SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s grassroots network, issued the following statement after lawmakers in the Senate’s Public Safety Committee voted to advance AB 28. The measure which now goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee, was introduced by gun sense champion Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel and passed the Assembly in May. The bill would establish the Gun Violence Prevention, Healing and Recovery Fund to provide vital resources to life-saving programs — including the California Violence Intervention and Prevention (CalVIP) grant program, supported by a modest industry tax on businesses selling firearms and ammunition.
“This bill is a transformative approach to tackling gun violence and a crucial step to improve the safety of all California families,” said Cassandra Whetstone, a volunteer with the California chapter of Moms Demand Action. “AB 28 seeks to make our communities safer and target the root causes of gun violence by providing critical funding for life-saving violence intervention programs. We are grateful for our gun sense champions in this Committee and look forward to working with the Senate to send this measure to the Governor’s desk as soon as possible.”
Yesterday, the Senate Public Safety Committee also advanced AB 762, which will make the CalVIP grant program permanent, and AB 574 which will require firearm purchasers to proactively affirm that they have checked and confirmed the whereabouts of firearms they already own. The Senate Judiciary Committee members heard and advanced AB 1089 which seeks to clarify existing law to ensure 3-D printers and other firearm manufacturing machines cannot be used to circumvent California’s strong ghost gun laws, and AB 1587 which would ensure financial institutions are using available tools to recognize suspicious firearm transactions.
As we await further legislative action on gun violence prevention bills, Moms Demand Action and Student Demand Action Volunteers will continue to advocate for measures that continue to make California the national leader in the fight against gun violence.
Statistics about gun violence in California are available here, and Everytown’s Gun Law Rankings – which shows how California’s gun laws compare to those of other states – is available here.
