Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer spoke with the Santa Barbara Coalition Against Gun Vilolence on May 7.
Paul Wellman

Hosted by the Coalition Against Gun Violence (CAGV), Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer visited the Santa Barbara Club on May 7 to speak about California’s gun laws and the ever-changing national dialogue on gun safety. “When President Obama was in office, we worked closely with the federal government, both with the Justice Department and with the White House,” Feuer said. “That has changed. The White House is now led by a president who just went to the [National Rifle Association’s] convention, indicating how much he owed the NRA.”

Despite the new administration, Feuer said he believes he can find bipartisanship by following gun violence data. “The common ground that should emerge could happen around domestic violence,” he said. “No one thinks that a domestic abuser should have a weapon. Science tells us a domestic abuser in the wake of having a temporary restraining order imposed on him is tremendously more likely to commit an act of violence.” Feuer said the same restrictions should apply to mentally ill people, mentioning Elliot Rodger, the man who went on a shooting spree in Isla Vista in 2014 and killed six. California has 60 gun laws, making it one of the strictest states in the nation. Despite the myriad of gun regulations, Feuer said he is not interested in “taking guns away from individuals who are responsible gun owners trying to defend themselves.”

Feuer is the cofounder of Prosecutors Against Gun Violence, a nonpartisan group of national prosecutors whose aim is to curb gun deaths in the country. CAGV chair Toni Wellen said the group’s priority this year is to prevent Congress from passing the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act. The bill would allow a person with a concealed carry permit issued in their home state to carry a firearm anywhere in the nation.

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