For the past four years, the California Department of Justice has maintained a county-by-county list of people who own firearms but who legally are prohibited from doing so for a host of reasons. As of January 1 this year, there were 163 names on that list. But until recently, the Department of Justice (DOJ) offered local law enforcement agencies no additional resources to deal with those identified as persons prohibited from owning firearms.
“It was just a list we had hanging out there,” said Chief Deputy Craig Bonner with the county Sheriff’s Office.
That changed this year when Lt. Juan Camarena — who's running for sheriff against incumbent Bill Brown in this year's election — secured the Sheriff’s Office a two-year grant for $685,000 to make sure those on the list still deserved to be there and if so, to do something about it.