Current Affairs Of Pakistan & World: California Today: Calls for tighter gun laws

California Today: Calls for tighter gun laws

April 6, 2022

By Soumya Karlamangla

California Today, Writer

It's Wednesday. California lawmakers are promoting a package of gun legislation following the mass shooting in Sacramento. Plus, a heat wave begins.

A vigil in Sacramento on Monday after six people were fatally shot downtown.Max Whittaker for The New York Times

Despite its strict gun laws, California is by no means spared from the pains of gun violence.

In 2022, the state has already experienced 13 mass shootings, defined as a single event in which at least four people were shot, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive.

The deadliest of these came over the weekend, when six people were killed and a dozen wounded in a crowded late-night strip of downtown Sacramento. The tragedy has fueled a push to further clamp down on guns in California.

"We're standing right outside our great Capitol building, just blocks away from the horrific scene of the worst mass shooting in Sacramento history," State Senator Robert Hertzberg said in a news briefing Tuesday afternoon. "The alarm bells are blazing. We could not have a clearer call for action on gun violence."

The Sacramento shooting has shined a light on an epidemic of illegal guns in California. The first weapon recovered had been stolen and converted to being capable of automatic gunfire, The Associated Press reported. In another shooting in Sacramento this year, a man used an unregistered assault weapon to kill his three daughters and then himself.

"The alarm bells are blazing. We could not have a clearer call for action on gun violence," State Senator Robert Hertzberg said.Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press

On Tuesday, Hertzberg and his colleagues promoted a package of bills aimed at reducing gun violence, including one that would make it easier for people to sue gun companies for liability in shootings. Other measures would tighten restrictions on unregistered firearms and marketing guns to minors.

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Arguably the most controversial of these proposals called for by Gov. Gavin Newsom is modeled after a Texas abortion ban that allows private citizens to sue anyone who helps a woman get an abortion.

California's proposal, S.B. 1327, would offer $10,000 bounties to encourage lawsuits from private citizens against anyone who manufactures, distributes or sells assault weapons, .50-caliber rifles, ghost guns or ghost gun kits. (If you're unfamiliar with ghost guns, I recommend this Times article on the recent proliferation of these untraceable, homemade firearms.)

Hertzberg, the bill's lead author, said he opposed the Texas law, which he said had been "horribly upheld" by the Supreme Court. But, he added, "every gun that we can take off of the street — if that's a ghost gun or an assault weapon — through any creative means, to me is a good thing."

The announcement comes as new research reveals the dangers of having a gun in the home in California. Stanford University researchers published a groundbreaking study this week that found that people who lived with someone who owned a handgun were almost twice as likely to die by homicide as their neighbors without guns.

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After the Sacramento shooting, President Biden called for movement on federal gun legislation. He pleaded with Congress to ban ghost guns, require background checks for all gun sales, and ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

"We must do more than mourn; we must act," Biden said in a statement.

For more:

A suspect who was arrested on Tuesday had posted a live Facebook video of himself brandishing a handgun hours before gunfire erupted, The Associated Press reports.
The same suspect had an early release from prison, The Sacramento Bee reports.
Read about the victims of the Sacramento shooting.

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A dry landscape at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in California's drought-stricken Central Valley.Robyn Beck/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The rest of the news

Valley fever: Climate change is causing the fungal infection, coined for its presence in the San Joaquin Valley, to worsen in California and spread to other states, The Los Angeles Times reports.
Heat wave: Temperatures above 90 degrees are expected starting Wednesday morning in Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, San Diego Counties and the Inland Empire; the Bay Area and Sacramento; and in San Luis Obispo County, inland and at the beaches.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Warner executive leaving: Ann Sarnoff, the first woman to hold the role of chief executive at WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group, will leave the company as it merges with Discovery.
San Diego evictions: San Diego lawmakers passed a no-fault eviction moratorium that will protect tenants through Sept. 30, CBS 8 reports.
Universal income: Palm Springs will provide monthly payments to some transgender and nonbinary residents, NBC Los Angeles reports.
Price gouging: The grocery store Smart & Final will pay $175,000 in penalties for price gouging eggs, The Associated Press reports.
Special election: Six candidates were vying to succeed Representative Devin Nunes, who resigned to work for Donald J. Trump's media company. The race will go to a runoff June 7 between the two top vote-getters.

CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

Bakersfield 3: The trial of Matthew Queen, who is accused of killing one of three men who went missing in 2018, began on Monday, The Bakersfield Californian reports.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

Encampment fire: A multivehicle fire in West Oakland left one person dead and five others without shelter, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Apartment fire: Forty residents were displaced and one firefighter was injured in a San Francisco fire, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Christopher Testani for The New York Times

What we're eating

Lamb biryani.

An outdoor dining area at a restaurant in Sausalito.Eric Risberg/Associated Press

Where we're traveling

Today's tip comes from Lyndon Conrad Bell, who recommends the Bay Area town of Sausalito:

"Though a mere 11 miles north of San Francisco at the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, the quaintly seductive hillside village of Sausalito feels as though it is thousands of miles away from the city.

Strolling with someone you love along Sausalito's waterfront, which radiates a vibe reminiscent of Italy's Amalfi Coast, is the stuff of which lifelong memories are made. The town's eclectic mix of restaurants, shopping and inns, punctuated by some of the most attractive scenery on the West Coast, makes time spent in Sausalito wholly satisfying.

To travel to San Francisco and fail to make that short drive across the bridge to visit Sausalito is to miss out on one of the most charming experiences California has to offer."

Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We'll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter.

Tell us

What's the best part of spring in California? Email us at CAToday@nytimes.com and your submission may be included in a future newsletter.

And before you go, some good news

When Joshua Miele was a freshman at U.C. Berkeley in 1987, he discovered a hideaway in a library basement. It had a "sofa" made of seats pulled from a van, and smelled of takeout and coffee and books.

The room's university-sanctioned name was the blind students study center, but most people called it the Cave.

Today, Miele is a MacArthur fellow who builds adaptive technologies at Amazon. He is just one of a generation of leaders, innovators and creatives who are reshaping the world — and have roots in the Cave.