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While federal lawmakers vowed to enact more gun control laws following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting last year and failed miserably, 21 States did actually put forth new legislation at the state level. Tragically, over 10,000 people have died as a result of gun violence since the Sandy Hook shooting. Now, a new report by The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence puts the importance of gun laws into context by clearly correlating how improved gun laws help lessen gun violence by assigning each State a grade from A to F.

California, which received a grade of A minus, has seven new gun control laws going into effect this year or the next. Some of the laws which will take effect include: a requirement for those who buy a rifle or shotgun to pass a written safety test, a ban on the manufacture or sale of large-capacity magazine conversion kits, and a requirement that licensed psychotherapists file a police report against patients who threaten to commit violence within 24 hours. A requirement to record who buys ammunition and report the sale to State agencies is currently being debated.

But residents of Sunnyvale California feeling that State laws are still too weak passed their own gun control ordinance called Measure C. Measure C, which passed with almost 70% public approval, enacts a wholesale ban on large-capacity magazines and a requirement that people who own magazines which can carry more than 10 rounds of ammunition remove them from the city within 90 days. Not surprisingly, the National Rifle Association has filed a lawsuit challenging Sunnyvale’s Measure and is seeking an injunction to halt it.

GUEST: Cody Jacobs, Staff Attorney with the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence

Visit www.smartgunlaws.org for more information.