In recent weeks California polished its reputation as a progressive state. It passed strict new gun and environmental laws, and it failed to pass a repeal of its 3-cent gas-tax increase.
Assembly Bill 1621 by Assemblyman Mike Gipson (D-Los Angeles) was signed into law June 30 by Gov. Gavin Newsom. This is the “ghost guns” bill, intended to make it more difficult to make guns not licensed by the state. In the Assembly summary, it redefines a firearm to include a “precursor part.” And it prohibits “possessing or manufacturing a firearm precursor part without authorization.”
The California Rifle & Pistol Association said the bill tasks the Department of Justice with “even more unnecessary time-consuming mandates. It is an unconstitutional restriction on lawful conduct.” The group is planning lawsuits against this and other new state gun laws.
The bill was one of 12 gun bills the Legislature already passed this year, or is expected to pass, all likely to get Newsom signatures. The bills come after a spate of mass shootings across America. The worst was on May 24 at a school in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 children and two adults were killed.
The bills also come after the U.S. Supreme Court on June 23 affirmed a personal right to carry legal firearms in public.
But Newsom said in a July 1 statement, “From our schools to our parks to our homes, our kids deserve to be safe—in California, we’re making that a reality. As the Supreme Court rolls back important gun safety protections and states across the country treat gun violence as inevitable, California is doubling down on common sense gun safety measures that save lives. The lives of our kids are at stake and we’re putting everything on the table to respond to this crisis.”
- At least 30 percent in 2028
- At least 40 percent in 2030
- At least 65 percent in 2032
However, the added expense will be passed on to consumers who already suffered among the highest prices for goods in the nation even before the recent spate of inflation.
One law not passed this year was Newsom’s proposal to halt the gas hike of three cents a gallon that hit drivers on July 1. The increase stemmed from Senate Bill 1 passed in 2017 and signed into law by then-Gov. Jerry Brown.
The new tax increase is on top of the existing 51-cent state gas tax, the highest in the nation. The higher 54-cent levy hit drivers just before the Independence Day holiday.
Instead of cutting the gas tax, the Legislature passed an inflation relief package that will send checks of from $200 to $1,050 to 23 million Californians.
Finally, a gun bill Newsom signed last year, Assembly Bill 1621, went into effect July 1, allowing peers, family members, co-workers, and employers to ask a judge to seize guns from someone they suspect could be a threat to themselves or others.
President Joe Biden June 25 also signed Congress’s gun bill that included funding for state Red Flag efforts.
However, just last year the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 9–0 decision, roundly rejected all Red Flag laws as violating both the Second Amendment “right of the people to keep and bear arms” and the Fourth Amendment right against “unreasonable searches and seizures.”
