On Friday, October 11, Governor Brown vetoed Assembly Bill 180, which would have allowed local control of guns in Oakland. While gun issues in California are currently regulated at the state level, this law would have taken the unusual step of allowing the local government to tighten laws on the registration and licensing of firearms.

“The State of California has among the strictest gun laws in the country. Allowing individual cities to enact their own more restrictive firearms regulations will sow confusion and uncertainty,” Governor Brown wrote in his statement about the veto.

“I am mindful of the challenges the City of Oakland faces in addressing gun violence, but this is not the right solution,” Brown added.

The bill was sponsored by Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland). “Across our state, communities are suffering from a devastating combination of budget cuts to public safety and coinciding increases in violent crime,” Bonta said in a statement after the State Assembly approved AB 180 last May. “No one can deny that Oakland is suffering from among the highest levels of gun violence in the state and in the nation.”