While Sacramento lawmakers worked to pass seven new anti-gun laws last year, firearm sales in California nearly tripled over 2015, to 1,331,322 firearms sold—making 2016 the first year to pass the one-million mark in terms of firearms sold in the state, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Considering that California again expanded its so-called “assault weapon” ban last year, long guns predictably led the surge, with double the number sold last year as were sold in 2015. Notably, many of those 760,000 long guns sold were to those buying guns before the expanded ban took effect Jan. 1.
Also not surprisingly, sales doubled during the last half of last year, during the period after the passage of California’s new gun control laws in July, but before they took effect. How many will register their grandfathered firearms is now anyone’s guess: It’s a sticky question, given California’s history of promising to leave grandfathered guns alone, but then expanding its bans retroactively and using those registrations to dispossess owners of those guns.
