Bill Requiring Warrants for Drone Use OKd by CA Legislature

from dailynewsen.com

California lawmakers voted Wednesday to need that law enforcement agencies receive warrants to use drones for surveillance and appeared poised to pass legislation that would allow guns to be confiscated from people declared risky.

Assemblyman Jeff Gorell (R-Camarillo) mentioned the expanded use of drones, or unmanned aerial cars, by law enforcement has pushed the boundaries of “our affordable expectation of privacy,” triggering a require for protection.

It is the Legislature’s duty, he said, to challenge “guidelines for government to use these when they’re monitoring human behavior.”

Gorell’s measure would call for the government to safe a warrant from a judge prior to using surveillance drones except in instances of environmental emergencies such as oil or chemical spills. 3 other states have placed a moratorium on drone use by state and neighborhood agencies. The California bill, AB 1327, heads to the governor.

The bill was backed by the American Civil Liberties Union. Law enforcement groups, having said that, argued that unmanned surveillance must be treated no differently from manned surveillance.

The measure to enable removal of firearms from people declared to be a threat or mentally unstable was supported by many families who lost loved ones in a violent rampage that left seven people today dead near UC Santa Barbara in May.

Beneath the bill, a law enforcement agency or family member could ask a court for a restraining order that would bar a particular person believed to be a danger to themselves or other people from possessing a firearm for 21 days.

Democratic Assembly members Nancy Skinner of Berkeley and Das Williams of Santa Barbara introduced the legislation, AB 1014. The Isla Vista killer had purchased firearms even although his family and other people believed he posed such a threat.

“It’s an chance to take guns away from folks who are in moments of distress,” said Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara).

The bill, which passed the Senate on Wednesday, had already passed the Assembly but goes back to that house for approval of final amendments.

Robert Weiss, whose 19-year-old-daughter, Veronika, was shot to death in the Could rampage, was in the Senate Gallery on Wednesday to watch the vote and urge lawmakers to help the measure.

“Nothing we can do can bring Veronika and the other victims back, but my hope is by functioning to pass AB 1014, that other lives will be spared,” Weiss stated tearfully at a Capitol news conference.

Lawmakers also voted for far more restrictions on Californians who get guns in other states and bring them home. The measure would require California residents to have these weapons delivered to a dealer in California, exactly where they would be topic to the state’s ten-day waiting period just before taking possession. The purchaser also would want a criminal background verify and a handgun-safety certificate.

“Every day, individuals go to Nevada or Arizona, obtain guns, bring them back into California, and sell them to criminals on the streets,” the bill’s author, Assemblyman Luis Alejo (D-Watsonville) said in a letter to fellow lawmakers.

The bill, AB 1609, is supported by California’s attorney common and California Chapters of the Brady Campaign. It passed the Senate on Wednesday but returns to the Assembly for action on amendments.

The measure is opposed by the National Rifle Assn. The California Assn. of Federal Firearms Licensees also objected, saying in a statement that the bill “would develop new state law that fails to deliver for long standing exemptions in federal law.”

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