Multiple states roll out new gun laws

Most measures taking effect enforce safety

By: Kinsey Crowley
Margie Cullen
and Rebecca Powell
USA Today

..... As violent crime rates appear to be falling after a pandemic-related spike, gun violence continues to plague communities around the country. After the recent school shooting in Wisconsin, President Joe Biden spoke of his administration's work aimed at reducing gun violence, including passing the most significant gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years. "But more is needed," he said.
..... States have taken steps to pass their own gun regulations - some of which went into effect Wednesday. [01/01/2025]
..... By and large, the state gun laws taking effect in 2025 enforce safety, according to the gun violence prevention organization Evertown for Gun Safety.
..... "America's gun violence epidemic is not inevitable, it is the logical outcome of lawmakers' callous inaction in service to the gun lobby," Monisha Henley, the organization's senior vice president of government affairs, told USA Today in a statement. "As we head into the New Year, not a single consequential law rolling back our progress on gun safety will go into effect, but countless laws making our communities safer will. As we head into 2025 one thing remains clear: gun safety isn't just good policy, it's good politics."
..... The National Rifle Association also trumpeted victories in 2024. John Commerford, interim executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, heralded the election of a "pro-gun president" and incoming republican majorities in both congressional chambers.
..... "Much to the dismay of gun control activists, Second Amendment rights were protected and expanded in a number of states in 2024," Commerford said in a statement to USA today.
..... He noted that South Carolina and Louisiana enacted legislation in 2024 allowing lawful gun owners to carry a firearm without a permit, and efforts to ban certain types of firearms failed in Colorado, Maine and New Mexico.

Expanding gun rights

..... After a security guard was shot and killed in the line of duty at New Hampshire Hospital in 2023, some lawmakers pushed for new gun regulations. One, called Bradley's Law, was a bipartisan-sponsored bill to require serious mental helaht information to be reported to the federal background check system for firearm purchases. But while the bill passed the House, it failed in the Senate.
..... Instead, New Hampshire passed laws expanding gun rights. As of Wednesday [01/01/2025] HB 1336 bars employers form forbidding employees to store guns in locked vehicles; HB 1186 strengthens privacy protections around gun laws by prohibiting the sue of specific merchant category codes.
..... The NRA touted the second law and said 10 states passed laws in 2024 that prohibit assigning a code for gun retailers, known as a "merchant category code."
..... MCCs can be used by financial institutions to see what kinds of purchases are made, through they do not show the specific item purchased.
..... Kentucky is another one of the states that passed an MCC ban in 2024; at least five other states previously passed those laws while a handful of other states, including California, have passed legislation requiring it. Kentucky's ban went into effect Wednesday. [01/01/2025]

Restrictions and safeguards

..... Several other states enacted restrictions on firearms.
..... In September [2024] California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a series of laws aimed at strengthening gun safety regulations. those include requiring schools to implement safety programs and plans, and establishing an office of gun violence prevention.
..... Two of those laws went into effect Wednesday. [01/01/2025] One requires firearm dealers to provide consumers with a pamphlet covering the reasons for and risks of firearm ownership, "including the increased risk of death to someone in the household by suicide, homicide, or unintentional injury." The other guides courts to expand considerations for a gun violence restraining order to include threats of violence, specifically hate-based threats.
..... A strengthened rule against applying for more than one handgun in a 30-day period - one that removes an exemption for private party transactions - also is now technically in effect. However, the policy has been caught up in court battles, and the California Department of Justice will not enforce it while a court injunction is in place, the California DOJ told USA Today December 27. [2024]
..... "California won't wait until the next school shooting or mass shooting to act," Newsom said in a news release. "In the absence of congressional action, our state is once again leading the way by strengthening our nation-leading gun laws."
..... A Colorado law that went into effect Wednesday [01/01/2025] requires any handgun stored inside an unoccupied, vehicle in Colorado to be in a locked, hard-sided container that is out of plain view. the vehicle also must be locked with some exceptions.
..... As of July 1, [2024] Coloradans who apply for a concealed carry permit will be required to complete an eight-hour training class, including a written exam and a live-fire exercise. The law also prohibits anyone who was convicted of certain misdemeanors from obtaining a concealed carry permit of those offenses happened within five years of the application.
..... Minnesota passed a binary trigger ban, in effect as of Wednesday. [01/01/2025] A binary trigger allows a gun to be fired once when the trigger is pulled, then again when the trigger is released.
..... Also as of Wednesday, [01/01/2025] Delaware now includes university campuses in the Safe School Zone, making it a felony offense to possess a firearm on campus.
..... New York will require gun dealers to post signs warning consumers of the risk of gun ownership starting January 7. [2025] In the new year, New York is also implementing a statewide registry of extreme risk protections orders, which temporarily bar people from owning a gun if they are deemed at risk to themselves or others.

..... Contributing: Saman Shafiq and Michael Collins, USA today.

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