https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...=.ed9cb194b084
Quote:
A dozen years ago, the state set up a database that flags law enforcement officials when a registered gun owner is convicted of a felony, deemed mentally ill, has received a restraining order or committed one of about 37 qualifying misdemeanors.
The list is known as the Armed Prohibited Persons System, and while it has failed to prevent mass shootings in San Bernardino, Isla Vista and other cities in the state, it has taken tens of thousands of guns out of the hands of people prohibited from having them.
...
There are 10,226 people on the list statewide. Of those, about 2,000 are in Los Angeles County, a vast urban desert covered by only Richardson’s team and one other.
Last year, state Justice Department agents seized 3,999 pistols and long guns, investigating more than 8,500 people in the process. The list has never dipped beneath 10,000 people since its earliest days.
...
The team is from various parts of the country and from various backgrounds. But they share years of experience in the field, a key to success in a unit whose way of working with potentially dangerous, unstable people emphasizes diplomacy over force.
Not once has a target fired on them.
I wasn't aware that CA actively tracks down felons, among others, in order to reclaim guns and ammo. The article's kind of a (thankfully boring) glimpse at what gun reclamation at scale might entail if we ever go down that path. Basically a lot of money, time, and people that can defuse an inherently confrontational situation.