Yes, you can defeat the gun lobby if you have the will and apparently the right governor.
Gov. Jerry Brown took mixed action on several gun control bills Tuesday, approving a measure allowing temporary restraining orders to block gun use but vetoing legislation that would have required Californians to register homemade guns.
Assembly Bill 1014, by Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, was the Legislature’s central response to the lethal shooting in May near the University of California, Santa Barbara. It will allow family members of someone who is displaying signs of mental instability to request a court order temporarily barring gun use and purchase.
Despite claims that this "curtails gun rights" by critics and
unrestricted gun advocates this new law may ultimately be a very effective tool and saving lives, particularly in cases of suicides
which happen far more frequently gun sprees like that of Elliot Rodger in Isla Vista, which initially sparked this legislation.
In 2010 in the U.S., 19,392 people committed suicide with guns, compared with 11,078 who were killed by others.
A measure such as this would do far more good at preventing gun deaths than a background check since many people who ultimately turn their guns on themselves had no criminal record that would have prevented their legal purchase. It may also have made a difference in the apparent domestic shooting death of
Bell Gardens Mayor Danny Crespo by his wife Lynette during an argument, which occurred on the very same day the legislation was signed into law.
7:54 PM PT: Lynette has been released without charges, the actual nature of the dispute between them remains unclear although there is the claim that she was attempted to protect her son, who intervened in the midst of their fight, from her husband. Whether that is the full truth remains to be seen. The family had no previous record of domestic violence calls but friend of the family note that their was noticeable tension between the couple. As a result it remains unclear if this situation would be a perfect example for this law preventing a shooting, although either member of the couple could potentially have used by going to a judge it if they felt sufficiently unsafe.