California too understaffed to disarm 19,700 felons and mentally ill people
California authorities are empowered to seize weapons owned by convicted felons and people with mental illness, but staff shortages and funding cuts have left a backlog of more than 19,700 people to disarm, a law enforcement official said Tuesday.
Those gun owners have roughly 39,000 firearms, said Stephen Lindley, chief of the Bureau of Firearms for the state Department of Justice, testifying at a joint legislative hearing. His office lacks enough staff to confiscate all the weapons, which are recorded in the state’s Armed Prohibited Persons database, he said.
The gun owners typically acquired the firearms legally, before being convicted of a felony or diagnosed with mental illness. Each year, the state investigates and seizes the guns of about 2,000 people on the Armed Prohibited Persons list, Lindley said, but each year about 3,000 names are added to the list.
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That’s why we need more gun laws here. Jeez you clingers are stubborn.
antipc on January 31, 2013 at 3:44 PM
Criminal control is Hard!
It’s much easier to go after the innocent and take away their rights than do something that will stop the guilty
/oppressives
Galt2009 on January 31, 2013 at 3:47 PM
Ban mental illness.
John the Libertarian on January 31, 2013 at 3:47 PM
Heh. By the time they’d get to me, my fingers really will be cold & dead.
apostic on January 31, 2013 at 3:47 PM
And Ban crime, don’t forget that..
Galt2009 on January 31, 2013 at 3:47 PM
What. They don’t just give them up voluntarily, because you asked? Who knew…..?
SailorMark on January 31, 2013 at 3:48 PM
High speed rail would fix this at the speed of a high speed rail train.
Gatsu on January 31, 2013 at 3:51 PM
And yet they would be for confiscation of all guns in a N.Y. minute.
Cindy Munford on January 31, 2013 at 3:51 PM
I guess that they can’t find the funds to do the jobs that really need to be done in California, but they can find the money to do what does not need to be done.
SC.Charlie on January 31, 2013 at 3:53 PM
Somehow, this news puts my mind more at ease, not less. (hee hee)
SailorMark on January 31, 2013 at 3:53 PM
So CA twists the knife in on legitimate gun owners year after year but won’t take care of business on bad guys.
Back to you Dianne, Barbara, CA legispuds.
arnold ziffel on January 31, 2013 at 3:54 PM
Sheesh. Just grant them amnesty and let them keep their guns. That will bring them out of the shadows, and everyone can go on about their lives.
xblade on January 31, 2013 at 3:56 PM
Just build a giant sunblock. The falling temperatures will quell any possible gun violence.
tom daschle concerned on January 31, 2013 at 3:57 PM
Saw an article yesterday stating that something like 90% of all gun crimes in Chicagoland go unsentenced.
What good are laws that are never enforced? sesquipedalian?
Del Dolemonte on January 31, 2013 at 4:12 PM
That’s why liberals want gun laws imposed on the law-abiding: because the law-abiding will enforce them on themselves. It’s a lot less work and less risk than trying to disarm criminals. And since getting guns away from anybody (except for cops and cronies of Democrat politicians) is a good thing, it’s just as much help to disarm a law-abiding person as it is to disarm a criminal, right?
So they don’t have enough people to enforce the gun laws they already have, and the answer is to add more gun laws that will take more resources to enforce?
Madness. Utter madness.
Socratease on January 31, 2013 at 4:17 PM
I smell tax hikes.
elfman on January 31, 2013 at 4:23 PM
Pass another tax hike. Anybody left in the state a year after that must be mentally ill. Confiscate their guns. No lists required
PastorJon on January 31, 2013 at 4:54 PM
Starting in April, 1 million NY “assault weapon” owners will have one year to register their firearms, so the state will have to process over 2000 per day.
Apparently it’s too much ask that these Democrats think these things through before rushing these bills into law.
juliesa on January 31, 2013 at 4:55 PM
Socratease on January 31, 2013 at 4:58 PM