Santa Barbara aftermath: how California is breaking new ground on gun control [View all]

By Daniel Wood, Staff writer

LOS ANGELES — Four months after a mentally unbalanced student went on a shooting rampage – killing six and injuring 13 next to the University of California’s Santa Barbara campus in May – California has taken the national lead in gun control with two new laws allowing temporary seizure of guns from those who courts have decided are a threat to others or themselves.

With one of the laws, signed yesterday by Gov. Jerry Brown, the state becomes the first in the country to allow close relatives to request that a judge order that firearms be removed from someone who may pose a threat.

Several legal analysts say the laws neatly walk the tightrope between the constitutional right to bear arms and public safety. Gun rights advocates, however, say they trample on Californians’ civil liberties and deny the accused due process.

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http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2014/1001/Santa-Barbara-aftermath-how-California-is-breaking-new-ground-on-gun-control