SACRAMENTO — Despite concerns about a spate of fatal shootings in California, a bill to create new taxes on the sale of guns and ammunition to pay for gun-violence prevention programs failed to get the two-thirds vote needed for passage Thursday in the state Assembly.
Assemblyman Devon Mathis (R-Visalia) said he has sympathy for the families of shooting victims but noted that he believes the tax hike will not address the root causes of gun violence, including poverty and mental illness. Instead, he said it would burden law-abiding gun owners.
