BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1964
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1964 (Dickinson)
As Introduced February 19, 2014
Majority vote
PUBLIC SAFETY 5-2 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Ammiano, Jones-Sawyer, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Quirk, Skinner, Stone, | |Bradford, |
| | | |Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Eggman, Gomez, Holden, |
| | | |Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Weber |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Melendez, Waldron |Nays:|Bigelow, Allen, Donnelly, |
| | | |Linder, Wagner |
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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 semi-automatic 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.
a) Specifies that this section shall not apply to any of
the following:
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
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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
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 DOJ, 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, minor nonreimbursable local costs for incarceration,
offset to a degree by increased fine revenue, to the extent the
misdemeanor penalty for selling or providing unsafe handguns is
applied to additional cases.
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
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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
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 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
the DOJ as unsafe, (i.e. not meeting state safe handgun
requirements, and therefore not on the state safe handgun
roster).
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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
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.
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Gabriel Caswell / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744
FN: 0003161