Sweeping California Gun Control Initiative Qualifies for November Ballot

A sweeping California gun control measure that would outlaw high-capacity magazines, require background checks for ammunition and require people to report lost or stolen guns was approved for the state’s November ballot, Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced Thursday.

If passed, the initiative would represent some of the most comprehensive gun restrictions passed at the state level in the wake of several mass shootings in the United States, most recently at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando where 49 people were shot dead.

The measure, called the "Safety for All" Initiative, would do the following if passed:

• Ban the sale and possession of high-capacity, “military-style” magazines of 11 or more rounds. Anyone in possession of such magazines would be required to either sell them back to the manufacturer, destroy them or take them out of state.
• Treat ammunition like gun sales. People buying ammunition will be subject to background checks as if they were buying a gun. And anyone selling ammunition will have to obtain the appropriate licenses to do so.
• Require people to report lost or stolen guns. Everyone who has had their gun lost or stolen must report it to law enforcement.
• Establish new procedures to keep guns out of the hands of people who can't have them. This includes punishing dealers who sell guns to people they know are not allowed to have them.
• Share background check data with the National Instant Criminal Background Check System run by the FBI.

You can read the entire ballot measure here.

To get on the ballot, the initiative needed to get 365,880 valid signatures from registered voters, according to Padilla.

California residents will get to vote on the measure Nov. 8.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has already announced that he will run for governor in 2018, said the initiative “will save lives by making it much harder for dangerous people to get guns and ammunition in California.”

But critics of the initiative, like Michele Hanisee, president of the Association of Los Angeles Deputy District Attorneys, disagreed and said the measure was nothing more than a political play by Newsom.

"Since ammunition will still be legal to possess, albeit more difficult to acquire, the measure does nothing to stop criminals who commit murder, which, of course, is already illegal," Hanisee said. "It will only affect the law abiding citizens.”

City News Service contributed to this report. Image via Shutterstock