BREAKING: Gov. Jerry Brown vetoes “Ghost Gun” ban, signs three other gun control bills
Gun rights group CAL-FFL applauds today’s veto of SB 808 but calls Brown’s actions a “mixed bag”
Sacramento, CA (September 30, 2014) – In what is being hailed as a significant victory for common sense, California Governor Jerry Brown has vetoed Senate Bill 808. The measure, authored by Senator Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles), would have required firearms to have a permanent, Department of Justice-issued serial number. Additionally, the proposal would have banned the sale or transfer of all home-built firearms.
“Governor Brown was absolutely right to veto SB 808,” said Brandon Combs, president of California Association of Federal Firearm Licensees (CAL-FFL). “Senator de León’s bill would have created a nightmare for law enforcement and law-abiding gun owners alike.”
In his veto message for SB 808, Brown said that he “can’t see how adding a serial number to a homemade gun would significantly advance public safety.”
“Today’s veto of SB 808 means that law-abiding Californians won’t face a loss of their personal property under Senator de León’s incredibly misguided campaign against Second Amendment civil rights,” Combs said. “For the second time this year, the people of our great state won a decisive victory against de León’s radical anti-gun agenda.”
All of Senator de León’s major gun control bills in the 2013-2014 legislative session failed to become law. SB 53, a proposal to severely restrict ammunition purchases and create a new state ammunition bureaucracy within the DOJ, was rejected by the Assembly on August 30.
In 2013, de León co-authored SB 47 with now-suspended Senator Leland Yee, who is charged with violating federal arms trafficking and corruption laws. The bill would have banned semi-automatic firearms with magazine locking devices sometimes referred to as “Bullet Buttons.” SB 755, a bill he co-authored with Senator Lois Wolk to expand the categories of “prohibited persons” ineligible to possess firearms, was vetoed by Brown last October.
Calling today’s actions by Governor Brown “a bit of a mixed bag,” Combs noted that AB 1014 (Skinner), AB 1609 (Alejo), and SB 199 (de León) were signed into law.
“AB 1014 trades our Constitutional right of due process for reactionary legislative sensationalism,” he explained. “While the restraining order bill that was signed today is a far cry from the insanity Assemblymember Skinner introduced in May, you can bet that we will be keeping a close eye on how the Gun Violence Restraining Order system is applied by the courts.”
Under the rules of the state constitution, today was the last day that bills could be signed or vetoed.
California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees (CAL-FFL) is California’s most tenacious and complete advocacy group for Second Amendment and related rights, with over 100,000 individual supporters and members including firearm dealers, training professionals, shooting ranges, collectors, gun owners, and others who participate in the firearms ecosystem. CAL-FFL advances the interests of its members and the general public through direct lobbying, legal actions, education, and public outreach.
