The bill would also prohibit anyone under 21 from obtaining a concealed-carry permit, and would require all permit holders to have more training, including on how to safely store and transport guns.
The California State Sheriffs’ Association told KQED it is reviewing the new legislation and has yet to take a position on it.
The organization, which represents sheriffs from all 58 California counties, opposed a similar bill last year.
The push for stricter gun rules follows a month of near back-to-back mass shootings in California, including ones in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay that occurred within 48 hours of each other, and together left 18 people dead and 10 others wounded. In total, the state had six mass shootings in January, in which at least 29 people were killed.
“We have in America an internationally unique tragedy and epidemic when it comes to gun violence,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Wednesday. “We have seen this tragedy in too many everyday places. Dance halls, places of work, gas stations and nightclubs. Places where people should feel safe.”
California and half a dozen other states previously had laws that required people to give a reason if they wanted to carry a concealed gun in public — like citing a direct threat to their public safety.
But a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year struck down those laws, making it easier for people in those states to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
California Democrats tried to pass new rules last year — and they would have succeeded, had it not been for a strategic blunder requiring a two-thirds vote of the Legislature so the bill could take effect immediately. Democrats could not round up enough support, and the bill ultimately died.
“That’s not going to happen this year,” Newsom said. “I will be signing this legislation.”
One recent study, from the left-leaning Center for American Progress, found that gun homicides increased by an average of 22% in the three years after states weakened their concealed carry laws, while other non-fatal gun-related crimes increased by 29%.
SB 2 builds on California’s years-long effort to curb gun violence through safety legislation. The Golden State was among the first in the nation to pass and implement a red flag gun law, which allows courts to temporarily remove firearms from individuals proven to be a danger to themselves or others.
While those laws have not put a complete stop to gun-related tragedies, many crime prevention experts argue their impact has been significant: California’s gun death rate is 37% lower than the national average, according to the Giffords Law Center, a gun violence prevention advocacy group.
And despite the recent slew of mass shootings in California, the state has the 44th-lowest gun-related death rate in the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This story includes reporting from KQED’s Marisa Lagos and Sydney Johnson, and Adam Beam of The Associated Press.
