Gun rights foundation criticizes new law on firearm barrels

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(The Center Square) – The Second Amendment Foundation has called California's Senate Bill 704 — the nation's first background check law for firearm barrel purchases - unconstitutional. 

However, because the California Department of Justice is moving forward with making rules related to the new law, the SAF submitted comments to mitigate what it calls the law’s negative impacts. Tuesday was the deadline to send comments.

Kostas Moros, director of legal research and education at SAF, said SB 704 would effectively end direct-to-home shipping for barrels.

“You can no longer have it shipped to your house anymore,” Moros told The Center Square. “You have to go through a gun dealer and do a background check."

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed SB 704 into law in October.

State Sen. Jesse Arreguín, D-Oakland, who wrote the bill, called it “common sense” effort by the state.

“Californians have made it clear that reducing violent crimes is a priority, and removing illegal guns from our streets is a proven way to stop criminals from terrorizing our communities,” said Arreguín in an October press release.

Arreguín went on to say that while ghost gun kits were previously banned, criminals have turned to 3D printing. Because barrels cannot be easily 3D-printed, the senator said individuals were buying them separately to finish assembling untraceable weapons. According to Arreguín, SB 704 targets this workaround.

Still, Moros told The Center Square that most criminals obtain completed illegal firearms rather than ordering and building from separate barrels, which is what the foundation told the DOJ. Moros also discussed other comments that the foundation sent the state.

Moros warned that firearm restrictions originating in California often set a precedent for other states. He pointed to previous examples like excise taxes and firearm bans being copied by states like Colorado and Maryland, noting that deeply anti-gun states frequently adopt similar legislation if it is not stopped early.

"California passed the excise gun tax at 11%. Colorado copied it last year with the 6.5%. Other states are copying it,” said Moros. “California banned Glocks, now Maryland [banned it] and so it is a constant pattern."

SB 704 is scheduled to take effect July 1, 2027 in California.

The California Rifle & Pistol Association also has concerns about the law.

In an August post on its website, CRPA said people can be wrongly denied after background checks and that those issues are “extremely difficult” to resolve. CRPA also stated that “the system catches almost no prohibited persons.”

The Center Square reached out to Arreguín, the California Department of Justice and CPRA for comment, but did not hear back by publication time.

Moros' organization, the Second Amendment Foundation, is named after the constitutional amendment that says, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."