New Gun Control Initiative

Posted at 11:40 PM, Mar 14, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-15 02:40:21-04

Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom is pushing for a new gun control initiative to make it on the fall ballot.

And certain parts of the initiative like ammunition background checks and completely out lawing high capacity magazines are drawing a lot of attention.

Earlier today the California State Sheriffs’ Association announced that they are opposed to Newsom's initiative, saying that this type of initiative will not have the impact that people want to see.

As the Legislative Director for the California State Sheriffs’ Association, Cory Salzillo,  explained why they opposed this initiative.

“The sheriff’s concerns are basically that this effort will not do enough to keep firearms and ammunition out of the hands of people who should not have them,” said Salzillo.

And supporters of the second amendment and the right to bare arms like Vice president of Second Amendment Sports, Matt Janes, seem to agree.

“You're only going to regulate people who are regulatable. People who are felons or want to do bad, they'll find a way. They'll go over to Nevada or they'll go over to Arizona and they'll buy that ammunition,” said Janes.

In 1999, California officially put a ban on assault weapons, making California’s gun laws some of the strictest in the nation.

But since the 1999 laws, the number of deaths has only gone up.

“One of the main things is it criminalizes the possession of certain large capacity magazines. So even magazines that were lawfully possessed and that are lawfully possessed today would become illegal,” said Salzillo.

While some say it's excessive, others think it's a good place to start.

“They want to ban the possession of standard capacity magazines for people who are 34 years or older. Most people that are 34 years or older are either felons or they're not. And the felons already can't have firearms anyways,” said Janes.

But as a gun owner and a father who lost his son to gun violence, Wesley Davis believes that this could be the beginning of the change that is needed.

“You know, I think I'm intelligent enough to look at both sides of the deal, but we have to start somewhere and we have to find where we'll do the least damage possible,” said Davis. “In a matter of four or five years I think we'll arrive at the place that we're trying to arrive at. We would slowly get the weapons out of the hands of these guys and it wouldn't be so easy for these types of individuals to just wake up and put their gun on like they put their shirt on.

Newsom will need to collect more than 360,000 signatures before November in order to get this initiative on the upcoming ballot.