Yesterday, at a press conference at the Elihu M. Harris State Building in Oakland, 15th Assembly District representative Nancy Skinner announced a bill intended to regulate ammunition sales in California.
She was joined by regional police, city, school officials and youth, community and faith leaders who voiced support for the bill.
The group also held a moment of silence to pay respect to the 26 victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
Skinner's bill, AB 48, is intended to establish procedures to regulate the sale of ammunition comparable to existing California regulations that govern gun sales.
It would also ban kits that convert guns into illegal assault weapons and would require sellers of ammunition to be licensed and report ammunition sales to the California Department of Justice.
“Assembly Bill 48 aims to restrict the bullets that are ravaging our communities,” Skinner said. “Tragic but true, it is easier to buy ammo than to buy cold medicine, alcohol or tobacco. It’s time for buying deadly bullets to fall under the same controls as guns and Sudafed.”
“Like pseudoephedrine is the precursor to methamphetamine, bullets are the precursor to gun violence,” said Emeryville Police Chief Ken James, who also serves as the chair of the California Police Chief’s Association Firearms Committee. “If we can control the precursors, we may avert tragedies like the ones at Oikos University in Oakland, Aurora and Newtown.”
Aiming to head-off criticism of the bill from gun ownership advocates, Skinner also said that the Second Amendment, while providing the right to bear arms, also says that it's clear that such rights can and should be well regulated.
The 15th Assembly District includes Hercules, Pinole, El Sobrante, San Pablo, Richmond, El Cerrito, Kensington, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Piedmont and parts of Oakland.
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