Some of Southern California’s most vocal gun rights advocates wear badges.

San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon and Riverside County Sheriff Stan Sniff have consistently opposed new gun control legislation. So does Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens.

In a telephone interview, McMahon said more gun control rules are not the best way to preventing gun violence.

“I generally oppose any legislation that puts any more restrictions or control on citizens having an ability to possess firearms,” said McMahon, who has been sheriff since 2012. “We still have people running around with guns that aren’t supposed to have them.”

In emailed responses to questions, Sniff wrote that while the courts “have long held that reasonable restrictions to the Second Amendment are both constitutional and also protect our communities … Many proposed firearms control bills are very poorly thought out, hastily drafted without appropriate expert input, and incorrectly proffered to the public as ‘making things safer’ in our communities.

“In some cases, these proposed bills actually make our communities less safe, and remove inherent rights of our citizens to self-defense, or worse, allow only the wealthy, elite or the well-off to protect themselves,” wrote Sniff, who became sheriff in 2007.

Three years ago, Sniff, a Republican like McMahon, sent a letter to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., criticizing her proposed assault-weapons ban.

“In many ways your bill unreasonably impinges on the Second Amendment, and it focuses largely on purely ‘cosmetic’ features of legitimate sporting, hunting, and recreational firearms already in widespread use in our nation,” he wrote.

“The cosmetic issues alone cause far too much meaningless complexity for law enforcement officers, and worse, could cause common citizens to unintentionally commit crimes that have serious potential sanctions.”

California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is behind a ballot measure that would impose new rules on guns and ammunition, said that while he has enormous respect for the sheriffs and what they do, “This has been the argument for decades. I don’t know that they represent a different point of view than their predecessors, opposing law after law after law.”

Since the mid-1990s, when new gun laws were enacted, the gun murder rate in California has fallen 56 percent, more than double the rate of a national decrease in gun murders, Newsom said.

“I think these things save lives,” he added. “They can disagree … but the data does not support their point of view.”

Calls for gun control have escalated in recent years following a spate of mass shootings, including the Dec. 2 terror attack in San Bernardino in which a radicalized Islamic couple used assault-style weapons to kill 14 and wound 22. Congressional Democrats in June staged a sit-in on the House of Representatives floor in an unsuccessful effort to force a gun control vote.

California voters in November will consider Newsom’s ballot measure. Among other things, it would ban ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds and set up a process for taking firearms from those who are legally barred from owning a gun.

Polling shows 89 percent of people supporting a process for those barred from gun ownership to relinquish their weapons, Newsom said.

This summer, Gov. Jerry Brown signed six gun control bills, including measures that require background checks for bullet purchases and ban semiautomatic rifles with magazines that can be ejected with a small tool. Critics said the “bullet button” was an end-around to the state’s ban on detachable magazines.

Concealed Carry

County sheriffs are elected officials in California with the authority to issue permits for civilians to carry concealed firearms in public. Sniff said that while he supports and encourages law-abiding residents to obtain concealed carry permits, “radical gun groups” believe he’s not issuing enough.

“The public still expects the sheriff to issue CCWs using good sense as well as reasonableness in making determinations of who is licensed and allowed by the department to carry loaded, hidden handguns into our public places,” said Sniff, who is a member of the National Rifle Association, the California Rifle & Pistol Association and Gun Owners of California.

As elected officials, sheriffs can accept campaign contributions. A check of donations to Sniff, McMahon, Hutchens and Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell in recent years found no instances of contributions by the NRA or other gun rights or gun control groups.

It’s hard to say exactly how many of California’s 58 sheriffs oppose gun control because “it’s a very nuanced question,” said Cory Salzillo, legislative director for the California State Sheriff’s Association.

The association, which advocates for sheriffs’ interests in Sacramento, formally opposed the “bullet button” bill and legislation signed by Brown that restricts loans of firearms to between family members. Another bill supported by the association and vetoed by the governor would have made firearm thefts a felony offense, although that proposal is now part of Newsom’s ballot measure.

Hutchens, the Orange County sheriff, “does not support further gun legislation,” said Lt. Mark Stichter, a sheriff’s spokesman. “The sheriff believes we should spend more time making sure people who should not have a gun don’t have one.”

“Sheriff Hutchens supports the Armed Prohibited Persons System, which focuses on getting guns out of the hands of people who should not have them including those who are convicted felons and those who are a danger to themselves and others as a result of a mental disorder,” Stichter wrote in an email.

In addition, Hutchens supports “any effort focused on mental health treatment because many of the recent mass shooting incidents (were) done by someone who is mentally ill,” Stichter said.

A spokeswoman for McDonnell said at this time, the sheriff “is not interested in commenting” about his gun control views.

Helping cops?

Gun control advocates argue that new gun restrictions help law enforcement, since police come face to face with assault-style weapons and guns with high-capacity magazines.

McMahon countered that the Newsom ballot measure and other proposed laws won’t make his deputies safer. “(High-capacity) magazines are legal in other states,” he said. “What’s to prevent (criminals) from bringing them into California illegally?”

Sniff, a retired Army colonel, said law enforcement officers “are more endangered these days in California by a criminal justice system that no longer penalizes those violating our laws, breeds disrespect for lawful authority, encourages not taking responsibility for one’s own actions, and fails to deter violators of our laws.”

“It often seems today that only our law-abiding citizens, which actually have something to lose when they enter the criminal justice system, are in the end more adversely impacted by many of our new laws,” added Sniff, who like McMahon is up for re-election in 2018.

While he appreciates sheriffs like McMahon and Sniff, rifle and pistol association President Chuck Michel said he’s not sure it matters to pro-gun control lawmakers.

“More recently, it seems that some politicians are going against the recommendations of law enforcement and pushing things that advance an agenda that’s really disrespectful of law enforcement,” Michel said.