St. Sen. Kevin DeLeon, D-Los Angeles, is proposing that California require all ammunition buyers to get an annual permit from the Department of Justice, which will fingerprint and perform background check to those who apply. The Los Angeles Democrat says in light of Connecticut he's determined to fight the powerful gun lobby.
"In honor of those victims, and the thousands who have preceded them, we must not capitulate any longer. I, for one, have had it," said DeLeon.
St. Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, re-introduced a bill that prohibits semi-automatic weapons from having bullet buttons which allows the gun from being easily re-loaded with multiple rounds.
Gun Owners of California says these further restrictions are unconstitutional. In fact, they're challenging a previous bill by DeLeon requiring stores to fingerprint customers who buy bullets for handguns.
"We don't have a gun problem in this country. We have a people problem, a certain segment of people. And until we put a focus on dealing with things that would make a person go from normal to evil, we are going to continue to have these problems, no matter what gun laws we have," said Sam Paredes from Gun Owners of California.
State Treasure Bill Lockyer is taking a different tactic. Instead of more gun control laws, he's proposing to pressure gun manufacturers.
Lockyer wants the state's biggest largest public pension funds, CalPERS and CalSTRS, to pull their investments in companies that make weapons that are illegal in California. CalSTRS apparently has ownership interest in the firm that makes the Bushmaster Assault Rifle, which was one of the weapons used in Connecticut.
"They expose our communities, our families, and our children to unnecessary violence," said Tom Dresslar, from the California Treasurer's Office.
The pressure may already be working. The private equity group with a controller stake in the firm that makes the Bushmaster just said it's selling its share.
