SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KTXL) — State lawmakers returned back to work with the aftermath of the shooting still visible around the State Capitol grounds.
The tragedy will be the latest to add to the debate around strengthening California’s gun laws.
Across the street from the State Capitol, candles, flowers and balloons honor the victims killed in Sacramento’s K Street shooting.
“This can’t be our new normal,” said Assembly Member Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento.
The memorial was steps away from where lawmakers observed a moment of silence for the victims Monday.
Lawmakers this year will weigh a set of new gun restrictions.
On Tuesday, lawmakers in the state Senate Judiciary Committee will consider a bill that would allow private citizens to sue gun makers, transporters and sellers, which is an idea modeled after a Texas law that takes the same approach to abortion.
State Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Los Angeles, is the author of the Senate Bill 1327.
“The more weapons that are off the street, the better,” Hertzberg explained. “We’ve given ordinary folks, everyday people, the ability to have an incentive to pull them off the street, $10,000 plus attorneys’ fees per weapon. So, if your neighbor has transported a gun to their home and its one of these ghost guns and you see it, you can sue them and get $10,000.”
Other gun-related rules lawmakers will consider include a measure that would give California’s attorney general power to sue gun manufacturers and another that would further restrict ghost guns in the state.
“Society is becoming a little more free feeling comfortable committing violence, and I think that’s a terrible thing public policy needs to take seriously,” said former law enforcement officer and Assembly Member Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale.
Lackey said the Democratic push to strengthen state gun laws is misguided. He notes vehicles are more likely to kill people than guns.
“I get frustrated because it’s easy to focus the attention on an inanimate object, right, because they can’t talk back. But I can tell you that firearms are an easy target for misunderstanding. When you overregulate the legal market, you turn people to the very market that’s supplying most of these threatening weapons which is the black market,” Lackey explained.
Tuesday’s hearing for Senate Bill 1327 is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in the California Senate Judiciary Committee. The other bills are set to have hearings after lawmakers come back from spring break in a couple of weeks.
