BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 231| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 231 Author: Ting (D) and Gomez (D) Amended: 8/30/13 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 5-1, 6/18/13 AYES: Hancock, Block, De León, Liu, Steinberg NOES: Knight NO VOTE RECORDED: Anderson SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 46-30, 5/28/13 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Firearms: criminal storage SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill creates the crime of criminal storage in the third degree, which imposes liability if a person negligently stores or leaves a loaded firearm in a place where he/she knows, or reasonably should know, that a child is likely to access it, without the permission of the child's parent or legal guardian. This bill also requires a firearms dealer to conspicuously post warnings, as specified, to reflect the offense to criminal storage of a firearm in the third degree. Senate Floor Amendments of 8/30/13 make grammatical corrections and chaptering out amendments. CONTINUED AB 231 Page 2 ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1.Provides that, except as specified, a person commits the crime of "criminal storage of a firearm of the first degree" if all of the following conditions are satisfied: A. The person keeps any loaded firearm within any premises that are under the person's custody or control. B. The person knows or reasonably should know that a child is likely to gain access to the firearm without the permission of the child's parent or legal guardian. C. The child obtains access to the firearm and thereby causes death or great bodily injury to the child or any other person. Criminal storage of a firearm in the first degree is punishable as a felony by imprisonment in a county jail for 16 months, or two or three years, by a fine not exceeding $10,000 or both, or as a misdemeanor by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or by both that imprisonment and fine. 1.Provides that, except as specified, a person commits the crime of "criminal storage of a firearm of the second degree" if all of the following conditions are satisfied: A. The person keeps any loaded firearm within any premises that are under the person's custody or control. B. The person knows or reasonably should know that a child is likely to gain access to the firearm without the permission of the child's parent or legal guardian. C. The child obtains access to the firearm and thereby causes injury, other than great bodily injury, to the child or any other person, or carries the firearm and draws or exhibits the firearm, as specified. Criminal storage of a firearm in the second degree is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one CONTINUED AB 231 Page 3 year, by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or both. 1.Provides that, if all of the following conditions are satisfied, a person shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or both: A. The person keeps a pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person, loaded or unloaded, within any premises that are under the person's custody or control. B. The person knows or reasonably should know that a child is likely to gain access to that firearm without the permission of the child's parent or legal guardian. C. The child obtains access to that firearm and thereafter carries that firearm off-premises. 1.Provides that the penalties listed above do not apply if any of the following are true: A. The child obtains the firearm as a result of an illegal entry into any premises by any person. B. The firearm is kept in a locked container or in a location that a reasonable person would believe to be secure. C. The firearm is locked with a locking device, as defined, which has rendered the firearm inoperable. D. The firearm is carried on the person within close enough range that the individual can readily retrieve and use the firearm as if carried on the person. E. The person is a peace officer or a member of the Armed Forces or National Guard and the child obtains the firearm during, or incidental to, the performance of the person's duties. F. The child obtains, or obtains and discharges, the firearm in a lawful act of self-defense or defense of another person. CONTINUED AB 231 Page 4 G. The person who keeps a firearm has no reasonable expectation, based on objective facts and circumstances, that a child is likely to be present on the premises. This bill: 1.Provides that a person may be found guilty of criminal storage of a firearm of the third degree if: A. The person keeps any loaded firearm within any premises that are under the person's custody or control. B. The person negligently stores the firearm or leaves it in a place where the person knows or reasonably should know that a child is likely to gain access to it, without the permission of the child's parent or legal guardian, unless reasonable action has been taken to secure the firearm against access by a child. 1.Provides that criminal storage of a firearm in the third degree is punishable as a misdemeanor. 2.Requires that a licensee shall post conspicuously within the licensed premises the following warnings in block letters not less than one inch in height "If you negligently store or leave a loaded firearm within any premises under your custody or control, where a person under 18 years of age is likely to access it, you may be guilty of a misdemeanor, including a fine of up to one thousand dollars ($1,000), unless you store the firearm in a locked container, or lock the firearm with a locking device." 3.Adds double-jointing language with SB 363 (Wright), and SB 299 (Holden). FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes SUPPORT : (Verified 8/9/13) American Academy of Pediatrics American College of Emergency Physicians California Chapters of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun CONTINUED AB 231 Page 5 Violence Childrens Advocacy Institute Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence Los Angeles Trust for Children's Health National Association of Social Workers Pediatrician, Children's Hospital Oakland San Francisco District Attorney Sonoma County District Attorney OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/9/13) California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees California Attorneys for Criminal Justice California Waterfowl Association National Rifle Association ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The San Francisco District Attorney states: Studies have found that CAP [Child Access Prevention] laws reduce firearm related deaths by increasing firearm owner responsibility. Unfortunately, California's CAP laws are ineffective because they do not emphasize prevention. Existing law only imposes penalties if the negligent storage of a firearm leads to a child's access and results in damages, injury, death, or the firearm having been brought into a public place such as a school. Statistics indicate that more than 40% of gun owning households with children store their guns unlocked. With such staggering figures, we need to put greater emphasis on the safe storage of weapons so that we may avoid unauthorized access. AB 231 will help prevent tragic consequences of firearm death, injury and damage before they occur for our most vulnerable population - children. ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : California Attorneys for Criminal Justice states, "The current version of the bill creates an entirely new crime: 'Criminal storage of a firearm in the third degree.' The overall objective of the legislation is to increase the general public's compliance with firearm safety laws and practices. While this is a laudable goal, an CONTINUED AB 231 Page 6 improperly drafted statute could subject the wrong individuals to criminal prosecution. "Unfortunately, as the bill is currently drafted, it fails to specifically state that a child must be present and have immediate access to the firearm. Similar statutes inherently require the presence of a child and that access occurs without parental permission. The deficiency of AB 231 could lead to prosecution in cases in which a child never entered the home, or the accused never anticipated that a child would be present." ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 46-30, 5/28/13 AYES: Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chesbro, Cooley, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Hall, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal, Medina, Mitchell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Pan, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NOES: Achadjian, Allen, Bigelow, Bradford, Chávez, Conway, Dahle, Donnelly, Fox, Beth Gaines, Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones, Linder, Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor, Melendez, Morrell, Nestande, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Salas, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk NO VOTE RECORDED: Frazier, Roger Hernández, Holden, Vacancy JG:nl 8/31/13 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED