California teachers, school administrators and employers could ask the courts to take guns away from people they see as a danger to themselves or the public under a major expansion of the state’s “red flag†law approved by the Legislature on Monday and sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
In response to a string of mass shootings, the governor has said he is interested in expanding the state’s gun restraining order law, which for the last four years has allowed family members and law enforcement officers to ask courts to seize firearms from people deemed a public risk. Legislators have offered half a dozen proposals this year to broaden the law’s reach.
On Monday, t he state Assembly gave final approval to a measure that would allow employers, co-workers and high school and college teachers and administrators to petition the courts to remove guns from employees and students.
“Given what we have seen from the mass shootings in most recent days, expansion like this would be very, very helpful,†state Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), chairwoman of the Senate Public Safety Committee, said during the floor debate.
Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) introduced the bill following a February 2018 shooting that left 17 people dead at a high school in Parkland, Fla. He noted some school officials had raised concerns about the behavior of the 19-year-old gunman before the shooting.
Excerpted. More at:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-09-09/california-gun-violence-restraining-orders-red-flag-law?_amp=true&__twitter_impression=true
