Animal Abusers Banned From Owning Guns Under CA Proposal

RIVERSIDE, CA — A bill that would place a 10-year firearms ban on people convicted of misdemeanor animal cruelty in California has passed a major hurdle.

The 2024 Gun Violence Prevention Act passed the state Senate on May 16 with a 36-1 bipartisan vote. It now moves on to the state Assembly for consideration.

Otherwise known as SB 902, the bill was introduced by Senators Richard D. Roth (D-Riverside) and Anthony Portantino (D-Burbank). It imposes a 10-year firearms prohibition on those convicted of misdemeanor animal cruelty, including malicious and/or intentional killing, maiming, mutilating, torturing, or wounding an animal.

"Our Gun Violence Prevention Act furthers our state’s gun violence prevention efforts by ensuring that people with a history of violence are unable to hurt others," Roth said. "Animal cruelty is a known predictor of current and future violence, including crimes of assault, rape, murder, arson, domestic violence, and sexual abuse of children."

Currently, there are about 50 other misdemeanor penal codes in the Golden State that result in a 10-year firearms ban upon conviction. While current state law places a lifetime ban on gun ownership/possession for convicted felons, those found guilty of misdemeanors are subject to more lax firearms restrictions. In the case of misdemeanor animal abuse, it's often just one year.

If SB 902 is signed into law, California would become only the second state in the nation, after Massachusetts, to enact such a prohibition tied to misdemeanor animal abuse.

"Given the link between violence against animals and violence against humans, a single year of probation is not enough time for a convicted animal abuser to be barred from lawful access to firearms," said Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin.

SB 902 also has the backing of the California District Attorneys Association, for which Hestrin currently serves as president.

"SB 902 is a much-needed bill to prevent future violence because empirical evidence shows that abuse towards animals is strongly associated with violence against other persons," according to the association. "By imposing this prohibition of firearms for those convicted of qualifying crimes, this bill directly removes one such tool that an abuser can use to inflict violence on others."

A federal bill was attempted, unsuccessfully, to also strengthen prohibitions nationally. Introduced in 2018 by Rep. Katherine M. Clark of Massachusetts, H.R. 6278 died in committee.

"While the attempt in Congress was unsuccessful, SB 902 is this Legislature’s opportunity to address this problem in California," according to the California District Attorneys Association.

Lindsay Nichols serves as policy director of the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The organization supports SB 902 and has long linked acts of animal cruelty to violence toward humans.

"A 2017 study showed that 89 percent of women who had companion animals during an abusive relationship reported that their animals were threatened, harmed, or killed by their abusive partner," according to Nichols. "In one study of families under investigation for suspected child abuse, researchers found that pet abuse had occurred in 88 percent of the families under supervision for physical abuse of their children."

In a gut-wrenching 2012 book, "Shattered Silence," by the daughter of serial murderer Keith Hunter Jesperson, otherwise known as the "Happy Face Killer," Melissa Moore recounts in the opening pages how her father tortured kittens. The graphic pages are nearly impossible to read.

Jesperson's troubled life manifested into violent behavior toward humans starting at a young age. He's currently serving life sentences without the possibility of parole in the slayings of eight women across the western United States over the course of five years, though he has confessed to many other killings. One of his victims was found dead in Riverside County.

A 2021 FBI law enforcement bulletin backs up the animal abuse predictor.

"Historically, animal cruelty has been considered an isolated issue, but recent research shows a well-documented link that it is a predictive or co-occurring crime with violence against humans (including intimate partners, children, and elders) and is associated with other types of violent offenses," according to the FBI.