BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1964
Page 1
Date of Hearing: March 25, 2014
Counsel: Gabriel Caswell
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Tom Ammiano, Chair
AB 1964 (Dickinson) - As Introduced: February 19, 2014
SUMMARY : Makes the provisions regulating unsafe handguns
inapplicable to a single-shot pistol with a break top or bolt
action. Specifically, this bill : makes this exemption from the
unsafe handgun list inapplicable to a semiautomatic pistol that
has been temporarily or permanently altered so that it will not
fire in a semiautomatic mode.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that any person in California who manufactures or
causes to be manufactured, imports into the state for sale,
keeps for sale, offers or exposes for sale, gives, or lends
any unsafe handgun shall be punished by imprisonment in a
county jail not exceeding one year. (Penal Code § 32000 subd.
(a).)
a) Specifies that this section shall not apply to any of
the following (Penal Code § 32000 subd. (b).):
i) The manufacture in California, or importation into
this state, of any prototype pistol, revolver, or other
firearm capable of being concealed upon the person when
the manufacture or importation is for the sole purpose of
allowing an independent laboratory certified by the
Department of Justice (DOJ) to conduct an independent
test to determine whether that pistol, revolver, or other
firearm capable of being concealed upon the person is
prohibited, inclusive, and, if not, allowing the
department to add the firearm to the roster of pistols,
revolvers, and other firearms capable of being concealed
upon the person that may be sold in this;
ii) The importation or lending of a pistol, revolver, or
other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person
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by employees or authorized agents of entities determining
whether the weapon is prohibited by this section;
iii) Firearms listed as curios or relics, as defined in
federal law; and
iv) The sale or purchase of any pistol, revolver, or
other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person,
if the pistol, revolver, or other firearm is sold to, or
purchased by, the Department of Justice, any police
department, any sheriff's official, any marshal's office,
the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, the California
Highway Patrol, any district attorney's office, or the
military or naval forces of this state or of the United
States for use in the discharge of their official duties.
Nor shall anything in this section prohibit the sale to,
or purchase by, sworn members of these agencies of any
pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being
concealed upon the person.
2)Specifies that violations of the unsafe handgun provisions are
cumulative with respect to each handgun and shall not be
construed as restricting the application of any other law.
(Penal Code § 32000 subd. (c).)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author, "The single shot
exemption undermines the state Unsafe Handgun Law and results
in an increasing number of handguns being obtained that do not
meet state safety requirements. Buyers have learned that
altering a semi-automatic handgun so that it becomes a single
shot handgun can be easily undone, returning the weapon to its
original illegal configuration.
"AB 1964 will eliminate the exemption for single shot handguns
in the state Unsafe Handgun law. AB 1964 will halt the growing
trend of people buying and converting unsafe handguns to get
around state mandated safety features and/or safety test for
handguns sold in California.
"Pursuant to AB 1964 no one will be able to purchase an unsafe
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handgun in California by virtue of it being a single shot
weapon.
"AB 1964 will ensure that more handguns purchased through a
dealer are handguns which meet all safety and firing tests and
contain all state required handgun safety features."
2)Single Shot Handgun Modifications from Semi-Automatic Weapons :
According to the background provided by the author, existing
law provides that the sale, loan, or transfer of firearms must
be processed by, or through, a state licensed dealer or a
local law enforcement agency. Existing law also provides that
no "unsafe handgun" may be manufactured or sold in California
by a licensed dealer, as specified, and requires that the
Department of Justice (DOJ) prepare and maintain a roster of
handguns which are determined to be safe. "Unsafe handguns"
are defined as those which do not have requisite safety
devices, do not meet specified firing tests, or do not meet a
drop safety test, and therefore do not appear on the DOJ safe
handgun roster.
Since the enactment of the Unsafe Handgun law, the statute has
been amended a number of times to add exemptions to the
prohibitions on buying and selling the affected weapons. One
of the most significant loopholes in the Unsafe Handgun law
concerns single shot handguns. In effect, a person may
purchase a handgun which is manufactured or altered to only
accept a single bullet (no semi-automatic reload of a bullet
in the firing chamber), even if the handgun is considered by
DOJ as unsafe, (i.e. not meeting state safe handgun
requirements, and therefore not on the state safe handgun
roster).
Up until 2009, no more than 1100 single shot handguns which
did not contain state required safety features or failed state
safety tests, were purchased and registered each year, often
far fewer than that. However, beginning in 2010, the number
of unsafe single shot handguns purchased and registered
skyrocketed. In 2013 alone, more than 18,000 of these weapons
were purchased in California.
The jump in the purchase of unsafe single shot handguns
coincides with the enactment of new handgun safety
requirements such as bullet chamber load indicators and
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micro-stamping of bullets. In essence, more people are using
the exemption to acquire guns they would otherwise be unable
to legally purchase if the gun was bought in its original
semi-automatic configuration.
The conversion of semi-automatic handguns to single shot
handguns can be easily undone by a buyer or the dealer after
the buyer takes delivery of the weapon. Reconverting a single
shot handgun into its original semi-automatic configuration
undermines the state Unsafe Handgun Law and results in an
increasing number of handguns being obtained that do not meet
state safety requirements.
3)Safe Handgun Law : 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.
a) 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.
b) 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
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reject a manufacturer-approved magazine; or failure of a
pistol's slide to remain open after a manufacturer approved
magazine has been expended.
c) 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 each
drop. The handgun passes the test if each of the three
test guns does not fire the primer.
4)Governor's Veto Message of AB 169 (Dickinson) : Current law
restricts the sale of so-called "off roster" handguns with
several exemptions. Exemptions include sales between private
parties and sales of single-shot handguns. Current law also
prohibits the sale of more than five handguns per year,
whether off-roster or not, except by a licensed firearms
dealer. AB 169 would close a loophole in the single-shot
exemption. That makes sense. The bill would also restrict
private party off-roster sales to two per year. I do not
support restricting sales in this way without evidence that
such restrictions would improve public safety. I will work
with the Bureau of Firearms in the Department of Justice to
ensure better tracking and enforcement to prevent individuals
from violating the existing five-per-year limit.
5)Argument in Support : According to the California Chapters of
the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, "The Brady
Campaign was instrumental in the enactment of the Unsafe
Handgun Act, Senate Bill 15, in 1999. Under this law, no
handgun may be manufactured, imported, sold, or transferred in
California unless that handgun model is listed on a roster of
handguns maintained by the California Department of Justice.
For a model to be listed on the roster of handguns certified
for sale in California, the handgun model must pass firing,
safety, and drop tests. Newer models must possess certain
safety features, such as a chamber load indicator. Private
party transfers, curio/relic handguns, certain single-action
revolvers, and pawn/consignment returns are exempt from this
requirement.
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"Assembly Bill 1964 addresses an exploited loophole in the
Unsafe Handgun Act. Existing law allows for the purchase of
a semi-automatic handgun that is not on the roster if the
weapon was first modified to accept only a single bullet. In
practice, this has allowed dealers to modify unsafe handguns
to single shot weapons for the purpose of the sale, after
which they are readily converted back to semiautomatic status.
These actions completely negate the intent of the Unsafe
Handgun Act. This bill eliminates this 'single-shot
exemption'.
"The 'single-shot exemption' has been abused in recent years.
According to the Department of Justice, up until 2009, no more
than 1,100 single shot handguns were purchased each year.
However, beginning in 2010, the number of unsafe single shot
handguns purchased skyrocketed. In year 2013, more than
18,000 single shot handguns were purchase in California.
Clearly, dealers and buyers have found a blatant way to
circumvent California's safe handgun law and the newer safety
requirements such as the chamber load indicator or
microstamping technology.
"The intent of the Unsafe Handgun Act is to ensure that
handguns meet basic safety standards and include new safety
features, such as a chamber load indicator. The Act ended the
proliferation of cheap 'junk guns' that were the weapon of
choice among criminals and gang members and reduced the
potential for injury and death from accidental shootings."
6)Prior Legislation:
a) AB 169 (Dickinson), of the 2013-2014 Legislative
Session, changed 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. Contained the
provisions of this bill in a larger body of statutory
changes. AB 169 was vetoed by the governor.
b) AB 2460 (Dickinson), of the 2011-2012 Legislative
Session, specified that the Department of Justice (DOJ),
police departments, sheriffs' officials, marshals' offices,
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation,
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California Highway Patrol, district attorneys' offices, and
military or naval forces of the State of California may not
sell or otherwise transfer the ownership of an unsafe
handgun to any entity or person that is not otherwise
exempted from possession of an unsafe handgun. AB 2460 was
vetoed by the Governor.
c) 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.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Chapters of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun
Violence
Coalition Against Gun Violence
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Opposition
None
Analysis Prepared by : Gabriel Caswell / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744