More People Buying Guns This Holiday Season
GLENDALE (CBSLA.com) — Since the San Bernardino mass shooting, a gun store owner says he's seen an increase in the purchase of guns.
"I'd say about 20 percent of our customers are new gun owners," explains Jeff Bregman, who owns a store in Glendale.
And some of those new guns are wrapped up as holiday presents.
But be warned: anyone gifted a gun for Christmas will have to go through a background check.
In California, every time a gun changes hands, even if as a holiday gift, Bregman says it has to be brought to a gun store where the new owner will fill out paperwork and wait 10 days for the background check before he or she can take the home.
The rule applies even if a person is gifting a gun to their child.
"The difference is there is no 10 day waiting period for what they call inter-familial transfers, which is the parental line straight up and down," Bregman said.
Those who hand over the gun before it's legally registered to the new owner are committing a crime.
Case in point: Enrique Marquez.
If convicted, Marquez is facing up to 35 years in prison, 10 of which are for alleged firearm violations.
Federal investigators allege that he bought the two rifles Syed Farook and his wife used to kill 14 people and wound 21 others in the San Bernardino massacre.
"Enrique Marquez broke two primary laws, one federal, one state. The federal law is a straw purchase. He bought the firearm for somebody who believed he could not legally pass a background check," Bregman said. "The other law is California law on private party transfers."