California Attorney General Rob Bonta released the 2020 data on firearms sales statewide at a press conference on Thursday. He used the press conference to call on Californians to use the state’s red flag laws.
A red flag law allows police or family members to petition a state court to permit a temporary removal of firearms from a person who may be a danger to themselves or others. The order would require a person to turn over their firearms within 24 to 48 hours of the order’s issuance. The order’s duration would be up to the court.
Handgun sales increased 65.5% from 2019 to 2020, according to Bonta. The data collected are based on legally purchased guns.
In addition to the increase in purchased guns, Bonta noted an increase in domestic violence-related calls to police and murders.
A UCLA-led research team found an increase in domestic violence reports in Los Angeles since stay-at-home restrictions were implemented in March 2020.
“Shelter-in-place rules, by mandating more time at home, are very likely to increase the volume of domestic or intimate partner violence, which thrives behind closed doors,” said the study’s senior author, Jeffrey Brantingham, a UCLA professor of anthropology.
It was not only domestic violence incidents that were on the rise last year. In 2020, there were 2,202 reported homicides, which was an increase of 31.1% from 2019, according to a report released Thursday by the state Department of Justice. The attorney general said the data revealed that a supermajority of the increased number of homicides was carried out with a gun.
In Los Angeles, Police Chief Michel Moore announced last week that the city has experienced a 50% increase in shooting victims this year compared to the same period last year.
There have been 162 homicides so far this year, compared to 129 homicides during the same period in 2020.
"The two challenging areas are homicides and aggravated assaults, as has been this entire year," Moore said.
The increase in violence and the number of guns led Bonta to push for increased use of red flag laws by local authorities and Californians.
The state's Gun Violence Restraining Order was passed in 2014 and went into effect the following year. The civil restraining order allows California courts to temporarily remove guns from someone’s possession based on threats of self-harm, felony arrests, or a history of threatening physical violence.
Currently, the majority of the orders that are sought come from law enforcement agencies.
Bonta emphasized that red flag laws are not about taking guns away from law-abiding Californians. “This is about a wife who hears her husband repeatedly threaten to kill himself or others,” he said, adding, “It’s about paying attention to our loved ones.”
Bonta was joined by Amanda Wilcox, the legislation and policy chair for Brady California, a nonprofit with chapters throughout California working to prevent gun violence.
Wilcox lost her daughter-in-law to a gunman close to 20 years ago. She said the gunman had shown signs that he was in crisis, but there were no legal mechanisms to remove his firearms.
Wilcox said the state should promote responsible gun ownership and safe keeping practices as many of the guns purchased in the last year were by new gun owners.
Bonta said of gun violence restraining orders, “One, they work, and two, we’re not using them enough.”