BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 809
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 4, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 809 (Feuer) - As Amended: March 24, 2011
Policy Committee: Public
SafetyVote: 5-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill effective January 1, 2013 applies the same regulations
relating to the reporting and retention of records for handguns
to long guns (rifles and shotguns). Specifically, this bill:
1)Deletes the prohibition on peace officers and Department of
Justice (DOJ) employees retaining or compiling information
regarding long gun transactions, as specified.
2)Expands the requirement for gun dealers to maintain handgun
records report information relative to bringing a handgun into
the state, as specified, to include long guns.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)One-time costs in the range of $100,000 for software
development to allow DOJ to retain the long gun information
(Dealers' Record of Sale Account (DROS)), and ongoing costs in
the range of $300,000.
(The 2011-12 budget released in January shows a $13 million
DROS reserve. DOJ charges dealers a DROS fee; dealers pass on
the cost to the customer, currently $19 per transaction. The
budget includes a loan of $11.5 million from DROS.)
2)Moderate annual GF costs, likely in the low hundreds of
thousands of dollars, for increased state prison costs to the
extent this bill makes it easier to identify persons in a
prohibited class who are illegally in possession of a long
gun. (Under current law, felons, specified misdemeanants, and
drug addicts and mentally ill persons, as specified, are
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prohibited from possessing any gun. A violation may be
punished as a felony.)
3)Unknown, likely minor nonreimbursable local law enforcement
and incarceration costs, offset to a degree by increased fine
revenue, to the extent local gun dealers violate reporting
requirements related to long guns.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . Current law requires the destruction of long gun
sales and transfer records. This bill requires the
preservation of records for long guns sold or transferred
after January 1, 2013.
Gun sales and transfer records are created after a background
check on a gun purchaser or new owner is completed. DOJ
maintains records of handguns sold or transferred in
California in a state database. Under current law, however,
sales and transfer records for long guns must be destroyed
within five days of a cleared transaction.
Under current law, peace officers and DOJ employees are
prohibited from retaining or compiling certain information
relating to long gun transactions. This prevents law
enforcement from using the information to identify the owners
of long guns used in crimes, as well as long guns owned by
persons prohibited by law from possessing guns. Current law
also puts law enforcement at risk when they respond to
emergencies or serve warrants without the complete knowledge
of what guns may be present at a residence.
According to the author, "Long guns (rifles and shotguns) play
a significant role in our gun violence epidemic. Of the 26,682
crime guns entered into the AFS database in 2009, 11,500 were
long guns. DOJ sweeps to seize illegally possessed firearms
have uncovered roughly equal numbers of illegal handguns
(2,143) and long guns (2,019). Just last year alone,
Californians purchased 253,296 long guns, significantly more
than the 225,000 handguns acquired in the same time period?
"AB 809 would stop the needless destruction of long gun
records, which prevents law enforcement from using this
information to quickly identify the owners of crime guns.
Without these records, law enforcement must painstakingly
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trace a recovered firearm from the manufacturer, through the
distributor, to the firearms dealer who sold the weapon. AB
809 would also ensure the integrity of long gun records by
removing reporting and recordkeeping exemptions that currently
apply to certain long gun transfers.
"Another significant benefit of long gun record retention is
that it would protect law enforcement officers who must
respond to emergency calls at private residences. Officers
currently could use the AFS database to check whether a person
at a residence may own any handguns, but they have no way of
knowing whether that person may own any long guns. This
information gap puts law enforcement at needless risk.
"Finally, long gun record retention would assist law enforcement
in identifying all firearms - not just handguns - owned by
persons who are prohibited by law from possessing guns. These
critical records would help law enforcement facilitate firearm
relinquishment by dangerous felons and others who have been
convicted of crimes which render them ineligible to possess
firearms.
2)This bill adds long guns to DOJ's Automated Firearms System
(AFS) Database . An officer responding to a call or serving a
warrant would be able to access AFS and be forewarned of the
likelihood of encountering a long gun.
Through AFS, DOJ is able to use handgun records to identify
and disarm persons who have purchased a handgun and
subsequently become prohibited from possessing a firearm
because they have fallen into a prohibited class (felons,
specified misdemeanants, narcotic addicts and mentally ill
persons). DOJ has found that many prohibited persons whose
handguns are in the DOJ database are in also possession of
long guns.
3)Support . According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun
Violence, "Data from DOJ shows that there are an increasing
number of long gun sales and transfers in California.
Specifically, average annual long gun sales have increased by
7.7% during the 2000-2009 period when compared to 1991-1999.
Moreover, crime gun trace requests for long guns have almost
tripled during the last three years. Finally, in implementing
its Armed and Prohibited Persons System Program, DOJ is
finding that 54% of illegal firearms recovered from prohibited
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persons are long guns. The lack of long gun records results in
a huge deficiency in the AFS database and hampers law
enforcement efforts to solve gun crimes, identify illegal
trafficking channels and disarm prohibited persons, such as
criminals or domestic violence offenders."
4)Opposition . Gun-related organizations contend requiring
retention of long gun records, and the attendant
administrative costs of will force small gun retailers out of
business, resulting in job loss and decreasing state tax
revenue.
According to the NRA, "Gun owners know further that the
registration and licensing of America's 60-65 million gun
owners and their estimated 230 million firearms would require
creation of a huge bureaucracy at tremendous taxpayer cost,
without any tangible anti-crime benefit.
"Gun registration is, of course, hardly new, and neither are
its widely recognized dangers. In 1975, U.S. Sen. James A.
McClure (R-ID) said: 'Gun registration is the first step
toward ultimate and total confiscation, the first step in a
complete destruction of a cornerstone of our Bill of Rights.'
"
5)Prior Legislation . AB 1810 (Feuer), 2010, was similar to AB
809 and failed passage on the Senate floor.
Analysis prepared by :Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081