Sen. Portantino Goes 1 for 2 on Long-Gun Proposals

Senator Anthony Portantino (D-Los Angeles) has received one signature and one veto on his two long-gun proposals:

Governor Brown has signed Senator Portantino’s proposal to raise the age requirement from 18 to 21 for the purchase of long-guns. California already prohibits handgun sales to people under 21 and now SB 1100 expands the prohibition to all firearms. The bill would exempt law enforcement officers, military service members and hunters with a valid hunting license.

In response to the Governor’s signature, Senator Portantino said, “As a dad and Senator I am very grateful to Governor Brown for his leadership in signing this important bill. I was determined to help California respond appropriately to the tragic events our country has recently faced on high school campuses. I feel it is imperative that California leads when Washington refuses to act. No parent should have to worry that a gun gets in the wrong hands and commits a heinous and violent tragedy on our school campuses.”

Thank you @RobBontaCA and @Scott_Wiener for your strong coauthirship of SB1100 to raise the gun purchase age in CA to 21https://t.co/EYluEu6rtt

— Anthony Portantino (@Portantino) September 28, 2018

In fierce opposition to the measure, The Firearms Policy Coalition stated, “We’re disappointed that Governor Brown chose to further expand California’s already-insane gun control laws that infringe on fundamental, individual rights…SB 1100 is about age discrimination, pure and simple…Governor Brown just told millions of people under 21 that they can fight and die for our state and country with machine guns, but they can’t buy a gun for self-defense in their homes. That’s nuts.”

While the Governor signed SB 1100, he didn’t take the same action on Portantino’s SB 1177 to prohibit a person from purchasing more than one long-gun per month.

In his veto message, Governor Brown noted that he had vetoed a “substantially similar bill in 2016” and stated that his views on this policy issue have not changed.

The Firearms Policy Coalition highlighted that the signature of SB 1100 and the veto of SB 1177 is “just another ‘split-the-baby’ outcome by Governor Brown to appear ‘balanced’, but it’s never acceptable to infringe on fundamental rights.”

In other gun related actions, the Governor signed AB 1968 to implement a lifetime ban on firearm ownership by individuals that have been admitted to a mental health facility more than once in a one-year period; AB 2103 to require applicants to undergo at least eight hours of training and pass a live-fire shooting test to receive a concealed carry weapons permit; AB 3129 to implement a lifetime ban on firearm ownership by individuals convicted of any misdemeanor domestic violence; SB 1346 that will prohibit “bump stocks” like the ones used in last year’s Las Vegas shooting from being sold in California.