Why California’s Gun Confiscation Program Wouldn’t Have Stopped Texas Shooting

By Tom Knighton

It seems that a lot of people are taking a good, long look at a program in California designed to get guns away from prohibited people who may have bought them legally, but now shouldn’t own the firearm.

Due to the Sutherland Springs killer’s history, many are looking at the law and thinking this might be a good idea as a way to prevent another such massacre.

It’s difficult to keep guns away from ex-cons and the mentally disturbed, but a little-known California program is designed to do just that. And in the light of the Texas church shooting that left 26 dead, some are wondering if this type of effort could have thwarted Devin Kelley’s murderous rampage.

In late 2006, a database was set up to track firearms owners and cross-reference those names with criminal and mental-health records to identify individuals “who have been, or will become, prohibited from possessing a firearm subsequent to the legal acquisition or registration of a firearm or assault weapon.”

This made California the first and only state in the nation to establish an automated system for tracking firearm owners who might fall into a prohibited status. The intent was that once the state had …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms