Gavin Newsom signed two more gun-safety laws. Sacramento’s latest mass shooting came days later

On the Thursday before the July 4 weekend, as the Legislature feverishly wrapped up 11th-hour budget deliberations, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two bills that he felt deserved special attention.

Both of them dealt with gun control, making it a total of 17 such bills he’s signed since becoming governor three years ago.

One of the new laws cracks down on homemade “ghost guns.” The other prohibits the marketing of guns to minors — a practice he found so reprehensible that his staff released a video of Newsom clutching an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle as he ripped the gun industry and conservative politicians for peddling “a weapon of war” to kids.

“The good news, if there is any, is that this ends, at least today in California,” he said.

And then four days later, just down the street from Newsom’s office at the Capitol, it happened again — another mass shooting in Sacramento.

Early Monday morning, five people were shot as they left the Mix nightclub on L Street, a block from the east end of Capitol Park. One of the victims died: Greg Najee Grimes, 31, a former football star at Inderkum High School.

It was the third mass shooting in Sacramento this year, and the second outside a downtown nightclub.

And it barely made a dent in the national consciousness.

Sacramento’s latest tragedy was understandably overshadowed by the mass shooting in Highland Park, Ill., which killed seven people and left dozens wounded at an Independence Day parade.

Another shooting wounded two police officers during a fireworks show in Philadelphia. Other mass shootings unfolded across the country as well Monday — a Denver incident that killed one person and wounded three; a Boston shooting that injured four, and an incident in Richmond, Va., that injured six.

At the south end of Sacramento County, three people were hurt in a shooting Monday night near Galt High School. None of the injuries were considered life threatening.

Little wonder, perhaps, that the fatal shooting in downtown Sacramento received relatively little national attention — even among those who analyze gun violence for a living.

“I read about the one in Highland Park, Chicago,” said Ben Newman, a political scientist who studies mass shootings at UC Riverside. “I didn’t read about the one in Sacramento.”

Which mass shootings resonate

While the motivation behind the Sacramento shooting remains under investigation, Newman said “heat-of-the-moment or gang-related shootings rarely garner the public’s attention” compared to an indiscriminate mass shooting like the one in Highland Park.

“These public mass shootings get a lot of media attention, especially those in schools,” Newman said. “People are able to see themselves as potential victims.”

James Densley, a criminal justice professor at Minnesota’s Metro State University who runs a mass-shooting database called The Violence Project, said: “Gun violence is so pervasive that the media is struggling to determine which (shooting) to follow .... We have mass shootings practically every day, to the point that it’s becoming white noise.”

Newman said the high-profile shootings invariable generate grassroots activity — people sign petitions, make donations to gun-control and gun-rights organizations. And then they move on to other things.

“These are short-term spikes in activity, then go away after a month or two,” he said.

Will California pass more gun laws?

It remains to be seen whether the laws Newsom signed last week will reduce gun violence. Assembly Bill 1621 is designed to further restrict trafficking in parts used to assemble “ghost guns,” the illegal homemade firearms. A ghost gun was used by the instigator of one of Northern California’s worst mass shootings — a November 2017 incident in which a deranged resident of Rancho Tehama killed five people, including his wife, and sprayed an elementary school with bullets before killing himself as law enforcement closed in.

The bill banning marketing to minors, AB 2571, was prompted by a gun manufacturer named Wee Tactical using cartoon skulls in its advertisements for a rifle called a JR-15. Conservation groups, including California Waterfowl, criticized the law, saying it could hurt their ability to promote safety and education programs for young hunters.

California has 107 gun-control laws on the books, more than any other state, according to a Boston University database. Newsom signed 17 of them, including one that requires licensing for dealers selling ammunition at gun shows and another that requires a waiting period for purchasing semi-automatic rifles.

Two other bills passed by the Legislature are on his desk. Senate Bill 1327 would create a “private right of action” allowing Californians to sue gunmakers. SB 915 would ban the sale of guns on state property

At the same time, existing legislation could come under attack in the courts. California has one of the tougher laws governing concealed-carry weapons. Permits must be approved by the sheriff or police chief, and California doesn’t recognized permits issued in other states.

But that law could be jeopardized by last month’s U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down New York’s concealed-carry law. Second Amendment advocates immediately vowed litigation challenging California’s law.

“We’re pretty confident,” said Sam Paredes, head of Sacramento-area advocacy group Gun Owners of California.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has already acknowledged that a portion of California’s law — requiring an applicant for a permit to show “good cause” — is “likely unconstitutional” because of the Supreme Court’s ruling. He is backing a just-introduced bill, SB 918, that he said would bolster California’s concealed-carry laws and survive a constitutional challenge.

But even if California adds more laws, it won’t prevent more mass shootings. “Firearms are durable goods and they can cross state lines,” said Densley, the Minnesota professor.

Gun-rights advocates such as Paredes also insist that gun control laws won’t stop the bloodshed.

“These laws only affect the law-abiding,” he said. “They don’t affect the criminal element.”

This story was originally published July 6, 2022 at 5:25 AM.