Newsom signs 10 gun bills, including a mandatory four-hour safety class for new gun buyers from 2029. Gun groups call it a tax on a right.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed 10 gun safety measures on Saturday, Sept. 26, his last as governor, CalMatters reports, and one sends gun owners back to class. Senate Bill 948, by Berkeley Democratic Sen. Jesse Arreguín, will require a safety class of at least four hours for current residents with newly purchased guns starting in 2029. Starting in 2028, people moving to California with guns will need a firearm safety certificate within 180 days of arrival. Rebecca Marcus, a lobbyist for the Brady Campaign, told lawmakers in March that more than 69,000 shootings in California from 2016 to 2021 resulted in death or required urgent medical care, and that roughly a third were accidental. Emma Brown of Giffords said the laws "will save lives by closing loopholes." Members of the California Rifle and Pistol Association view the mandatory class as one more tax on gun ownership. It's fine with voluntary courses, not a mandatory one as a prerequisite for exercising a constitutional right. "Public safety is better served by enforcing existing laws against prohibited persons, prosecuting violent criminals, and supporting voluntary education programs," it wrote. Another new law, SB 1220, bars anyone convicted of stripping a gun's serial number from owning a gun for 10 years. AB 1743 lets cities and universities request state data on guns recovered in criminal cases, which the association calls a privacy risk for law-abiding owners. Legal challenges are likely. My view: training is a good idea, and I'd urge every gun owner to get it. But a paid, mandatory course before you may exercise a right starts to look like a license fee on the Bill of Rights. Nobody would accept a four-hour class before you may publish a pamphlet. My standard doesn't change with the amendment: rights can be regulated, but not priced out of reach. And on AB 1743: who gets that data, and for how long?