Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Storyland Will Sparkle for All Visitors With $1 Million City of Fresno Grant

17 hours ago

Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath’s Bat-Biting Frontman, Dies at 76, BBC Reports

21 hours ago

What’s Fresno County Worth? Property Tax Roll Grows by Billions of Dollars

23 hours ago

Fresno County Authorities Seek Help Locating Missing Woman and Infant

24 hours ago

Maddy Institute Fundraiser to Highlight Central Valley’s Impact at State Capitol

24 hours ago

No Aid Supplies Left and Staff Are Starving in Gaza, Says Norwegian Refugee Council

1 day ago

US Justice Dept. Asks Epstein Associate Maxwell to Speak to Prosecutors

1 day ago

Trump’s Golden Dome Looks for Alternatives to Musk’s SpaceX

1 day ago

Fresno Unified’s Free Immunization Clinics for Students Start in August

1 day ago
California Ammo Check Law Blocked 100 Sales in First Month
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
August 6, 2019

Share

SACRAMENTO — California’s new ammunition background check law in its first month stopped more than 100 people from buying bullets illegally, officials said late Monday as they struggled to deter more of the mass shootings that have roiled California and other states over the last week.

“Countless other prohibited persons were likely deterred from even trying to purchase ammunition that they cannot lawfully possess.”State Attorney General Xavier Becerra
“Countless other prohibited persons were likely deterred from even trying to purchase ammunition that they cannot lawfully possess,” Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a court filing. He disclosed the early results in response to a gun owners’ rights group attempt to block the law that took effect July 1.
A federal judge is expected to decide later this month whether to halt the law as a violation of the Second Amendment right to bear arms and other federal laws.
The filing came as Gov. Gavin Newsom said the federal government should follow California’s lead in requiring background checks for ammunition buyers.
“Guns don’t kill people,” Newsom said, noting that it also requires ammunition.

NRA Attorney: Law Won’t Save Lives

The Democratic governor convened a 90-minute emergency meeting with Becerra and several dozen law enforcement leaders, community members, civil rights leaders, researchers and emergency responders to grapple with what more the state can do to prevent mass shootings.
Aside from weekend slayings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, they include one that left four dead, including the shooter, at a popular Northern California food festival late last month. The Democratic governor said the conversation is only beginning as he declined to outline specific steps, including whether he supports any of the several pending bills intended to toughen California’s already strict gun laws.
Chuck Michel, an attorney representing the National Rifle Association and its California affiliate that sued to block the background checks, said he and the associations sympathize with mass shooting victims.
“But this ammo law is not gonna save any lives. You’re not smoking out the violent felons. Violent criminals aren’t going to buy ammunition and have a background check done,” Michel said. “All of this red tape is just going to push people out of the sport and from owning a gun to defend their families.”

Background Checks Average Less Than 5 Minutes

Aside from the more than 100 who were prohibited, the state’s filing says nearly 11,000 prospective buyers were denied immediate approval but were not determined to be barred from owning guns or buying ammunition. The state processed more than 57,000 such transactions in the first month, approving nearly 47,000 of them.
Buyers who already are in the state’s firearm background check database now pay a $1 fee each time they buy ammunition, while others can buy longer-term licenses if they do not have certain criminal convictions or mental health commitments.
It took an average of less than five minutes to complete the background checks, the state’s filing says.
It challenges the California Rifle & Pistol Association’s assertion that the background checks take too long, are too burdensome and result in too many illegitimate rejections, given that “tens of thousands of ammunition transactions were processed in July alone.”
“There is no substantial impediment,” the state filing says. “Ammunition purchasers must pass an eligibility check that, in the vast majority of cases, delays a purchase by a few minutes.”
There was a spike in calls to the state’s customer support center in the first week, but those then dropped significantly, according to the filing. There were also “some technical issues,” including delays in processing checks on buyers who had several first names, but the state’s filing said that problem has since been corrected.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Trump Announces Trade Deal With Japan, Including 15% Tariff

DON'T MISS

Why American Jews No Longer Understand One Another

DON'T MISS

Visalia DUI Operation Nets 17 Arrests Over Weekend

DON'T MISS

Storyland Will Sparkle for All Visitors With $1 Million City of Fresno Grant

DON'T MISS

Former Madera Charter School Executive Charged With Embezzling Federal Funds

DON'T MISS

Fresno Unified Doesn’t Respond to Public Records Requests. Is District Hiding Something?

DON'T MISS

US Appeals Court Will Not Lift Limits on Associated Press Access to White House

DON'T MISS

Feds Award $93 Million to Key San Joaquin River Salmon Restoration Project

DON'T MISS

With Backing From Dyer, Ashjian Reinstated to Measure C Panel

DON'T MISS

Fresno Shooting Leaves One Dead, Authorities Looking for Witnesses

UP NEXT

NPR’s Top Editor Edith Chapin to Step Down

UP NEXT

Less Than 400 EV Charging Ports Built Under $7.5 Billion US Infrastructure Program

UP NEXT

California Voters Say State Is Off Course. Housing Emerges as Top Concern

UP NEXT

Fresno County Authorities Seek Help Locating Missing Woman and Infant

UP NEXT

Americans’ Confidence in Institutions Remains Low. Divides by Party Widen

UP NEXT

US Judge Sentences Ex-Police Officer to 33 Months for Violating Civil Rights of Breonna Taylor

UP NEXT

Should ICE Agents Wear Masks? LA Mayor Bass Says No

UP NEXT

Brother of Army Ranger and NFL Star Pat Tillman Crashes Into Post Office

UP NEXT

How Will KVPR and Valley PBS Deal With Loss of Federal Funding?

UP NEXT

At Least 30 Injured When Car Hits Crowd Outside Los Angeles Club, Fire Department Says

In Landmark Opinion, World Court Says Countries Must Address Climate Change Threat

25 minutes ago

White House Unveils Artificial Intelligence Policy Plan

35 minutes ago

WHO Sees ‘Deadly’ Surge in Malnutrition in Gaza. 21 Children Under Five Killed in 2025

50 minutes ago

State Department Investigating Harvard’s Participation in Exchange Visitor Program

54 minutes ago

Israeli Strike Kills Hungry Gaza Family in Their Sleep

1 hour ago

US Existing Home Sales Fall More Than Expected in June

1 hour ago

Trump Strikes Tariff Deal With Japan, Auto Stocks Surge

1 hour ago

Trump Admin Releases After-School Grant Money, but There’s a Catch

2 hours ago

A Pro-Trump Community Reckons With Losing a Beloved Immigrant Neighbor

2 hours ago

Trump Announces Trade Deal With Japan, Including 15% Tariff

16 hours ago

Fresno’s Mission Thrift Asks for Clothing Donations After Fire Burns $125K in Goods

The Fresno Mission Thrift Store has fully reopened after a fire earlier this month destroyed thousands of dollars in donated goods and force...

1 minute ago

The Fresno Mission Thrift Store has reopened after a fire caused up to $125,000 in damage, and officials are urgently requesting clothing donations to help replenish what was lost. (GV Wire Composite)
1 minute ago

Fresno’s Mission Thrift Asks for Clothing Donations After Fire Burns $125K in Goods

Tulsi Gabbard, the Trump administration’s director of national intelligence, at the Capitol on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. Gabbard released a declassified version of a 2020 House Intelligence Committee report on July 23, 2025 that she said undermined the conclusion of intelligence agencies during the Obama administration that Russia favored the election of Donald Trump in 2016. (Eric Lee/The New York Times)
4 minutes ago

Gabbard Releases New Documents Targeting Obama Administration

Juan Perez is Valley Crime Stoppers' Most Wanted Person of the Day for July 23, 2025. (Valley Crimes Stoppers)
15 minutes ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Juan Perez

The Dragon Bravo Fire burns on the northern rim as seen from Grandeur Point on the southern rim of Grand Canyon, Arizona, U.S. July 14, 2025. (Reuters File)
25 minutes ago

In Landmark Opinion, World Court Says Countries Must Address Climate Change Threat

AI Artificial intelligence words, miniature of robot and U.S. flag are seen in this illustration taken December 21, 2023. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration)
35 minutes ago

White House Unveils Artificial Intelligence Policy Plan

A doctor checks Jana Ayad, a malnourished Palestinian girl, as she receives treatment at the International Medical Corps field hospital, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the southern Gaza Strip, June 22, 2024. (Reuters File)
50 minutes ago

WHO Sees ‘Deadly’ Surge in Malnutrition in Gaza. 21 Children Under Five Killed in 2025

Students gather on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., May 23, 2025. (Reuters File)
54 minutes ago

State Department Investigating Harvard’s Participation in Exchange Visitor Program

Debris lies at the site of an overnight Israeli air strike on a house, in Gaza City, July 23, 2025. (Reuters/Mahmoud Issa)
1 hour ago

Israeli Strike Kills Hungry Gaza Family in Their Sleep

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend