[Editor’s Note: At this evening’s 7 o’clock meeting of the Culver City Democratic Club, Robert Greenwald’s new documentary –m stories of victims of gun violence – will be screened. The club meets in the Rotunda Room at the Vets Auditorium.]
As our Culver City Democratic Club prepares for this evening’s showing of Robert Greenwald’s most recent documentary, “Making a Killing – Guns, Greed and the NRA,” I read about our state Senate’s approval of 11 gun bills in response to the San Bernardino shootings. Last Dec. 2, two attackers killed 14 people who were attending an office Christmas party.
According to Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D –Los Angeles), 30,000 people are killed by guns every year in the United States. Gun violence has reached epidemic proportions. The San Bernardino shootings resulted in a separate gun control initiative by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsome that is expected to quality for the Nov. 8 ballot.
Two bills approved by the state Senate would ban the manufacture and sale of semi-automatic rifles with detachable magazines, as well as semi-automatic, center-fire rifles with bullet buttons.
A bullet button is a recessed button that allows the removal of the magazine when pressed by a sharp object. Those already in possession of such guns would have to register them with the state as assault rifles.
A Different Problem
Another measure would ban the possession of large capacity magazines, those holding more than 10 bullets. Mr. de Leon authored a bill requiring those buying ammunition to present identification, which would be used by the seller to check to make sure that the buyer is not a felon or otherwise prohibited from possessing guns. This bill is supported by the LAPD Chief Charlie Beck and County Sheriff Jim McDonnell as a way to make sure criminals do not get ammunition.
Other bills would require owners of homemade guns to get a serial number for the firearms, register them with the state and undergo a background check. One bill mandates that gun owners report lost or stolen firearms to the authorities within five days.
Other provisions include limiting lending of firearms to specified family members and establishing a Firearm Violence Research Center at one of the U.C. campuses to study potential policies to reduce shooting deaths and injuries.
Please be sure to reach out to your Assembly member ASAP. They will hold a vote before the end of June. Let’s make California a safer place for all.
Khin Khin Gyi, M.D., President of the Culver City Democratic Club, may be contacted at President@CulverCityDemocraticClub.com