New California law restricts police use of rubber bullets, tear gas after ‘horrifying stories’

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law on Thursday that will restrict law enforcement officers’ use of kinetic projectile weapons, such as rubber bullets, and chemical agents, such as tear gas.

The new law — Assembly Bill 48, authored by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego — only allows the use of such weapons and chemical agents after deescalation techniques have been attempted, repeated audible announcements have been made announcing the intent to use such weapons, and people are given a reasonable opportunity to disperse and leave the scene.

The law also requires police to make an “objectively reasonable effort” to identify people engaged in violent acts compared to people who are not, and indiscriminate firing into crowds is prohibited.

Beginning January 2023, each law enforcement agency will be required to provide a report to the state Department of Justice of all instances in which projectile weapons or chemical agents were used that resulted in the injury of any person.

AB 48 was part of a package of police reform bills signed by Gov. Newsom on Thursday, with other bills including one that allows for the decertification of police officers and another that mandates that police officers be 21 years of age or older.

Assemblywoman Gonzalez issued a statement after Gov. Newsom signed her bill into law.

“We’ve all seen and heard horrifying stories from those who were severely harmed by projectiles like rubber bullets and chemical agents. There is no excuse for these weapons to ever be indiscriminately fired into a crowd,”Gonzalez said. “AB 48 finally creates basic standards to help minimize the excessive, unwarranted use of these dangerous weapons. This law will protect Californians’ right to safely protest without risking permanent or life-threatening injuries.”

In June 2020, during a protest against the police killing of George Floyd, Sacramento police shot a rubber bullet at the face of teen Dayshawn McHolder. McHolder required surgery to fix his broken jaw and was unable to eat solid food for six weeks, according to his family.

AB 48 was co-sponsored by a coalition of media groups including the California News Publisher’s Association, the California Broadcasters Association, California Black Media, Ethnic Media Services and the First Amendment Coalition, who said in a statement of support for the bill that “AB 48 will protect the public, and the press, who are almost always among the public, covering these demonstrations, and are also harmed when these tactics are used to disperse those protesting, by limiting the circumstances that kinetic energy projectiles, such as rubber bullets, and chemical agents.”

The bill was opposed by the California State Sheriffs’ Association, which said in a statement that “Restricting the use of less-lethal options limits the tools that are at an officer’s disposal to protect public safety. Different circumstances may call for different responses and more or less force may be required. However, by restricting when an officer may use those tools, their response to a particular situation may end up being guided by choices about practices that may be acceptable or unacceptable to some instead of what measure is most appropriate in the context of the event.”

This story was originally published September 30, 2021 at 1:00 PM.