SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California seized a record nearly 11,000 guns last year from people no longer allowed to own them. Yet the underlying backlog in the state’s gun seizure program remains nearly the same as a year ago.
The department has about 9,400 active cases now, about 800 fewer than it did a year ago.
Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Friday blamed an increase in gun possessions and too few special agents, despite an infusion of $24 million in recent years.
Agents finally cleared all but about 500 cases from a backlog of nearly 21,000 cases in 2013. But the number of illegally held weapons continues to grow.
The program seizes guns from people who are banned because they have been convicted of felonies or have a history of domestic violence or mental illness.
