On July 22, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 1327, a major gun reform bill jointly authored by Senators Bob Hertzberg and Anthony Portantino. SB 1327 allows private citizens to sue a person who manufactures, distributes, transports, imports or sells assault weapons, .50 BMG rifles, ghost guns or ghost gun kits in California. It allows citizens to sue for $10,000 on each weapon involved, as well as attorney fees. Gov. Newsom is the official sponsor of the legislation, which takes its framework from a Texas anti-abortion bill declared to be constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The continued need to adopt sensible solutions to our nation’s tragic history of gun violence is dire and necessary,” said Sen. Portantino. “That includes SB 1327 – which I am proud to jointly author with Senator Hertzberg. I am grateful to Governor Newsom for his partnership on this important bill that will keep our communities safe and improve public safety for all Californians. If Texas can outrageously use this type of law to attack a woman’s reproductive freedom, we can do the same thing in California to hold gun dealers accountable for their actions,” stated Sen. Portantino.

“Any tool we can use to protect the public is the right thing to do,” Sen. Hertzberg said. “If we have a situation with ghost guns, assault weapons and 50-caliber machine guns killing innocent men, women and children then we have an obligation to act. There’s no higher calling for state policymakers than to protect the public they serve.”

During his time in the Assembly, Sen. Portantino successfully banned the open carry of handguns and rifles in California and as state senator he raised the general gun purchase age in California to 21. 

In 2019, Gov. Newsom also signed Sen. Portantino’s SB 172. The bill enacted a slate of significant provisions related to firearms storage by broadening criminal storage crimes, adding criminal storage offenses to those offenses that can trigger a 10-year firearm ban and creating an exemption to firearm loan requirements for the purposes of preventing suicide. The same year, SB 376 was signed into law, which reduces the number of firearms an unlicensed individual is annually able to sell and the frequency with which they are able to sell. In 2021, Senate Bill 715 was signed into law, which enacts important gun purchase safeguards. Sen. Portantino is working with Gov. Newsom and Attorney General Bonta on SB 918, California’s response to the recent Supreme Court decision on concealed weapons permits.