On July 1, 1993, Gian Luigi Ferri walked into the law offices of Petit & Martin at 101 California Street and opened fire, killing eight people and wounding six. Ferri, a disgruntled businessman, entered the building with two semi-automatic TEC-9s and a hand gun, as well as hundreds of rounds of ammunition. He committed suicide in a stairwell here before he could be apprehended by police. In the aftermath of the massacre, the gun control movement was galvanized in California and nationally. In addition, surviving victims and the families of those killed argued in court that TEC-9 manufacturer Navegar should be held liable for distributing a firearm that is inherently intended for criminal use. In July, 2001, the California State Supreme Court ruled that gun makers can not be sued for criminal use of their products, overturning a lower court's decision that Navegar could be sued under the state's consumer protection statutes.

On September 13, 2004, a federal ban on assault weapons was allowed to expire due to lack of support from President George W. Bush and Republicans in Congress. Under the leadership of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the ban was passed in 1994 in response to the 101 California Street massacre. After a San Francisco police officer was killed with an assault weapon in 2004, Feinstein herself faced backlash from liberals when she called for a death sentence for the officer's killer. Detail