Policy

Calif. Gov. Signs Bill Funding Gun Grabs

From folks the state says aren't allowed to own guns

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Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law a Bay Area senator's bill to use $24 million from gun background-check fees to boost a program that takes handguns and assault weapons away from those who aren't legally allowed to have them.

This is the first gun-policy bill to make it to Brown's desk this year.

SB 140 by state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, gives a big boost to the state Justice Department's Armed Prohibited Persons System (APPS), which cross-references the state's list of handgun and assault-weapon owners with ever-updated lists of newly convicted felons and mental-health commitments. APPS, launched in 2007, had developed a huge backlog; the new law is effective immediately because it was designated an urgency measure.