The Gun Violence Prevention and School Safety Act
As California communities continue to be torn apart by the devastating impacts of gun
violence, we need to ensure that effective programs work to prevent violence and heal victims
and survivors can continue their life-saving work from year to year. AB 28 creates the transformative
Gun Violence Prevention and School Safety Fund which will support programs addressing different
facets of gun violence and promote equal access to safety for all Californians.
Gun violence takes many forms, and requires a holistic set of policy solutions. AB 28 will
provide urgently needed, reliable, annual funding for vital programs, including:
➢ $75 million to the California Violence Intervention and Prevention (CalVIP) grant
program administered by the Board of State and Community Corrections. The CalVIP grant
program funds cities and community-based organizations providing life-saving violence
intervention and prevention services to the communities hardest-hit by gun violence.
➢ $50 million to the Department of Education to fund school mental health, behavioral
services, and school safety measures.
➢ $15 million to the Judicial Council to ensure safe removal of illegal firearms from
people who are not allowed to have them due to domestic violence restraining orders, gun
violence restraining orders, and other proceedings which require guns to be relinquished.
➢ $15 million to the Department of Justice for a Justice for Victims of Gun Violence grant
program to equitably improve investigations and clearance rates in firearm homicide and
assault cases in communities disproportionately impacted by gun violence.
➢ $2.5 million to Department of Justice programs educating firearm owners about gun
safety laws, including secure firearm storage, and coordination of gun violence prevention
efforts across local governments, law enforcement, and community organizations.
➢ $2.5 million to the Office of Emergency Services to provide counseling and
trauma-informed support services to victims of mass shootings and people who have
experienced chronic exposure to community gun violence.
➢ $1 million, total across all years, for gun violence research and initiatives to educate
healthcare providers about tools for preventing firearm suicide and injury.
As survivors, families, communities, and taxpayers, we all pay the enormous costs
associated with gun violence, whether we own a firearm or not. The gun industry
continues to reap historic profits while its products fuel a costly public health epidemic.
➢ Instead of firearm-related profits solely benefitting the gun industry, this bill would impose a
modest 11% excise tax, similar to the long-standing federal Pittman-Robertson tax, on gun
sellers and manufacturers to fund programs remediating and mitigating the harms their
firearm products too often cause in California communities. The tax would apply to gross
receipts from their retail sales on firearms, firearm precursor parts, and ammunition.
AB 28 does not impose direct taxes on consumers and contains reasonable exemptions for
small businesses with less than $5,000 in applicable quarterly gross receipts. AB 28 also exempts
sales made to law enforcement agencies and active or retired peace officers.
Mums demand is on its way to Washington but Gavin Newsom needs to hear from us by calling his desk /office