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California voters will decide in November whether to tighten the state’s already tough gun control laws after the secretary of state’s office said a proposal exceeded the number signatures needed to qualify for the fall ballot on Thursday.
If voters approve, California would become the first state to require background checks at the point of sale for ammunition. Some other states already require buyers to get licenses and go through background checks ahead of time.
It would also streamline California’s unique program that allows authorities to seize firearms from owners who bought guns legally but are no longer allowed to own them because they were later convicted of a felony or a violent misdemeanor, determined to be mentally unstable, or were the subject of a restraining order involving domestic violence.
Those people also would no longer be able to buy ammunition.
Gun owners would have to surrender large-capacity ammunition magazines. California already bans selling assault-style magazines holding more than 10 bullets, but current law lets those who possess the large-capacity magazines to keep them.
Owners would be required to report lost or stolen guns to law enforcement. And the measure would reverse part of a 2014 voter-approved initiative by making it a felony to steal any gun, no matter its value.
Newsom, a Democrat, is running for governor in 2018 on a platform that includes gun control and legalizing recreational marijuana.