Those firearms largely looked and felt similar to ones that were newly banned in the state. Lawmakers had hoped that listing features, rather than just the names of gun models, would make it harder for gunmakers to manufacture firearms they understood to pose a “threat to the health, safety, and security of all citizens of this state.” But soon after the law was passed, manufacturers were selling firearms with modifications to pass the “features test,” as that piece of legislation became known. But, again, those who already owned them were allowed to register and keep the targeted guns.
A California Supreme Court decision allowed the expansion of the ban to go into effect the next year. In 1999, lawmakers targeted copycat guns, expanding the ban to include not only named firearms but also categories of semiautomatic firearms that combined specific “features,” such as pistol grips for both hands. The state would tweak the law, only to see gun manufacturers promptly produce and sell workarounds to stay compliant. Thus began a game of legislative whack-a-mole. The difference? These firearms had new names. They were generally legal to sell in the state. Not long after, gun manufacturers simply began selling Californians firearms very similar to the ones on the prohibited list. People could register and legally own them. There was a major caveat: Assault weapons bought before the law was passed were grandfathered in. The original 1989 legislation identified as assault weapons a list of gun makes and models, which then - with some narrow exceptions - could not be purchased anywhere in the state. The gunman, a 24-year-old with an extensive criminal record, used a variant of the AK-47, a semiautomatic rifle first used by the Soviet military. The tension traces back to January 1989, when a gunman walked into a Stockton schoolyard and fired more than 100 rounds in a span of three minutes, killing five children and injuring 29 others. As things stand today, the future of the ban is uncertain. The ban is so divisive, in part, because the types of firearms it seeks to keep out of the hands of Californians (like the Colt AR-15) are popular among gun enthusiasts, while also being weapons of choice, time and time again, in some of the most high-profile mass shootings in the country. Legislators struggled to implement the ban in a meaningful way for years, modifying it repeatedly, long before a federal judge overturned it this summer. The history of California’s assault weapons ban is also the story of a cat-and-mouse game between Sacramento and gun makers and owners.
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