Virginia recently wrapped up its legislative session with more than 15 new laws aiming to ban “assault weapons,” detachable magazines, and such. Governor Abigail Spanberger, “a former federal law enforcement officer who carried a gun every day,” seems disposed to sign them all. Devotees of the Second Amendment might review how similar measures are working out in California.

A school shooting in Stockton prompted the Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Control Act of 1989(AWCA), banning the ownership, sale, importation, and even lending of rifles modeled on the Soviet AK-47 and American AR-15. These and other rifles, pistols, and even some shotguns required registration with the state Department of Justice. For California politicians and bureaucrats, that wasn’t enough

In 2016, as part of Governor Jerry Brown’s budget package, the legislature approved a five-year $5 million grant for the Firearms Violence Research Center at UC Davis, touted as the first such center in the nation. Director Garen Wintemute claimed his work was based on “science,” but Second Amendment advocates had reason to be wary.

The center’s first project would be a survey that looks at “who owns guns, why they own them and how they use firearms.” The state-funded center wanted “the names,” which sounds more like........

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