
California bans officersâ use of electric-shock gloves after ICE reveals plan to equip agents
State passes law banning local, state and federal officers from using gloves that deliver painful electric shocks
California has passed a law Tuesday banning local, state and federal law enforcement officers from using gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks to people.
The ban on shock gloves will take effect next year and remain in place until 2030. It comes weeks after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) moved to equip its officers with the gloves, which are designed to gain compliance from combative individuals. Last month, the agency awarded a nearly $17m contract to buy 6,000 pairs.
âÂÂTrump has put his political interests above the health, safety and livelihood of American families,â said Gavin Newsom, CaliforniaâÂÂs governor, said in a statement after signing the law. âÂÂCalifornia is taking action to strengthen transparency, accountability, and oversight around immigration enforcement in our state.âÂÂ
The law is the latest example of how Democratic-led states have been pushing back against Donald TrumpâÂÂs immigration enforcement efforts since he took office last year. In California, lawmakers passed at least two dozen bills this year seeking to fortify immigrantsâ rights, restrict cooperation with federal immigration agents and tighten regulations on immigrant detention facilities, among other things.
Nationwide, 17 states with Democratic-led legislatures have passed a total of more than 100 pro-immigrant bills this year, according to an Associated Press analysis using the bill tracking software Plural. The most common purpose is to limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement agents.
LaShae Sharp-Collins, a Democratic California assembly member, said she introduced the shock-gloves legislation to âÂÂput a pauseâ on law enforcementâÂÂs use of the devices while the state examines their potential risks. The law requires the stateâÂÂs justice department to study their safety and report to lawmakers by 2029.
âÂÂThereâÂÂs a lot of unrest and a lot of uncertainty,â she said in an interview. âÂÂA lot of people are scared.âÂÂ
The law will again test the stateâÂÂs authority to restrict federal agents amid the Trump administrationâÂÂs immigration crackdown. A federal judge earlier this year blocked the stateâÂÂs first-in-the-nation law barring federal officers from wearing face coverings, deeming it too selective because it applied to local and federal law enforcement but exempted state officers.
Lawmakers passed a new bill this year to make the ban apply to all officers. Newsom signed that legislation.
Kevin Johnson, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Davis School of Law, said courts are likely to ultimately rule that the state cannot bar federal officers from wearing shock gloves or face coverings. The laws are well-intentioned, he said, but likely conflict with the supremacy clause of the US constitution, which generally sets federal law as supreme over conflicting state law.
âÂÂThe state has very limited, if any, powers in dictating to the federal government how its officers are armed,â he said.
Sacramento sheriff Jim Cooper, a Democrat and former state lawmaker, said banning shock gloves âÂÂreally makes no senseâ because they are among the non-lethal tools officers can use if necessary.
âÂÂWhen the federal government does something, the state legislature wants to ban it,â he said at a news conference. âÂÂTheyâÂÂre making our job harder.âÂÂ
Sharp-Collins said ICEâÂÂs plan to use shock gloves was the catalyst for the ban. But she cited their use by other officers, including a case in which a Kentucky family alleged a man died after being tased and shocked with the gloves dozens of times while in law enforcement custody in 2024.
Scott Wiener, a state senator and San Francisco Democrat who wrote last yearâÂÂs mask ban, also authored this yearâÂÂs measure to expand it to state officers.
âÂÂCalifornia must use every available tool to stand up for our communities under attack from ICEâÂÂs secret police terror campaign,â he said in a statement after it passed the legislature.
