On June 10, California state Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) introduced legislation requiring police to check the state’s gun registration database prior to welfare check distribution and to provide funds “to take guns from people who are not allowed to own them.”
The legislation is broken down into two bills: Senate Bill 505 and Senate Bill 580.
The legislation is being pushed in reaction to a welfare check for Elliot Rodger–the Santa Barbara attacker who stabbed three people to death, tried to kill four people by running over them with his car, and shot and killed three others.
According to The Fresno Bee, Jackson says police should have been required to peruse “California’s gun-purchase database” so they could have known he owned guns. She also states that funding should be provided so grants can be issued to cover the cost of confiscation.
Jackson admits there is still a question of whether Rodger’s guns could have even been legally confiscated had police checked the database. But she adds, “Although police may not have had the legal authority to seize Elliot Rodger’s guns … a gun database search could have provided additional information that might have helped them better assess the danger Rodger posed to himself and others.”
Last year, according to Vote Smart, Jackson voted “yea” to authorize driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants and “yea” on a statewide ban on semi-automatic rifles that use detachable magazines.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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