BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 50|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 50
Author: Koretz (D), et al
Amended: 7/27/04 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 4-2, 6/22/04
AYES: Vasconcellos, Burton, Romero, Sher
NOES: McPherson, Margett
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-5, 8/12/04
AYES: Alpert, Bowen, Burton, Escutia, Karnette, Murray,
Speier
NOES: Battin, Aanestad, Ashburn, Johnson, Poochigian
NO VOTE RECORDED: Machado
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 43-28, 6/5/03 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : .50 Caliber BMG rifles
SOURCE : Trauma Center
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
City of Los Angeles
DIGEST : This bill, effective January 1, 2005, prohibits
the sale of .50 caliber BMG rifles. This bill authorizes
the State Department of Justice to register
legally-possessed BMG rifles until April 30, 2006, to
assess a $25 registration fee, and to issue dangerous
weapons permits for their possession, sale, manufacture and
transportation. This bill makes it a misdemeanor to
possess a BMG rifle that is not registered after April 30,
CONTINUED
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2007. This bill expands existing law to make assault with
a BMG rifle a felony punishable by four, eight or 12 years
in state prison.
ANALYSIS : Existing law makes it an offense for any
person to commit an assault upon the person of another with
a machine gun or an assault weapon. Existing law also
makes it an offense for any person to commit an assault
upon the person of a peace officer or firefighter, as
specified, with a machine gun or assault weapon.
This bill expands each of these offenses to include an
assault with a .50 BMG rifle, as defined.
Existing law establishes the Prohibited Armed Persons File
database that tracks possession or ownership of firearms
and assault weapons, as specified.
This bill includes tracking the possession and ownership of
.50 BMG rifles in the database, as specified.
Existing law defines "assault weapon" for purposes of
regulation.
This bill defines ".50 BMG rifle" and ".50 BMG cartridge"
for purposes of regulation.
Existing law makes it an offense, subject to certain
exceptions, for any person to manufacture or cause to be
manufactured, import into this state, transport,
distribute, keep for sale, offer or expose for sale, give,
lend, or possess an assault weapon, as specified, and
provides a sentence enhancement for anyone who transfers,
lends, sells, or gives an assault weapon to a minor, as
specified.
This bill extends those provisions to include a .50 BMG
rifle. However, it will not apply during the first 180
days of the 2005 calendar year to the importation into
California by a person who lawfully possessed that .50 BMG
rifle in this state prior to January 1, 2005 or a .50 BMG
rifle that is not defined as an assault weapon by any
person prior to May 1, 2006, if specified provisions are
met.
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Existing law provides a scheme for registration and
issuance of permits in connection with assault weapons.
This bill establishes similar provisions for the
registration and issuance of permits in connection with .50
BMG rifles. This bill authorizes the State Department of
Justice to charge a registration fee not exceeding $25 for
the registration of a .50 BMG rifle, as specified.
Existing law forbids the broadcast over police radio of
information that an individual has registered, or has a
permit to possess, an assault weapon, with specified
exceptions.
This bill expands those provisions to cover individuals who
register or have permits to possess .50 BMG rifles.
Existing law provides that persons may arrange to
relinquish an assault weapon to a police or sheriff's
department.
This bill similarly permits persons to arrange to
relinquish a .50 BMG rifle to a police or sheriff's
department.
This bill makes numerous conforming cross-references.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2004-05 2005-06
2006-07 Fund
Registration $50 See
notesSpecial*
Permits, inspections $10 See
notes Special*
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Data processing $108 See
notes General
Felony expansion Unknown costs,
potentially >$150 General
annually
Misdemeanor Unknown costs, offset by finesLocal
* Dealers Record of Sale Fund. Costs fully offset by
fees.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/13/04)
Trauma Center (co-source)
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence (co-source)
City of Los Angeles (co-source)
City of West Hollywood
California Chapter, American College of Emergency
Physicians
California Nurses Association
California Organization of Police and Sheriffs
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
Community Wellness Partnership of Pomona
Consumer Federation of California
League of California Cities
Legal Community Against Violence
Los Angeles County District Attorneys Association
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
Los Angeles District Attorney's Office
Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton
Million Mom March
Physicians for a Violence-free Society
State Department of Finance
Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles
Women Against Gun Violence
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/13/04)
C5 Corvette Performance
Calreo Construction
California Rifle and Pistol Association
California Sportsman's Lobby, Inc.
Citizen's Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms
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EDM Arms
Fifty Caliber Shooters Association, Inc.
Fifty Caliber Shooters Policy Institute
Gun Owners of California
Herb Bauer Sporting Goods
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
Interconnect Systems, Inc.
National Rifle Association
NRA Members' Council of Silicon Valley
Outdoor Sportsman's Coalition of California
President of McMillan Brothers Rifle Co, Inc
President, ArmaLite, Inc.
President, the ROBAR Companies, Inc.
Safari Club International
Spider Firearms
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office:
"Fifty BMG caliber sniper rifles and .50 BMG
ammunition are armaments designed for military
applications involving the destruction of
infrastructure and anti-personnel purposes. The
military uses these weapons to destroy concrete
structures, including bunkers, light armored vehicles,
and stationary tactical targets such as fuel storage
facilities, aircraft, communications structures and
energy transfer stations. Current California law
recognizes 50 BMG caliber sniper rifles and their
ammunition the same as any other rifle and does not
differentiate between these 50 caliber war weapons and
other rifles more commonly used for sport such as a
.22, .30-06 or 12 gauge shot gun. Currently to
purchase a 50 BMG caliber sniper rifle one only has to
complete a background check and wait ten days to
receive these extremely destructive war weapons.
Current law also requires that records of rifle
purchases be destroyed immediately upon conclusion of
the sale, thus we currently have no way of knowing who,
or how may persons, currently are in legal possession
of 50 BMG caliber weapons. 50 BMG caliber weapons and
their ammunition have increasingly been manufactured
and marketed to civilians over the past several years.
There is increasing evidence of these weapons falling
into the hands of political extremists and terrorists,
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and more recently drug and street gangs. The
manufacturers of these weapons have been reducing the
weight, enhancing portability and lowering the price to
own these weapons, so there is currently an expanding
proliferation of these war weapons. The facts indicate
that 50 BMG caliber sniper weapons and .50 BMG
ammunition present a clear and present public health
and safety danger to California and the nation. It is
time for California to strictly regulate these weapons
just as we have other war weapons such as assault
weapons by closing off future supplies and requiring
those who currently possess them to come forward and
register them with the state Department of Justice."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The National Rifle Association
opposition to this bill includes the following:
"...The proponents of AB 50 claim that .50 caliber
rifles constitute a 'terrorist threat' to the citizens
of California. But no evidence has been presented to
the legislature, that .50 caliber rifles have been used
in any crimes in California. The fact is that, the
major California law enforcement groups representing
both the Sheriffs and Police Chiefs do not support AB
50. Even the National Transportation Safety
Administration when asked about the potential threat of
.50 caliber rifles in a New York Times article
published on Jan. 30, 2003, the agency was quoted as
saying, 'We just don't feel it is high on the list of
potential threats.' The provisions of AB 50 would also
ban the possession of .50 caliber cartridges. There
are thousands of collectors, military museums and
retired military veterans that have collected the 50
caliber cartridges as curios and keepsakes. There are
no provisions in AB 50 to fund any public education
campaign to inform Californians how they can avoid
becoming criminals. In 1990, it is estimated that the
Department of Justice spent a quarter of a million
dollars in costs associated with administering,
enforcing and informing the public about the passage of
the so-called 'Assault Weapons' legislation. The costs
of AB 50 will also be substantial. If there is no
public education campaign, thousands of veterans,
collectors and shooters would find themselves in legal
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peril if they do not dispose of the .50 caliber
cartridges and register their rifles within the short
time allowed by AB 50. Californians that fail to
comply with AB 50 will lose their right to possess
firearms for the rest of their lives."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Berg, Bermudez, Calderon, Canciamilla, Chan, Chavez,
Chu, Cohn, Diaz, Dutra, Dymally, Firebaugh, Frommer,
Goldberg, Hancock, Jerome Horton, Jackson, Kehoe, Koretz,
Laird, Leno, Levine, Lieber, Liu, Longville, Lowenthal,
Maldonado, Montanez, Mullin, Nakano, Nation, Nunez,
Oropeza, Pavley, Reyes, Ridley-Thomas, Simitian,
Steinberg, Vargas, Wiggins, Wolk, Yee, Wesson
NOES: Aghazarian, Bates, Bogh, Campbell, Cogdill, Cox,
Daucher, Dutton, Garcia, Harman, Haynes, Keene, La Malfa,
La Suer, Leslie, Maddox, Maze, McCarthy, Mountjoy,
Nakanishi, Pacheco, Plescia, Richman, Runner, Samuelian,
Spitzer, Strickland, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Benoit, Corbett, Correa, Shirley Horton,
Houston, Matthews, Negrete McLeod, Parra, Salinas
RJG:mel 8/14/04 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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