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"This legislation will help fix our broken immigration system that unnecessarily burdens active-duty service members, veterans who honorably served our nation and military families," Thompson, who represents part of Lake County, stated.
Expanded background checks and a ban on high-capacity magazines have been all the talk in the push for gun control after the Newtown, Conn., schoolhouse massacre, but Rep. Mike Thompson said there should also be a discussion of paying states to take guns away from criminals and the dangerously mentally ill who are prohibited from owning them.
This week, Thompson introduced a bill that would do just that.
Other states would be urged to emulate California's system for seizing firearms from people who are no longer legally allowed to own them, under a bill unveiled Wednesday by two Bay Area House members.
But California's program is predicated on registration of certain firearms -- something most states don't do and are loath to consider.
The bill would create a competitive grant program in the U.S. Department of Justice that would offer funding to states that create their own armed-prohibited programs, according to a news release from Thompson's office.
Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-05), chairman of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, and task force vice-chair Jackie Speier (CA-14) have introduced H.R. 848, the Armed Prohibited Persons Act of 2013.
This legislation will help states launch initiatives to remove guns from the hands of convicted criminals and the dangerously mentally ill.
HOST: A California gun control law that's been on the books for more than a decade could become a national model. Jacob Fenston reports a North Bay Congressman introduced the legislation Wednesday in Washington.
JACOB FENSTON: There are thousands of illegal guns that government agencies have the data to track down, but they lack the resources to sort through that data. California Attorney General Kamala Harris explains it's all about lists.
KAMALA HARRIS: "It is the list of those who have registered to own a gun, and then comparing that to two other lists."
Offered by Reps. Mike Thompson (Calif.) and Jackie Speier (Calif.), the proposal would provide federal grant money to states that launch programs to remove guns from those who buy them legally but later forfeit their ownership rights by either committing a crime or being deemed severely mentally ill.
The lawmakers said the bill will bolster public safety without trampling on constitutional freedoms.
We know from vast experience that such discussions are antithetical to reasoned public policy.
It could be fairly argued that, over the years, the nation's debate over gun policies qualifies as a poster child for this dynamic.
U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., previously filed the bill in December 2011 but it died in committee.
The bill will not help veterans who have already been booted from the country, but it will ensure due process and require the authorization of the Secretary of Homeland Security before vets could be deported.
AMERICAN CANYON â€" For decades, the most common images of concussions have been of unconscious athletes wheeled away on stretchers, or helped off a field with shaky speech and gait.
But an increasing number of trainers and doctors are sounding the alarm about less obvious, but more common, collisions they say can turn young athletes' brains into ticking time bombs if not properly treated. On Wednesday night, three of them shared their message at American Canyon High School in a forum to foster awareness of sports-related brain trauma, and how to recognize and treat it.