As a response to the killing of elementary schoolers in Connecticut last month, President Obama asked Vice President Biden to oversee a White House task force to identify policy proposals for curbing violence and tightening gun laws.
California legislators and experts have offered several ideas.
California Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) sent a letter to Biden suggesting the nation should build a national mental health care system using California’s Mental Health Services Act as a model.
Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Sacramento), who last year introduced the Excellence in Mental Health Act in Congress, said she supports Steinberg’s proposal.
California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein said she plans to introduce new gun control legislation in Congress.
In the California Legislature, Sen. Ted Gaines (R-Roseville) and Assembly member Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) have said they plan to introduce legislation dealing with mental health and firearms.
We asked experts and lawmakers how policymakers in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., should respond to the public debate triggered by the killing of 26 people at an elementary school.
We got responses from: