Lawmakers push Congress to nix Trump-backed gun measures

California lawmakers have called on Congress to reject federal legislation that would allow out-of-state gun owners to pack concealed firearms in public places throughout California.

Before adjourning for the year last week, legislators approved a resolution against two “concealed-carry reciprocity” bills backed by the Trump administration. Those bills would treat permits to carry concealed firearms much like driver’s licenses: A permit in one state would have to be honored in another.

Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, a Los Angeles Democrat and author of the resolution, argued that lax gun control standards in other states would undermine California’s strict concealed-carry permitting process should the federal proposals become law. Neither the Senate nor House versions of the reciprocity bills, a top priority of the National Rifle Association, has come up for a vote.

Resolutions are non-binding, mostly symbolic statements expressing the will of the state Legislature. Only one California Republican voted for the measure: Assemblywoman Catherine Baker of Dublin.

Gun-rights activists complain that the current patchwork of state firearms laws presents undue complications for law-abiding gun owners when traveling from state to state. An owner with a permit to carry a concealed firearm in Utah, for example, could run into legal trouble if carrying the same concealed firearm while visiting California.

Legislators also tightened California’s highly restrictive criteria for granting concealed carry permits. A bill from Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, a Democrat from Sacramento, would ban school-district superintendents from granting people permission to carry concealed weapons on campus. The bill now heads to Governor Jerry Brown’s desk.

When asked whether Brown would sign the bill, a spokeswoman for the administration said the office won’t weigh in on the bill until the governor takes official action.