Politics and Money

[ergo sum]

Sacramento --

Nearly 20,000 registered gun owners in California are ineligible to have guns yet still do, and it could take three years and $25 million for authorities to confiscate the weapons, law enforcement officials told a legislative committee Tuesday.

The registered gun owners lost their legal rights to keep the weapons due to felony convictions, domestic violence actions, mental health conditions or addiction to narcotic drugs, among other reasons. California Department of Justice officials have listed 19,784 such gun owners in an "armed prohibited persons system" and say they own nearly 39,000 handguns and more than 1,600 assault weapons. (Assault weapons are banned in California, but people who purchased them before the ban can have them legally.)

But while California is the only state in the country that has a system to cross-check registered gun owners with offenses that result in a prohibition on ownership, it does not have the manpower to keep up with the rapidly expanding list, which grows by about 3,000 people per year, according to Stephen Lindley, chief of the bureau of firearms within the state Department of Justice.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Guns-illegally-owned-by-20-000-in-state-4234266.php#ixzz2JTofnEpR