“It’s really a way to get a handle on the problem of illegal guns.”
“That’s a big investigative tool,” said Wilcox, who suffered the death of a daughter to gun violence. Similar background checks implemented in Sacramento for more than a decade have allowed police detectives to track down and seize illegal guns from those trying to buy ammunition, according to Amanda Wilcox, the policy chair for Brady California, a gun control group that supports the new state law. “Unsurprisingly, mass shooters have assembled arsenals by ordering ammunition online, and each year California law enforcement officers have uncovered hundreds of thousands of rounds of illegal ammunition while investigating the illegal possession of firearms,” she added. Gabby Giffords, severely wounded in a mass shooting in 2011.īefore Proposition 63, it was easier to buy ammunition than cold medicine and cigarettes, Shearer said. New York is developing a system like California’s, said Shearer, whose gun-control group was formed by former Rep.
California ammo stockpile license#
State officials say California’s database includes 4.5 million people who possess firearms, but fewer than two-thirds of those people are active firearms users.Ĭonnecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts and New Jersey have enacted similar laws, but those states require buyers to first pass a background check and obtain a license in order to purchase ammunition, according to Hannah Shearer, litigation director for the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The seller then will make an instant check by computer to make sure the buyer is not listed on a Department of Justice database called the Prohibited Armed Persons File, which includes people who have been disqualified from possessing firearms because of criminal convictions or severe mental illness.īuyers will be charged a $1 fee for the background check and state officials expect 13 million checks the first year. The law taking effect next month requires those buying ammunition to show a driver’s license or other photo identification, and for the licensed seller to collect the buyer’s name, date of birth and current address. To give the state time to set up a system for instant background checks, the law’s effective date was delayed until July 1, 2019. The Legislature approved a bill that preempted parts of Newsom’s initiative to create a less complicated screening process that would provide immediate clearance for each purchase for those buying ammo, doing away with the four-year permit. Newsom’s initiative called for ammo buyers to undergo background checks and get a four-year permit from the California Department of Justice to purchase bullets. The ammo law was one of a half-dozen bills approved in 2016 amid public outrage over a raft of mass shootings, including the 2015 terror attack in San Bernardino that left 14 people dead at a holiday party and an attack months earlier at an Orlando, Fla., nightclub that killed 49 people. An agency representative refused to comment on the new law and say when it will be enforced. He said there is also confusion about what the new law will require and added that the Justice Department has not provided clarity. Mike Hein of Ade’s Gun Shop in Orange said ammunition sales in recent months have jumped by more than 10%, including an increase of customers making bulk buys of as many as 1,000 rounds.
The Sacramento-area firm Ammo Depot has leased a freeway billboard warning of the new law and urging “Get your ammo now!” It’s just another typical California deterrent to make things tougher for gun owners.” “People are gearing up for it,” he said of the new law. OC Guns store owner Scott Bodkin said sales of ammunition have doubled at his Lake Forest store in recent weeks. Meanwhile, the state Department of Justice is scrambling to develop its procedures for the screening process, with the possibility that the new system will not be finalized before the start of the month.Įven with a possible delay, gun owners have been stockpiling ammunition. that is pressing the courts to block the requirement on grounds it is unconstitutional, although the next court hearing is months away. Rhode is a plaintiff in a lawsuit backed by the National Rifle Assn. “These regulations essentially prevent me from being able to stay qualified and not only hurt my skill, but jeopardize the United States’ representation at the Olympic Games,” she said.
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