CALIFORNIA NEWS
AB28 — Governor Signs 11% Gun Tax
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By Jondi Gumz
n Sept. 26, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 28, a landmark measure to impose an 11% excise tax on firearms and ammunition sold by gun manufacturers and dealers. Gun rights advocates said if Newsom signs the bill, they would sue the state. The Gun Violence Prevention and School Safety Act cleared both the Assembly and Senate by a 2/3 supermajority vote. Authored by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D - Encino), chair of the Legislature’s Gun Violence Prevention Working Group, AB 28 is projected to generate $150 million a year. Here is how it would be spent: $75 million for violence intervention and prevention programs $50 million for initiatives to prevent school shootings, including before and after school programs $15 million for a court program to remove guns from domestic abusers $15 million for firearms investigations
Since AB 28 was introduced at the beginning of the current legislative session, the United States has experienced hundreds of mass shootings, including horrific incidents in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay. Since AB 28 was introduced at the beginning of the current legislative session, the United States has experienced hundreds of mass shootings, including horrific incidents in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay. A recent report by the American Academy of Pediatrics found the firearm death rate for American children increased 40% between 2018 and 2021. Legislative attempts to tax guns have been made since 2013 in California; this is the first bill to pass the Assembly. The vote was 56-17, with seven abstaining. Assemblymembers Gail Pellerin, Robert Rivas and Dawn Addis, who represent Santa Cruz County, voted yes.
8 / October 1st 2023 / Aptos Times www.tpgonlinedaily.com
The vote in the State Senate was 27-9 with four abstaining. John Laird voted yes, and Anna Caballero did not vote. “Gun manufacturers are reaping record profits at the same time that gun violence has become the leading cause of death for kids in the United States,” said Gabriel. AB 28 was a top national priority for the gun safety movement with strong support by all of the major gun safety organizations, including Giffords, Moms Demand Action, Everytown, Brady, and March for Our Lives. Gabby Giffords, the Arizona congresswoman shot in the head on Jan. 8, 2011, at a constituent event by a gunman who
killed six people and injured 12 others, said,“Thank you to Governor Gavin Newsom, Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, and thousands of community leaders across California for putting the safety of the people above the gun industry’s profits.” Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action, said,“Our grassroots army has been committed to working with our gunsense champions to get it across the finish line.” Moms Demand Action was started by Shannon Watts, a stay-at-home mother of five, after a gunman shot inside Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut, killing 20 students and six adults in 2012. Gun sellers already pay a 10-11% federal tax, which goes toward wildlife conservation. Some Republican lawmakers said the tax would penalize law-abiding firearm owners and hunters. n
Governor Signs SB 14: Sex Trafficking of Minors a Strike
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By Jondi Gumz
n Sept. 25, State Sen. Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) announced her bill Senate Bill 14, to make sex trafficking of minors a serious crime, was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. SB 14, which makes the crime a strike under the Three Strikes law, goes into effect Jan. 1, 2024. “The signing of Senate Bill 14 is a huge victory for California’s children and the survivors of sex trafficking who have long fought for justice,” said Grove. “We are sending a clear message to child traffickers — we intend to put you out of business and behind bars where you belong. California is one of the top states for human trafficking in the United States. Thousands of people, many of them minors, are forced into sexual exploitation each year. As Grove sees it, by making a conviction for sex trafficking a child a “strikeable” offense, SB 14 will provide serious consequences for those who sexually exploit and abuse children. “I am grateful for the incredible support from the human trafficking survivors
Supporters of SB 14 on sex trafficking celebrate Gov. Newsom signing the bill. who have bravely shared their story with the hope of making this change, the 64 legislative co-authors of SB 14, and the Governor for signing this important bill,” Grove said. “Most of all, I want to thank the thousands of Californians who called or visited legislative offices, signed petitions, and spoke out on social media. We are here today because of the overwhelming public outrage that propelled this bill through the legislature and ultimately helped protect our children from predators.” “SB 14” page 12