California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill into law Friday that bans the sale of single-shot handguns that gun owners can alter into automatic weapons. [Huffington Post]
State firearms laws previously restricted the sale of handguns that can be converted into automatic weapons, but an exception existed for single-shot pistols. As a result, dealers were selling thousands of modified weapons each year that did not contain a required safety feature that indicates when a bullet is chambered.
“This is a significant step to protect the integrity of the safe handgun law in California,” said Democratic Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, who authored the bill. “This exception has been increasingly used by those who wish to circumvent (the law).”
The National Rifle Association and the California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees opposed the legislation.
The NRA said the new law will eliminate Californians’ ability to purchase handguns that are commonly owned elsewhere in the country. A Cal-FFL spokesman said Sacramento politicians passed the law while ignoring the Constitution and acting with blatant hostility toward Second Amendment civil rights.
