Gun rights advocates, law enforcement, and gun violence prevention experts appeared before California lawmakers at a joint legislative hearing.
Lawmakers are considering a number of bills this session to curb gun violence. They’re also considering ways to improve the system of tracking people who are prohibited by law from owning a gun.
Sam Peredes is with the Gun Owners of California. He said budget-cutting has reduced the effectiveness of tracking those people.
“California reports more mental health adjudicated people than any other state, but because they don’t have the resources as far as getting them up on a timely basis to a database that’s useable to our law enforcement, that doesn’t exist,” Peredes said.
During the hearing, California’s Department of Justice said it lacks the personnel to investigate all of the more than 19-thousand people who own guns that they shouldn’t legally have.
