BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 169|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 169
Author: Dickinson (D)
Amended: 9/3/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 5-2, 6/11/13
AYES: Hancock, Block, De León, Liu, Steinberg
NOES: Anderson, Knight
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-2, 8/30/13
AYES: De León, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Gaines
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 43-27, 5/2/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Unsafe handguns
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill changes provisions related to unsafe
handguns by limiting the transfer or sale of unsafe handguns to
those who are authorized to possess them, and by applying the
provisions to single-shot pistols which can be easily modified
to semi-automatic weapons.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Provides that the sale, loan, or transfer of firearms in
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almost all cases must be processed by, or through, a state
licensed dealer or a local law enforcement agency.
2.Provides that commencing January 1, 2001, no "unsafe handgun"
may be manufactured or sold in California by a licensed
dealer, except as specified, and requires that the Department
of Justice (DOJ) prepare and maintain a roster of handguns
which are determined not to be unsafe handguns. Private party
sales (used or previously owned) and transfers of handguns
through a licensed dealer or sheriff in smaller counties are
exempted from those restrictions.
3.Defines "unsafe handgun" as any pistol, revolver, or other
firearm capable of being concealed upon the person, as
specified, which lacks various safety mechanisms and does not
pass listed tests, as specified.
4.Requires any concealable firearm manufactured in California,
or intended to be imported for sale, kept for sale, or offered
for sale to be tested within a reasonable period of time by an
independent laboratory, certified by DOJ, to determine whether
it meets required safety standards, as specified.
5.Requires DOJ, on and after January 1, 2001, to compile,
publish, and thereafter maintain a roster listing all of the
pistols, revolvers, and other firearms capable of being
concealed upon the person that have been tested by a certified
testing laboratory, have been determined not to be unsafe
handguns, and may be sold in this state, as specified. The
roster shall list, for each firearm, the manufacturer, model
number, and model name.
6.Provides that DOJ may charge every person in California who is
licensed as a manufacturer of firearms, as specified, and any
person in California who manufactures or causes to be
manufactured, imports into California for sale, keeps for
sale, or offers or exposes for sale any pistol, revolver, or
other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person in
California, an annual fee not exceeding the costs of
preparing, publishing, and maintaining the roster of firearms
determined not to be unsafe, and the costs of research and
development, report analysis, firearms storage, and other
program infrastructure costs, as specified.
7.Makes it a crime, punishable by imprisonment in a county jail
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not exceeding one year, to manufacture, import into the state
for sale, keep for sale, offer or expose for sale, give, or
lend an unsafe handgun.
8.Provides that the provisions defining and governing unsafe
handguns do not apply to the sale, loan, or transfer of any
firearm in a transaction that requires the use of a licensed
dealer or to the delivery of a firearm to a licensed dealer
for purposes of a consignment sale or as collateral for a
pawnbroker loan.
9.Contains numerous additional exemptions to the safe handgun
requirements, including an exemption for any transfer that is
not required to be made through a licensed dealer. This
exemption alone includes within it another approximately 25
exemptions.
This bill:
1.Limits the exemption from the not unsafe handgun requirements
for the sale, loan, or transfer of handguns through a licensed
dealer in a private party transaction to a maximum of two
firearms per person per calendar year.
2.Limits the exemption from the not unsafe handgun requirements
for the delivery of a handgun through a licensed dealer for
the purpose of a consignment sale or as collateral for a
pawnbroker loan to a maximum of two firearms per person per
calendar year.
3.Prohibits a person who acquires a handgun that is not on the
not unsafe handgun roster under the exemption for law
enforcement officers from selling or transferring ownership of
the handgun to a person who does not qualify for the same
exemption.
4.Amends the exemption for single shot handguns to exempt from
those requirements a single-shot pistol with a break top or
bolt action and a barrel length of not less than six inches
and that has an overall length of at least 10 inches, as
specified.
5.Provides that the "not unsafe" handgun requirements do apply
to a semiautomatic pistol that has been temporarily or
permanently altered so that it will not fire in a
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semiautomatic mode.
6.Adds double-jointing language with SB 363 (Wright).
Background
SB 15 (Polanco, Chapter 248, Statutes of 1999) made it a
misdemeanor for any person in California to manufacture, import
for sale, offer for sale, give, or lend any unsafe handgun, as
defined, with certain specific exceptions. SB 15 defined an
"unsafe handgun" as follows: (a) does not have a requisite
safety device, (b) does not meet specified firing tests, and (c)
does not meet a specified drop safety test.
Required Safety Device . The Safe Handgun Law requires a
revolver to have a safety device that, either automatically in
the case of a double-action firing mechanism or by manual
operation in the case of a single-action firing mechanism,
causes the hammer to retract to a point where the firing pin
does not rest upon the primer of the cartridge or in the case of
a pistol have a positive manually operated safety device.
Firing Test . In order to meet the "firing requirements" under
the Safe Handgun Law, the manufacturer must submit three
unaltered handguns, of the make and model for which
certification is sought, to an independent laboratory certified
by the Attorney General. The laboratory shall fire 600 rounds
from each gun under certain conditions. A handgun shall pass
the test if each of the three test guns fires the first 20
rounds without a malfunction, and fires the full 600 rounds
without more than six malfunctions and without any crack or
breakage of an operating part of the handgun that increases the
risk of injury to the user. "Malfunction" is defined as a
failure to properly feed, fire or eject a round; failure of a
pistol to accept or reject a manufacturer-approved magazine; or
failure of a pistol's slide to remain open after a manufacturer
approved magazine has been expended.
Drop Test . The Safe Handgun Law provides that at the conclusion
of the firing test, the same three manufacturer's handguns must
undergo and pass a "drop safety requirement" test. The three
handguns are dropped a specified number of times, in specified
ways, with a primed case (no powder or projectile) inserted into
the handgun, and the primer is examined for indentations after
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each drop. The handgun passes the test if each of the three
test guns does not fire the primer.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Unknown annual loss of revenue potentially in excess of
$150,000 (Dealers Record of Sale (DROS) Special Account) due
to the restriction on private party transactions and
consignment sales.
Minor one-time costs to DOJ of $29,000 (Dealers Record of Sale
(DROS) Special Account) to modify the DROS Entry System.
Non-reimbursable local costs for enforcement to the extent
there are a greater number of violations of the not "unsafe
handgun" requirements.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/29/13)
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
California Chapters of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun
Violence
City of Sacramento
Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/29/13)
California Association of Firearms Retailers
California Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc.
California Sportsman's Lobby, Inc.
County of Riverside, Sheriff Stanley Sniff
Outdoor Sportsmen's Coalition of California
Safari Club International
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence
states, unfortunately, gaps in the state's unsafe handgun law
enable continued circulation of dangerous guns on the consumer
market. For example, any semiautomatic handgun that has been
temporarily altered to operate as a single shot weapon (i.e., a
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gun that can hold only a single ammunition round at a given
time) is exempt from the unsafe handgun ban. As a result, these
firearms may be sold to private citizens, who may then convert
them back into semi-automatic handguns that would not meet the
state's safety requirements. Additionally, under existing law,
individuals may privately sell unsafe handguns even though it
would be illegal for a dealer to sell these weapons.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The California Association of
Firearms Retailers state:
Many dealers take non-listed handguns in on consignment.
These guns are usually high-quality and not unsafe, they
are simply untested pursuant to the testing requirements
for new handguns that became operational in 2002. There is
no public safety or law-enforcement reason to ban their
sale.
The bill would also ban through dealer private party sales
of unlisted handguns, thus eliminating the only practical
lawful means for people to sell or otherwise transfer
handguns that are no longer needed or wanted.
AB 169 would result in a huge loss of Dealer Record of Sale
(DROS) fee revenue for DOJ, an increase in illegal samples
of handguns, increased incarceration, and greater
enforcement problems for law enforcement in general.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 43-27, 5/2/13
AYES: Alejo, Ammiano, Bloom, Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla,
Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau,
Chesbro, Cooley, Daly, Dickinson, Fong, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez,
Gordon, Hall, Roger Hernández, Jones-Sawyer, Levine,
Lowenthal, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Pan, Perea, Quirk,
Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Torres, Weber,
Wieckowski, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Achadjian, Allen, Bigelow, Chávez, Conway, Dahle,
Donnelly, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gorell, Grove, Hagman,
Harkey, Linder, Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor, Melendez,
Morrell, Nestande, Olsen, Patterson, Salas, Wagner, Waldron,
Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Atkins, Eggman, Gray, Holden, Jones, Medina,
Mitchell, V. Manuel Pérez, Williams, Vacancy
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JG:ej 8/31/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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