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California Ushers in Host of New Weapons-Linked Laws

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The Constitution’s Second Amendment stresses “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms.”

That language is frequently quoted in discussions centered on that cornerstone American protection. And while it is spotlighted, it isn’t routinely tempered by advocates’ acknowledgment of tandem restrictions that state governments and federal authorities liberally impose on the right.

Indeed, regulatory controls over guns are both multi-layered and expansive. We note on our criminal defense website at the Bay Area Law Offices of John W. Noonan that they start with government bodies powerfully commanding “the right to regulate who can own a gun.” In California, a threshold prerequisite to gun ownership is licensing, which comes with controls that are comparatively tighter than those imposed in many other states.

And here’s a caveat: California’s requirements surrounding gun ownership, possession and use have just gotten notably stricter.

In fact, new California impositions effective in 2019 take the lead in multiple national media pieces chronicling gun-linked legal changes recently enacted in multiple states. California lawmakers have ushered in more than a dozen new laws focused upon gun use. Among other things, they include these central adjustments:

  • Minimum age change from 18 to 21 for would-be buyers of so-called “long” guns (e.g., rifles and shotguns)
  • No gun purchase ever for any person admitted to a hospital for mental health issues more than once within a year (appealable in some instances)
  • Lifetime gun ban for persons convicted of select domestic violence offenses
  • Upped training requirements for concealed-permit gun owners

California’s weapons laws are extensive, exacting and growing progressively stricter. Questions or concerns regarding this magnified subject matter can be addressed to an experienced criminal defense attorney with a deep well of experience representing clients against gun/weapons charges.

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