BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2470
Page 1
Date of Hearing: March 25, 2008
Counsel: Kathleen Ragan
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Jose Solorio, Chair
AB 2470 (Karnette) - As Amended: March 24, 2008
SUMMARY : Expands the prohibition against bringing or
possessing specified weapons on the grounds of, or within, any
schools. Specifically, this bill adds any private university,
the University of California, and the California State
University or the California Community Colleges to the list of
places where specified weapons may not be brought. The weapons
are any instrument that expels a metallic or non-metallic
projectile such as a BB or a pellet, through the use of air
pressure, CO2 pressure or spring action; and any spot marker
gun.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that any person, except as specified, who brings or
possesses any dirk, dagger, ice pick, knife having a blade
longer than two- and one-half inches, folding knife with a
locking blade, razor with an unguarded blade, taser or stun
gun, an instrument that expels a metallic projectile such as a
BB or pellet through the use of air pressure, CO2 pressure or
spring action, or any spot marker gun upon the grounds of, or
within, any public or private school providing instruction in
Kindergarten or Grades 1 to 12, inclusive, is guilty of a
public offense, punishable by imprisonment in county jail not
to exceed one year or by imprisonment in the state prison for
16 months, 2 or 3 years. (Penal Code Section 626.10(a).)
2)Provides that with the exception of a peace officer, a person
summoned to assist a peace officer, or a member of the
military engaged in the performance of his or her duties, any
person who brings or possesses any dirk, dagger, ice pick or
knife having a fixed blade longer than two- and one-half
inches, upon the grounds of, or within, any private
university, the University of California, the California State
University, or the California Community Colleges is guilty of
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a public offense punishable by imprisonment in county jail not
to exceed one year or by imprisonment in the state prison for
16 months, 2 or 3 years. (Penal Code Section 626.10(b).)
3)States that the above provisions do not apply to any person
who brings a knife, as specified, or a razor with an unguarded
blade upon the grounds of specified schools and universities
for use in a school-sponsored activity or class, or possesses
an ice pick or knife upon the grounds of any specified
university or college for lawful use in food preparation or
consumption, or within the scope of the person's employment.
(Penal Code Section 626.10(c) through (e).)
4)Provides that the prohibition on an instrument that expels a
metallic projectile such as a BB or pellet or any spot marker
gun shall not apply if the person has the written permission
of the school principal or his or her designee. (Penal Code
Section 626.10(a).)
5)Defines "BB device" as an instrument that expels a projectile,
such as a BB or pellet, not exceeding 6mm caliber, through the
force of air pressure, gas pressure, or spring action, or any
spot marker gun. (Penal Code Section 12001(g).)
6)Provides that every person who sells to a minor any BB device
is guilty of a misdemeanor. (Penal Code Section 12551.)
7)Provides that every person who furnishes any BB device to a
minor, without the express or implied permission of the parent
or legal guardian of the minor, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
(Penal Code Section 12552(a).)
8)Creates the "Gun-Free School Zone Act of 1995" which prohibits
the possession of a firearm in a school zone. (Penal Code
Section 626.9.)
9)Provides that it is unlawful for any person, with reckless
disregard for the safety of another, to discharge, or attempt
to discharge, a firearm in a school zone. (Penal Code Section
626.9(d).)
10)Defines "school zone" as an area in, or on the grounds of, a
public or private school providing instruction in Kindergarten
or Grades 1 to 12, inclusive, or within a distance of 1,000
feet from the grounds of the public or private school. (Penal
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Code Section 626.9(e)(1).)
11)Provides that any person who possesses a firearm in, or on
the grounds of, a public or private school providing
instruction in Kindergarten or Grades 1 to 12, inclusive,
shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for two,
three, or five years. (Penal Code Section 626.9(f)(1).)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author, "Several
instances of college campus gun violence in recent years have
put campus police and students on higher alert of the
possibility of similar gun violence instances occurring on
their campuses. Recognizing this threat, campus police have
taken extensive training courses focused on gun violence
situational response and must be on constant alert in hope of
preventing such a situation.
"The California College & University Police Chiefs Association
has reported that BB and pellet guns have been used in
numerous on-campus crimes, including the vandalism and the
firing of these weapons at officers and students. BB and
pellet guns often resemble and are mistaken to be 'real' guns
at first sight. The possession of these guns on campuses is
quite dangerous because they will immediately elicit the same
response from students and campus police that the possession
of a 'real' gun would cause.
"This bill is necessary to ensure it is illegal to use or
possess any type of gun on all California school campuses.
Our students, faculty and campus staff deserve a safe and
gun-free learning environment."
2)Background : According to additional information supplied by
the author, under current law it is illegal to bring BB or
pellet guns and ammunition onto school campuses, but it is not
illegal to bring them onto college and university campuses
despite the fact that they have been used in crimes at those
higher education institutions. This bill is sponsored by the
California College and University Police Chiefs Association.
3)Modern Air Gun Technology : According to an article by Michael
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J. Edelman, ([email protected]), "Introduction to Modern Air
Gun Technology", "Today there is a tremendous variety of air
guns available, ranging from $10 spring guns that shoot BB's
or pellets at 180 fps to pneumatic guns firing 9mm lead
bullets at well over 1,200 fps, developing energy well into
the .221 LR range." This article is designed to give an
overview of the technology and the range of modern air arms.
a) Spring-Air Guns : These guns develop power via a piston
propelled by a spring under compression. Cocking the
weapon causes a piston to be drawn back in a cylinder,
drawing air into the cylinder and compressing a coil
spring. Pulling the trigger releases the piston, allowing
the spring to propel it forward and force a large volume of
air through a hole into the barrel, propelling the pellet
down the barrel.
b) Pneumatic Guns : These guns use a reservoir of
compressed gas to propel a projectile. They are as a rule
virtually recoilless - at least in any but the most
powerful version - as the recoil energy of the projectile
is dwarfed by the comparatively huge mass of the gun. As a
consequence, pneumatic guns are the choice for most types
of target shooting.
c) Pump Pneumatics : In these guns, the shooter works a
lever or piston to compress air into a reservoir. On
firing, a hammer kicks a valve open and releases some or
all of the air from the reservoir into the barrel. Pump
pneumatics come in a basic variety of single stroke, which
require only one stroke of a lever to fill the reservoir,
and multi-stroke models, which require multiple strokes to
fill the reservoir.
d) Gas Guns : This class of guns derives energy to propel a
projectile from a reservoir that has been filled with a
compressed gas from some external source, usually CO2 or
simply compressed air.
e) CO2 Guns : CO2 guns come in two varieties: those that
use the small disposable CO2 cartridges, and those that are
bulk-filled from a large tank. The guns using the
disposable cartridges are again to be found mainly at the
low end of the price range. One nice feature of CO2 is
that it will maintain a constant gas pressure as it
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transitions from a liquid to a gas. This makes complex
pressure regulation unnecessary.
4)Non-Powder Guns Are Potential Lethal Weapons : According to an
article published by the American Academy of Pediatrics,
"Non-powder guns - ball bearing (BB) guns, pellet guns, air
rifles and paintball guns - are extremely powerful and
continue to cause serious injury, disability and even death to
children and adolescents." (American Academy of Pediatrics,
"Injury Risk of Non-Powder Guns".) "The Center for Disease
Control and Prevention and the United States Consumer Product
Safety Commission (CPSC) claim there were approximately 21,840
non-powder gun-related injuries treated in emergency
departments in 2000. Between 1990 and 2000, the CPSC reported
39 non-powder, gun-related deaths, of which 32 were children
15 and younger. (American Academy of Pediatrics, "Non-Powder
Guns Are Lethal Weapons", American Academy of Pediatrics
(November 2004).)
"Each year, approximately 3.2 million non-powder guns are sold
in U.S. department stores, including toy stores. The
continued popularity of war and paintball games contributes to
the higher sales and subsequent accidents, especially
eye-related injuries. While non-powder guns use compressed
air instead of gun powder to launch projectiles, they are
often nearly as powerful as traditional firearms. According
to the CPSC, 80% of non-powder guns have muzzle velocities
(the speed at which the object leaves the gun) at 350 to 450
feet per second, and 50% between 500 and 930 feet per second.
A traditional firearm pistol has a muzzle velocity of 750 feet
per second to 1,450 per second. Eye penetration can occur at
a muzzle velocity of just 130 feet per second. Of the
non-powder gun injuries in 2000, approximately 12% were to the
eye, 24% to the head and neck, 63% to extremities, and 1% was
to other body areas. Most of the victims were males."
According to the report, almost 30 states have regulations,
ordinances, or laws covering non-powder guns. Two of the
strongest are New York City and New York State. In New York
City, air rifles and BB guns are prohibited, and licenses are
not available. In New York State, no purchases or
unsupervised use by a person younger than 16 years is
permitted, and adult supervision of a person this age is
required at a shooting range or when hunting. In Florida, it
is a second-degree misdemeanor for a minor younger than 16
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years of age to use a BB gun, air gun, or gas-operated gun
unless an adult is supervising and the minor's parent has
consented to such possession.
"However, variability still exists with some states regarding
non-powder guns as firearms and others not. Some states do
not address non-powder guns at all. Many authors have called
for restrictions in sales and use of non-powder guns,
especially in light of the technological advances that have
resulted in much more powerful and dangerous weapons that are
capable of killing and maiming."
5)BB's : BB guns are a type of air gun designed to fire
spherical projectiles, called "BBs" after the Birdshot pellet
of approximately the same size. Modern day BB guns usually
have a smoothbore barrel, with a bore diameter and caliber of
0.177 inches (4.5 mm). BBs for modern day BB guns are usually
steel, plated either with zinc or copper to resist corrosion,
and measure 0.171 to 0.173 inches (4.34 mm to 4.39 mm) in
diameter. Some manufacturers also still make lead BBs of
slightly larger diameter and which are generally intended for
use in rifled bb gun barrels, as were formerly used in bb
guns.
"AirSoft guns are also commonly referred to as 'BB guns' as they
also shoot spherical projectiles through a smoothbore barrel.
However, Airsoft 'BBs' are 6 mm in diameter (0.24 inches),
made of plastic or other non-metallic materials, and are
designed specifically to be non-lethal.
"While most BB guns are very low powered, suitable only for
plinking or target shooting, BB guns are capable of killing
humans and pets in rare cases. Steel BBs are also very prone
to ricochet, especially off hard surfaces such as brick or
concrete. Eye protection is essential when shooting BBs, more
so than when shooting lead pellets, since a bouncing BB
retains a very large portion of its initial energy, and could
easily cause serious eye damage.
"While it is often stated that 'BB' stands for 'ball bearing',
this is not the case. The original BB guns used the BB sized
lead shotgun shot, midway between B and BBB size. BB shot was
nominally 0.180 inches (4.57 mm), but tended to vary
considerably in size due to the high allowable tolerances for
shotgun shell use. Around 1900, Daisy, one of the earliest
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makers of BB guns, changed their BB gun bore diameter to .175
inches (4.45 mm), and began to market precision made lead shot
specifically for their BB guns. They called this 'air rifle
shot', but the 'BB' name was already well established, and
everyone continued calling the guns 'BB guns' and the shot 'BB
shot' or just 'BBs'.
"In the 1920s, Daisy began to receive reports of BB gun users
salvaging scrap steel ball bearings for use in their guns; a
number of guns came in for repair with split barrels, from
oversized steel balls being forced down the barrel. The
bearing manufacturer, American Ball Company, quickly seized on
this as a marketing opportunity, and started to market 0.171
to 0.173 inch diameter steel air rifle shot specifically for
BB guns with a bore diameter and caliber of 0.177 inches.
This quickly led to an exclusive marketing agreement with
Daisy, as precision ground steel BBs were cheaper to make than
precision lead BBs. The lighter steel BBs also provided
higher velocities than lead BBs, which made new BB guns shoot
flatter and more accurately at the short ranges where they
were effective. By 1939, Daisy had acquired American Ball
Company, which it used to produce its own steel BBs. Since
Daisy was the dominant player in the BB gun market, other
makers followed suit, matching Daisy's bore diameter and
switching to steel BBs in 0.177 caliber (4.5 mm) measuring
0.171 to 0.173 inches in diameter."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BB_gun.)
6)Replica Guns And Danger : According to background information
submitted in support of AB 352 (Solorio) of this legislative
session, "[T]his legislation is narrowly crafted to address a
specific problem by including an instrument that expels a
non-metallic BB or pellet to the list of prohibited items at
schools. These guns may be fake but the dangers are real.
California schools, and schools across the nation, have
experienced a growing problem of imitation or replica guns on
school grounds. No accurate numbers are available as to the
prevalence of imitation guns on California school grounds as
the mere possession of one is not a crime. Therefore, it is
not a reportable offense unless the imitation or replica gun
was used in the commission of a reportable crime. (2006
testimony from Los Angeles School Police Department Lieutenant
Jose Santomi.)
"A middle school student, tired of taunts and shoves from
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bullies on the morning bus ride, slips an imitation firearm
into his waistband before boarding a bus. A teenager leaving
campus for lunch with a carload of friends extends a pistol
from the window and points it at students in the parking lot.
These are real stories, frightening students, police, faculty,
and school officials, even though each of the handguns turned
out to be real-looking replicas. The replica pellet guns are
typically sold in sporting good stores and often have the look
and feel of a real firearm. Popular models by companies such
as Imitation and AirSoft include the Micro Uzi, the L85
Assault Rifle, the Hardball II Shotgun, and the Modular Sniper
System. Police indicate that pellet guns styled after the AJ
47 and the Colt .45 look like the real weapons. Although 18
is the minimum age for buying an air gun in California, it
does not stop minors from getting possession of them. A quick
search of the internet reveals hundreds of websites for these
replica handguns.
"Though replica pellet guns do not fire metallic projectiles,
many of them do fire plastic or ceramic projectiles.
"Muzzle velocity is the speed at which the object leaves the
gun. A study published in 2004 Pediatrics, the Journal of the
American Pediatrics Association, found that 80% of air guns
have muzzle velocities of 350 to 450 feet per second. Injury
to the eye can occur at a muzzle velocity of just 130 feet per
second, and skin penetration at 331 feet per second. The
study found there were about 21,840 compressed air gun
injuries treated in U.S. emergency rooms in 2,000, the most
recent statistics available for the study.
"This non-metallic, yet still dangerous ammunition may seriously
harm innocent students and faculty. Additionally, these
replica pellet guns are often indistinguishable from the real
firearm by both the victims and the unknowing police officers,
and can lead to serious injury and tragic results.
"Police have indicated that the popularity of the replica pellet
guns have prompted a spate of incidents in which officers had
initially mistaken the replicas for real firearms, citing a
Los Angeles Times Article dated July 16, 2004: 'From Irvine
to Hemet to Lakewood, police have reported incidents - usually
involving youths - in which imitation firearms have led to
confrontations.' These are replicas of real handguns -
handguns that officers carry. Law enforcement when responding
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to such incidents is going to assume that these guns are real
until proved otherwise.
"Last year, tragically, a SWAT team in Florida responded to an
incident at a school when a 15-year-old boy terrorized his
classmates with a 'gun.' The weapon turned out to be a pellet
gun, not the 9-mm Beretta they had first thought. The
officers' nightmare became a reality, as they fired, believing
the child had a real gun. The child subsequently died. In
California there have been similar incidents in, for example,
San Bernardino and San Diego; a number of incidents in San
Diego occurred on school campuses."
7)Related Legislation :
a) AB 352 (Solorio) is similar to this bill except that AB
352 addresses bringing metallic and non-metallic
instruments onto such weapons onto the school grounds of
lower-graded learning institutions. AB 352 is being held
in the Senate Public Safety Committee.
b) AB 229 (Strickland) makes it a misdemeanor or felony to
bring or possess a box cutter, exacto type knife, or an
AirSoft gun upon the grounds of any public school or
private school providing instruction in Kindergarten or
Grades 1-12, inclusive. AB 229 is being held in the Senate
Public Safety Committee.
8)Prior Legislation : AB 2537 (Montanez) of the Legislative
Session of 2005-06, would have expanded the projectile
exemption to include any instrument that expels any metallic
or non-metallic BB or pellet, rather than limiting it to
metallic projectiles. AB 2537 was held in the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California College and University Police Chiefs Association
Chief, Napa Valley College Police Department
Council Member, City Council of Corona, California
Opposition
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None
Analysis Prepared by : Kathleen Ragan / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744