new measure.  The open carrying of all firearms is now prohibited in public places in California. The Law Center supported both the handgun and long gun open carry bans.

One day later, Governor Brown signed SB 1433, which will help disarm domestic abusers.  This law will require certain courts that issue protective orders to cross-reference state firearm records to determine whether a domestic abuser owns a firearm. If records indicate that a batterer is also a gun owner, law enforcement must request that the firearms be relinquished when serving the protective order. The Law Center supported this measure. Abused women are five times more likely to be killed by their abusers if an abuser owns a firearm. Strong procedures to facilitate the relinquishment of firearms by domestic abusers are absolutely critical.

Want to see more success stories? You can find them here.

Updated September 5, 2012

The Law Center monitors all firearm-related bills introduced in the California Legislature each year. The analysis below highlights and summarizes significant legislation considered by the legislature in 2012.

A dozen significant gun bills have been considered by the legislature this year, including SB 1366, co-sponsored by the Law Center. SB 1366, which is currently before the governor, would help law enforcement solve and prevent gun crimes by requiring firearm owners to report lost or stolen weapons. Three other bills to strengthen California’s gun laws are on the governor’s desk:

• AB 1527, prohibiting the open carry of unloaded rifles and shotguns;
• SB 1433, improving the process for getting guns out of the hands of domestic abusers; and
• AB 2460, removing a loophole in the state’s ban on unsafe handguns.

Additionally, a number of bills to weaken California’s gun laws were defeated earlier this year.

Our California law summary contains information about the state’s existing firearms laws.
READ MORE »

Updated October 23, 2012

The map below identifies firearms-related bills that have been enacted into law or vetoed in 2012. Red icons indicate action that weakens gun violence prevention efforts and green icons represent action that strengthens these efforts. Pushpins indicate where a measure was adopted by a state legislature but vetoed by the state’s governor.

Click on each icon to find out more information about each bill. Below the map, there is a state-by-state summary of all of the significant bills adopted or vetoed so far in 2012. This page and map will be regularly updated over the course of the year.

The information on this page supplements LCPGV’s state law summaries, as well as LCPGV’s prior summaries of state firearms laws adopted in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

View Major Activity in State Legislation 2012 in a larger map

Significant Firearms Legislation Adopted in 2012

READ MORE »

Updated December 19, 2011

The information on this page supplements the material provided in our firearms policy summaries.

Carrying Firearms

Arizona: A new Arizona law reduces oversight of firearm training programs by the state and allows applicants for concealed weapon permits (which are optional in Arizona) to obtain instruction from NRA-certified instructors that have not been approved by the Department of Public Safety.

Arkansas: Arkansas recently enacted a law that restricts concealed weapons in certain restaurants such as restaurants in convention centers and hotels. The law also broadens the grounds for denying a concealed weapon permit applicant based on a likelihood of danger to self or others. Finally, the new law eliminates the requirement that a permit holder report to state police the loss or other disposition of his or her handgun.

California: A new California law prohibits the open carrying of unloaded handguns in public places statewide.

Delaware: Delaware has made it a crime to possess a firearm while in a public place while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Florida: Florida now allows concealed weapon permit holders to “briefly” carry firearms openly.  Another Florida law renders permanent a temporary provision making concealed carry records confidential.

Indiana: A newly enacted Indiana law allows job applicants and current employees to sue any public or private employer for requiring them to disclose information about firearms ownership or use. The law allows courts to award actual and punitive damages. Indiana also enacted a law in 2011 that allows the carrying of a concealed weapon without a permit on land the person owns or that is owned by another person who has given his or her consent.

READ MORE »

Updated December 19, 2011

The information on this page supplements LCPGV’s state law summaries.

Alabama

A new Alabama law makes straw purchasing and other fraudulent transfers a state crime.

Arizona

A new Arizona law reduces oversight of firearm training programs by the state and allows applicants for concealed weapon permits (which are optional in Arizona) to obtain instruction from NRA-certified instructors that have not been approved by the Department of Public Safety.

Arizona has enacted a law naming an official state gun.

Arkansas

Arkansas recently enacted a law that restricts concealed weapons in certain restaurants such as restaurants in convention centers and hotels. The law also broadens the grounds for denying a concealed weapon permit applicant based on a likelihood of danger to self or others. Finally, the new law eliminates the requirement that a permit holder report to state police the loss or other disposition of his or her handgun.

Another new Arkansas law authorizes criminal courts to issue a no contact order, which may include a prohibition against firearms possession, to a defendant in a criminal proceeding if it appears that a danger exists that the defendant will commit a serious crime, seek to intimidate a witness, or otherwise unlawfully interfere with the orderly administration of justice.

California

California enacted several significant firearms laws in 2011. First, a new record-keeping requirement will help law enforcement solve and prevent gun crimes by requiring the California Department of Justice to retain copies of sales records for rifles and shotguns, as it already does for handguns. A second law will prohibit the open carrying of unloaded handguns in public places statewide. A third law will enable the state Department of Justice to use firearm sales fees to fund programs to disarm convicted criminals and the mentally ill.

READ MORE »

Last updated December 2011

In 2011, LCPGV identified over 700 bills addressing firearms that were introduced in state legislatures nationwide. The number of introduced bills that would have weakened firearms laws was very close to the number that would have strengthened them; however, approximately twice as many of the former were ultimately enacted. The vast majority of enacted laws expand the carrying of guns in public places.

Victories

In 2011, gun violence prevention advocates were able to prevent the enactment of a number of bills that would have significantly weakened gun laws across the country. Bills to expand possession of guns on college and university campuses were defeated in fifteen states and succeeded in only two (MS and WI). Bills that would have allowed concealed guns to be carried without a permit were defeated in twelve states and enacted in only one (WY). Efforts to enact a law to allow carrying concealed weapons with a permit were again defeated in IL. Measures in three states which would have required law enforcement to rely solely on the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (“NICS”) database instead of using more thorough state databases when conducting background checks were defeated. (NICS consists of federal databases containing criminal, mental health and other records that would disqualify an individual from purchasing a firearm. The use of state databases is preferable because many relevant records have not been sent to NICS).

Three important victories were won in California in 2011. The state enacted a law that will help law enforcement solve and prevent gun crimes by requiring the California Department of Justice to retain copies of sales records for rifles and shotguns, as it already does for handguns. A second law will prohibit the open carrying of unloaded handguns in public places statewide. A third law will enable the Department of Justice to use firearm sales fees to fund programs to disarm convicted criminals and the mentally ill.

READ MORE »

Last updated October 25, 2011

LCPGV monitors all firearm-related bills introduced in the California Legislature each year. The analysis below highlights and summarizes significant legislation considered by the legislature in 2011.

In 2011, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law three important bills that strengthen California’s gun laws:

• AB 809, co-sponsored by LCPGV, will help law enforcement solve and prevent gun crimes by requiring the California Department of Justice to retain copies of sales records for rifles and shotguns, as it already does for handguns;
• AB 144 will prohibit the open carrying of unloaded handguns in public places statewide; and
• SB 819 will enable the Department of Justice to use firearm sales fees to fund programs to disarm convicted criminals and the mentally ill.

The governor vetoed SB 427, a bill to improve the state’s existing handgun ammunition recordkeeping law. Two other bills to strengthen California’s gun laws, SB 124 and SB 661, remain in the legislature as two-year bills. Six bills to weaken California law, including AB 613, SB 313, SB 404, SB 560, SB 465 and AB 829, failed to advance out of policy committees in 2011 and are now two-year bills. All of the 2011 bills are discussed below.

LCPGV’s California law summary contains information about the state’s existing firearms laws.

Legislation to Strengthen California’s Gun Laws

READ MORE »

Last updated October 18, 2010

LCPGV monitored all firearm-related bills that were introduced in the California Legislature this year. The analysis below highlights and summarizes significant legislation considered by the Legislature in 2010. Our California law summary contains information about the state’s existing firearms laws.

Legislation to Strengthen California’s Gun Laws

AB 1810: Crime Gun Tracing Improvement Act

AB 1810 (Feuer-D) is a comprehensive bill to improve the integrity of DOJ’s Automated Firearms System (AFS) database in order to aid law enforcement in the tracing of crime guns, improve officers’ on-the-job safety, and assist in identifying weapons possessed by prohibited persons. The bill removes a provision of state law that forces DOJ to destroy copies of long gun transfer forms after five days, and instead obligates DOJ to input these records into the AFS database. Law enforcement will also no longer be prohibited from compiling information from dealer records for long guns.

READ MORE »

Updated October 5, 2010

The information on this page supplements the material provided in LCAV’s Firearms Policies summaries.

Ammunition Regulation

California: A recently enacted California bill requires persons or businesses engaged in the retail sale of handgun ammunition to: 1) maintain records containing certain identifying information about the purchaser and the ammunition being sold; and 2) store handgun ammunition so that it is inaccessible to purchasers without the assistance of the vendor. The law also requires that ammunition sales be completed in face-to-face transactions, prohibits persons subject to gang injunctions from possessing ammunition, and prohibits ammunition sales to any person the seller knows or has cause to believe is prohibited from possessing ammunition.

Virginia: Virginia recently enacted a law that prohibits ammunition possession by convicted felons (mirroring federal law).

Assault Weapons

District of Columbia: The District recently enacted the Firearms Registration Amendment Act of 2008. The new law specifically bans assault weapons. Prior law banned assault weapons indirectly via a broad definition of “machine gun” that encompassed many firearms typically classified as assault weapons. (Note also that the ban on handguns, now repealed, effectively banned assault pistols.) The new law narrows the definition of machine gun and provides a definition of assault weapon that includes a list of named weapons and a one-feature generic definition. Assault weapons (as well as machine guns) are unregisterable under the new law.

The District retained its law imposing strict tort liability on manufacturers, importers and dealers of assault weapons for all damages arising from the discharge of an assault weapon. Assault weapon was previously defined, for purposes of this provision, by a list of named weapons. The new law uses the new definition of assault weapon (described above) for this provision.

READ MORE »

Updated October 4, 2010.

The information on this page supplements the Law Center’s state law summaries.

Alabama

In 2009, Alabama enacted a law that makes the name, address and signature of an applicant for a concealed weapons license or of a licensee confidential.

Alaska

Alaska recently enacted a law stating that certain firearms, firearm accessories and ammunition that are manufactured in and remain in the state are exempt from federal regulation.

Arizona

Arizona recently adopted a measure that allows individuals to carry concealed firearms in public without a license or permit. Prior Arizona law required concealed weapon holders to apply for a license, pass a background check, and obtain firearms safety training. Only two other states, Vermont and Alaska, allow concealed weapons to be carried without a license.

READ MORE »