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A gun store manager in Aurora, Colo., shows some of the pistols that he won't be able to sell after June 30 because their magazines hold more than 15 rounds. Lawmakers in California and New Jersey are pushing for gun seizure laws that will allow authorities to confiscate the weapon from mentally unstable individuals.

(Ed Andrieski | The Associated Press)

California and New Jersey want to stop mass shootings. Lawmakers in both states now propose a gun seizure law to keep guns away from violent individuals.

The California measure, AB-1014, announced in May calls for a "gun violence restraining order," giving people the ability as in domestic violence cases to report an individual posing a threat. New Jersey's push against gun violence advocates similar goals of enlisting family members and friends to alert authorities when someone they know becomes unstable.

In Connecticut, gun seizure law allows police to seize the gun of dangerous individuals determined to be a threat to themselves and others. The confiscating is followed by a court hearing within 14 days to decide what happens to the weapon: returned to the owner or held by the state for up to a year.

A chilling series of shootings across the country in the last two to three years -- Newtown, Conn., Aurora, Colo., Washington, D.C., Jacksonville, Fla., Oklahoma City, Okla. and various California and Texas locations -- have only amplified the cry for gun control in the country. In total, USA Today reports about 249 cases of U.S. mass killings, classified as four or more casualties, have taken place since 2006; the majority of cases resulted from shootings (other causes included smoke, burns, and blunt force).

The latest California mass shooting occurred in May at University of California, Santa Barbara, where 22-year-old Elliot Rodger killed six people and wounded 13 others before shooting himself in the head.

Such tragedies inspired Connecticut to pass the first gun seizure legislation in the U.S. after a 1998 mass killing of four managers at the state lottery headquarters. Fifteen years since implementation, the state has confiscated more than 2,000 guns, as last reported by officials in 2009. Indiana is the only other state with a gun seizure law, which passed in 2005 following the shooting of an Indianapolis police officer.

Gun lobbyists defend their Constitutional rights in this case, while other critics point to another set of holes in the legislation. Connecticut gun owners and lawyers have brought up police abuse of the law. President of Connecticut Carry, a gun rights group, Rich Burgess said to The Associated Press:

Another party in the Connecticut scene speaks from a law enforcement standpoint. South Windsor Police Chief Matthew Reed told AP:

But it can't be as simple as "no guns, no shootings." Tell us where you fall on this type of gun legislation. Will it reduce gun violence?