(Calif.) Gov. Brown OKs funds to confiscate guns from criminals, mentally ill
Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday signed legislation aimed at taking handguns and assault rifles away from 20,000 Californians who acquired them legally but have since been disqualified from ownership because of a criminal conviction or serious mental illness.
The measure, the first of several gun-related bills to reach the governor, allocates $24 million in surplus funds to hire dozens of additional special agents to tackle a backlog of 40,000 weapons in the hands of people not allowed to possess firearms.
“This bipartisan bill makes our communities safer by giving law enforcement the resources they need to get guns out of the hands of potentially dangerous individuals,” said Evan Westrup, a spokesman for the governor.
The state operates a database that cross-references a list of gun owners with those disqualified later from owning guns. But, budget cuts have prevented the state Department of Justice from keeping up with the growing number of people on the list.
full: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/political/la-me-pc-gun-bill-20130501,0,7674608.story
= new reply since forum marked as read
the DROS fee that gun purchasers pay at the time of purchase - the account was specially created to fund background checks and to maintain the transfer registry. It not really part of the general budget, which is why a bill was needed to divert the money to a purpose other than what was originally authorized. (And this particular account would have been running a surplus even when our budget was really in the toilet, I imagine.)
But overall, CA's budget situation is much improved compared to just a couple of years ago; we're pretty well out of WTF!? territory for now... 
