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WASHINGTON — Gun control expanded dramatically in three states this month while the nation’s attention was diverted by the presidential election.
California now requires background checks for ammunition purchases and bans magazines larger than 10 rounds. In Washington state, judges can now strip citizens of their Second Amendment rights with a court order. And Nevada now requires background checks on all gun sales, including those made by private citizens, though online transactions, and at gun shows.
“It was a repudiation of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the gun lobby,” Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, the sponsor of California’s Proposition 63, told The Los Angeles Times.
Proposition 63 also requires ammunition sales be made through licensed vendors and makes it a crime if a lost or stolen gun is not reported to police. The California Police Chiefs Association (CPCA) opposed Prop 63, partially because of the reporting requirement.
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“Penalizing the failure to report lost and stolen firearms actually can deter individuals to report for fear of penalty, which has already been proven to be the case in many areas where local governments have enacted similar ordinances,” Ken Corney, the president of CPCA, wrote in a letter to the citizens of California.
Said Craig DeLuz of the Stop Prop 63 Committee, “Prop. 63 is another attempt by Newsom and his one percent, elitist friends to attack law-abiding Californians. They want to replace the ‘War on Drugs’ with ‘The War on law-abiding gun owners’ so they can continue locking up young black and Latino men.”
Newsom and his allies raised more than $4.5 million to support Proposition 63, while opponents only collected $868,000.
Around 71 percent of Washington state’s population voted for Initiative 1591, The Seattle Times reported.
The measure allows law enforcement officers, family members and others to ask a judge to issue an “extreme risk protection order” if they believe someone is a danger to themselves or others. The gun/guns would be confiscated without warning and without the person having a chance to make his or her case.
Around 50.45 percent of Nevada voters supported Question 1, which expands background checks to gun shows, online purchases and private sales.
There was one major defeat for gun controllers: 52 percent of Maine’s residents voted no on an expansion of background checks.
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