September 13, 2013:
California: Last night a bill that would have banned and required confiscation of all magazines that are or were capable of holding more than 10 rounds died for good in the Assembly. Nevertheless, after this week’s activity thirteen new firearms laws now await the California Governor’s signature. Among the pending legislation are bills: (1) banning all semi-automatic rifles without a fixed magazine and requiring registration of existing rifles; (2) further restricting the transfer of “unsafe handguns”; (3) requiring purchasers to present a firearms safety certificate in order to purchase any firearm; (4) extending time periods for background checks; (5) banning lead ammo and rebuild kits for magazines; (6) restricting assault weapon permits to individuals (as opposed to corporations and partnerships); (7) requiring mandatory loss reporting on firearms within seven days; and (8) creating criminal liability for allowing a child or prohibited person to access a firearm from a home, or storing a firearm anywhere that the owner should have known a prohibited person could access it.
In addition, a bill requiring ammunition purchase “authorizations,” mandating that all purchases of ammunition be through state-licensed ammunition vendors and requiring recording of all ammunition purchases is awaiting a concurrence vote in the Senate that would send it to the Governor.
Missouri: Given that the proposed Firearms Freedom Act received more than enough votes to override the Missouri Governor’s recent veto when it originally passed both houses, an override seemed almost a certainty. Despite these indications and the House passing the override earlier this week, however, the bill failed Wednesday night when it fell one vote short of the votes needed in the Senate.