BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 170|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 170
Author: Bradford (D)
Amended: 5/29/13 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 : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 49-24, 4/15/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Assault weapons and .50 BMG rifles
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill provides that only an individual person may
be issued a permit to possess an assault weapon, .50 BMG
(Browning machine gun) rifle, or machine gun, as specified.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Defines person, as used in specified Penal Code provisions
relating to assault weapons and .50 BMG rifles, to mean an
individual, partnership, corporation, limited liability
company, association, or any other group or entity,
regardless of how it was created.
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2. Provides that it is unlawful for any "person," as defined
above to include any partnership, corporation, limited
liability company, association, or any other group or entity,
regardless of how it was created, to advertise the sale of
prohibited weapons, as specified.
3. Provides that it is a felony, punishable by imprisonment for
four, six, or eight years in state prison, for any person who
within California manufactures, distributes, transports, or
imports into California, keeps or offers for sale, or who
gives or lends any assault weapon or .50 BMG rifle, with
specified exceptions. Existing law also provides for an
enhanced sentence of one year to any person who transfers,
lends, sells, or gives any assault weapon or .50 BMG rifle to
a minor.
4. Requires any person who lawfully acquired an assault weapon
within specified time periods to register the firearm with
the Department of Justice (DOJ), as specified.
5. Requires any person who wishes to acquire an assault weapon
or .50 BMG rifle to obtain a permit from DOJ. A satisfactory
showing that good cause exists must be found by DOJ for
issuance of a permit.
6. Allows DOJ to issue permits for the possession, manufacture,
and/or transportation of machine guns upon a satisfactory
showing that good cause exists for the issuance of a permit
to an applicant who is 18 years of age or older.
7. Requires DOJ, for every person, firm, or corporation to whom
a permit is issued, to conduct annually an inspection for
security and safe storage purposes and to reconcile the
inventory of permitted firearms, except that a person, firm,
or corporation that has an inventory of fewer than five
devices requiring a DOJ permit is subject to an inspection
once every five years, or more frequently if determined by
DOJ.
This bill:
1. Provides that, for purposes of the assault weapons ban, a
"person" is defined as an individual, except as specified.
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2. Provides that, for purposes of provisions which prohibit the
manufacture, importation and distribution of assault weapons,
and provisions regarding specified licensed firearms dealers
with permits to sell assault weapons, a "person" is defined
as an individual, partnership, corporation, limited liability
company, association, or any other group or entity,
regardless of how it was created.
3. Provides that starting January 1, 2014, DOJ will be
prohibited from issuing a permit to possess an assault
weapon, a .50 BMG rifle, or a machine gun, as specified, to a
partnership, corporation, limited liability company,
association, or any other group or entity, regardless of how
the entity was created.
4. Makes conforming changes, including changes relating to
annual inspections, for security and safe storage purposes of
certain permitees possessing assault weapons or .50 BMG
rifles, as specified
Background
Currently, DOJ reads California's assault weapon permit scheme
to allow DOJ to issue permits to acquire or manufacture assault
weapons and .50 BMG rifles in California only to persons who can
pass a background check. Because only individuals (as opposed
to corporations or other organizations) can be subjected to a
background check, DOJ issues assault weapon permits only to
individuals. A firearm manufacturer petitioned the Office of
Administrative Law (OAL) to declare that DOJ's interpretation of
the law as an impermissible "underground regulation." The OAL
issued a nonbinding determination finding that DOJ's policy was
an invalid underground regulation, as it was not adopted as
required by California law relating to regulation formation.
DOJ has filed a petition in Superior Court asking the court to
find that DOJ's interpretation is the only legally tenable
interpretation of the permit scheme and therefore not a
regulation. (California Department of Justice - Bureau of
Firearms v. Office of Administrative Law, Sacramento Superior
Court, No. 2012-80001279.)
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
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SUPPORT : (Verified 6/25/13)
AFSCME
California Chapters of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun
Violence
Coalition Against Gun Violence
Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence
OPPOSITION : (Verified 6/25/13)
Gun Owners of California
National Rifle Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The California Chapters of the Brady
Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence state:
Existing law requires a person who wishes to acquire an
assault weapon or .50 BMG rifle to obtain a permit from the
Department of Justice. Existing law defines "person" as an
individual, partnership, corporation, limited liability
company, association, or any other group or entity,
regardless of how it was created, for these permit
purposes.
This bill would define "person" as an individual only for
those permit purposes. Currently, people who work for
companies that hold valid corporate permits or belong to
associations or groups with assault weapons permits may
have free access to these regulated weapons and in some
cases are able to take them home. By limiting permits to
individuals only, a higher degree of accountability is
created so that only individuals who have passed an
expanded background check for an assault weapons permit
have access to these dangerous firearms. This expanded
background check is very thorough and involves interviews
with neighbors, establishment of the need, and periodic
inspection of inventory, security and safe storage.
Assembly Bill 170 would not change the current practice of
the Department of Justice but would put it in statute.
The public safety is best served when only people that have
completed an expanded assault weapons background check have
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access to these dangerous weapons.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The National Rifle Association
states:
Currently, the California Department of Justice (DOJ) only
issues "assault weapons"/.50 BMG permits to business
applicants in the name(s) of individual employees of those
businesses. In doing so, the DOJ restricts the ability of
these companies to obtain and possess regulated firearms.
The possession and use of regulated firearms are essential
to provide certified training to Law Enforcement Agencies
and other government agencies by private businesses.
In 2012 the Office of Administrative Law declared that the
Department of Justice policy of only issuing "assault
weapons" permits in the names of individual employees to be
an illegal "underground regulation."
The DOJ policy of "individual only" issuance policy (sic)
and the provisions required by AB 170, will place the
operations of Government sanctioned and certified firearms
training businesses operations (sic) in jeopardy each time
an individually-permitted staff member leaves the company.
These training companies are then required to re-apply for
a new permit for another employee, a process that can
currently take a year or more to process (sic), and can be
very costly.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 49-24, 4/15/13
AYES: Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Blumenfield, Bocanegra,
Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon,
Campos, Chau, Chesbro, Cooley, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong,
Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Hall, Roger Hernández,
Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Medina, Mitchell, Mullin,
Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Pan, Perea, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon,
Skinner, Stone, Ting, Torres, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams,
Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Achadjian, Allen, Bigelow, Chávez, Conway, Dahle,
Donnelly, Fox, Beth Gaines, Grove, Hagman, Jones, Linder,
Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor, Melendez, Morrell, Nestande,
Olsen, Patterson, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Gorell, Gray, Harkey, Lowenthal, V. Manuel
Pérez, Salas, Vacancy
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JG:d 6/25/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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