Across the country, new gun control measures have gone into effect as the calendar turned to 2024.
With mass shootings becoming increasingly prevalent, various states have taken steps they feel necessary to prevent them.
The Gun Violence Archive reported recently that mass shootings increased from 646 to 656 from 2022 to 2023. A mass shooting is defined as an individual event where at least four people are killed or shot, not including the shooter.
A database that’s maintained by Northeastern University, USA Today and the Associated Press shows that a majority of mass killings that involve guns happen inside someone’s home. About 12% happen at businesses, 6% in public areas, 2% in schools and 1% in a religious setting.
California’s new law that started Monday of this week bars people from carrying guns in just about every public place, which includes both sports venues and libraries.
That law could end up being overturned, though.
A U.S. District judge blocked the new law from going into effect on December 20, saying that it was in violation of the Second Amendment. But, on Saturday, a federal appeals court put a temporary hold on that ruling, which allowed the law to go into effect for now.
Minnesota also enacted a red flag law on Monday, which allows personnel of law enforcement agencies and even family members to request an extreme protection order should they think someone who owns a gun could end up endangering either themselves or others.
With its new law, Minnesota becomes the 20th U.S. state to have such a law.
Illinois also put a new law in place that bans high-capacity magazines and semi automatic rifles that are considered to be “high-powered.”
Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the law in January of last year, but court challenges were filed against it. Dan Caulkins, a state Representative, filed one of those suits, saying the ban on those weapons was in violation of the state constitution.
The ban was upheld by the Illinois Supreme Court in August, though.
In Washington State, a 10-day waiting period before buying a semi automatic weapon was already in place. Yet, starting this year, that waiting period is greater – and it applies to the purchase of any firearm.
Anyone who wants to buy a gun in Washington now must prove they’ve passed a training program for firearm safety within the last five years.
Ghost guns were also a target of new legislation.
In Colorado, Governor Jared Polis signed a new law last summer that bans ghost guns, though that only took effect on Monday.
That law is currently being challenged by the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and the National Association of Gun Rights, both of which claim it’s in violation of the Second Amendment.
Despite all these new laws going into effect with the start of the New Year, advocates for gun rights have been steadfast in fighting new restrictions, all of which could result in these laws being reversed or at least temporarily put on hold at some point.
