SACRAMENTO, CA — The California chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s grassroots networks, issued the following statements after rallying in Sacramento during their annual advocacy day. Gun safety advocates, along with community and state partners, united in a collective call for more further action on gun safety during the current legislative session.
“As the strongest, most innovative state when it comes to gun safety laws, California’s progress inspires so many of us across the country,” said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action. “Our movement has created a winning formula that works to create change at all levels of government — from electing people with the courage to stand up to the gun lobby to working with them every step of the way to get gun safety done. We’re excited to keep up this momentum in 2024 and create safer communities across California.”
“As gun violence has torn our communities apart, our grassroots movement has turned our pain into purpose. We pour our hearts into Advocacy to pass good policies making California the leader in the fight against gun violence along the way,” said Renia Webb, gun violence survivor and volunteer with the California chapter of Moms Demand Action. “California has the country’s strongest gun safety laws but we won’t stop – we must take advantage of this moment and do everything we can to put an end to senseless acts of gun violence.”
“When it comes to addressing our country’s gun violence crisis, California continues to lead the way – and so do its students,” said Ireana Marie Williams, a student leader at California State: Sacramento Students Demand Action chapter. “We’ve shown up, year after year, to help pass life-saving measures so the next generation doesn’t have to know the fear that we do. We’ve made a lot of progress in California, but there’s always more work to be done until young people can live free from gun violence. So we’ll keep showing up.”
Here’s a snapshot of the major gun safety legislation under consideration this session:
- AB 2913 (Gipson): The California Homicide Victims’ Families Rights Act, which would create a new process for family members of homicide victims to request that law enforcement agencies review their loved one’s case file to determine if further investigation could result in new leads, creating more transparency and equitable access to justice and healing for survivors.
- AB 2917 (Zbur): legislation to update and refine California’s gun violence restraining order law to draw the civil court’s attention to a broader set of risk factors to consider when evaluating whether to issue a gun violence restraining order – including threats of violence made against individuals or groups protected by California’s hate crimes law and threats of violence to achieve political objectives.
- AB 2621 (Gabriel): legislation to update requirements for written local law enforcement policies relating to gun violence restraining orders to ensure effective implementation and updates to law enforcement hate crimes training to require instruction on identifying circumstances where a gun violence restraining order may be an appropriate tool for preventing hate crimes.
This year, Everytown’s state gun law rankings show whether states’ rankings increased or decreased over the past year, reflecting progress made by passing common-sense gun safety policies or setbacks as a result of enacting dangerous measures backed by the gun lobby. Everytown’s analysis found that California continues to rank first in the nation for the strength of its gun laws.
In an average year, 3,253 people die and 7,293 are wounded by guns in California. California ranks 45th in both gun death rates and societal cost of gun violence at $1,060 per person each year. Gun deaths and injuries cost California $41.9 billion, of which $1.1 billion is paid by taxpayers. More information about gun violence in California is available here.
