A new bill signed into action by California Governor Jerry Brown has a simple aim: get guns out of the hands of those who cannot legally own them.

The bill is known as SB140 and was authored by Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). With its passage, the bill will allocate $24 million to identify and seize assault weapons owned by convicted criminals and those with serious mental illnesses.

"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.

Indeed, safety was the prime concern with the passage of this legislation. It joins a slew of 30 gun control measures that have been authored by California lawmakers after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary this past December.

"Today, each California community is a step closer to being safer," Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said in a statement. "This swift action by the Legislature and the Governor to enforce the laws we already have is a wise and worthy investment to reduce gun violence."

Surprisingly, California is currently the only state that has a database that cross-references the identities of gun owners with a list of names of individuals who are disqualified from owning a firearm. Budget cuts have made it impossible for the state Department of Justice to keep up with that list, but now with the passage of SB140, they'll be able to.

"California is leading the nation in a common-sense effort to protect public safety by taking guns away from dangerous, violent individuals who are prohibited by law from owning them," said California's Attorney Gerneral Kamala Harris in a prepared statement.

Though the need for his measure seems clear and sensible, that doesn't mean it doesn't have its detractors. Those who opposed the bill claim that while gun control is important, it's equally important to spend the allocated funds in the correct way.

"For example, if you go to the DMV and pay for a driver's license, that fee is for processing the driver's license, not for setting up sting operations for catching drunk drivers," said Assemblyman Brian Jones (R-Santee). "If the legislature wants to raise extra funds for the DOJ, it would have to impose a tax on firearm sales, which requires a two-thirds vote."

People like Jones promote the use of California's firearm database for prevention, and not for setting up costly weapons stings. They seem to be in the minority, however.

SB140 appears to be a popular form of legislation however, and it may soon hit the national stage. U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson introduced the bill HR848 earlier this year, which aims to provide a federal grant program for other states to develop programs similar to the one now being adopted by California.