Newsom to Submit Signatures for Gun Control Initiative

A proposed initiative to toughen gun control laws in California is one step closer to the November ballot. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom's Safety for All campaign will submit signatures to the Secretary of State's Office on Friday to qualify the measure for the ballot.

Newsom told KQED's Forum program that the campaign had gathered 600,000 signatures. Only 365,880 of those need to be valid for the measure to qualify (the number is derived from turnout in the previous state election, in 2014).

The measure, co-authored by the San Francisco-based Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, is especially focused on ammunition regulations.

“The next great effort on gun safety is going to be around ammunition," Newsom said. "California has the chance to lead."

The initiative includes a ban on the possession of high-capacity ammunition magazines, point-of-sale background checks for ammunition purchases and a requirement for gun owners to notify law enforcement if their firearm is lost or stolen.

“We believe we should treat ammunition like we should guns," he added. "You have to use your license to get Sudafed but you have no obligations to get unlimited caches of ammunition.”

The gun control proposals Newsom is pushing on the ballot have also been pursued as legislation at the state capital by state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León.

The L.A. Times reported last week that he wrote Lt. Gov. Newsom, warning him that the legislative efforts could be "derailed" by the ballot measure.

"There is a good chance of getting the legislative package of gun-control bills to the Governor," de León wrote. "A major impediment to success, however, is your stated position not to pull the Safety for All Act from the ballot under any circumstances."

Newsom has given no indication that he will defer to the legislative branch, which he called the "home court" of the National Rifle Association.

"The five key provisions that I have in the Safety For All initiative have been watered down or killed in the California Legislature in the past few years," he said. "So the NRA even has influence in California."

Chuck Michel, co-chair for the Coalition for Civil Liberties, the group opposing the measure, called the assertion of the NRA's influence in the Legislature "laughable," but said the statehouse was a preferable place to debate gun control measures.

"It's much better to address these things through the legislative process, where things can be adjusted if there is a problem," said Michel. "But once you pass it by initiative, you're locked in."

Opposition to Newsom's measure is led by the California State Sheriffs' Association and the Association of Deputy District Attorneys in Los Angeles County. Michel says those groups are particularly opposed to the point-of-sale background checks for ammunition.

"This whole ammo registration scheme was tried and failed in New York," added Michel. "It failed so miserably because as a practical matter they just can't build that database without spending hundreds of millions of dollars."

If there is a legislative compromise to be brokered on the proposals, California law allows qualified measures to be removed before June 30.