California ballot initiative aims to make it harder to acquire ammunition

Anita Chabria in Sacramento
Friday 4 December 2015 15.32 GMT

In the shadow of the San Bernardino massacre where two assailants armed with more than 1,600 rounds of bullets killed 14 people and wounded 21, California advocates have a plan brewing to regulate the sale of ammunition.

Gun control advocates led by California lieutenant governor Gavin Newsom recently introduced a ballot initiative that would ban possession of high-capacity magazines, and govern ammunition sales in the state similar to the way gun sales are currently handled by requiring background checks and permits for purchase.

“Currently if I want to buy cold medicine, I have to go to the store and show my ID,” said Ari Frielich, staff attorney for San Francisco-based Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which helped to write the initiative. “But I can have ammunition shipped to my door as if it was pizza ... Ammunition is a deadly instrument and it’s time we treated it as such.”

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California’s proposed ballot measure would require that those seeking to purchase ammunition be screened by the Department of Justice to vet them for felony convictions, violent misdemeanors, restraining orders or mental illness. Once cleared, a consumer would receive a permit tied to their driver’s license number or other valid identification. This ID would then be presented to ammunition dealers, who would be required to run a real-time computerized check before finalizing the sale.

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