BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1964| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 1964 Author: Dickinson (D) Amended: As introduced Vote: 21 SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 4-2, 6/10/14 AYES: Hancock, De León, Liu, Steinberg NOES: Anderson, Knight NO VOTE RECORDED: Mitchell SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 48-25, 4/24/14 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Unsafe handguns: single-shot pistols SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill amends an exemption to the safe handgun requirements for single-shot firearms by exempting only 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 10.5 inches when the handle, frame or receiver, and barrel are assembled, as specified. ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1.Provides that commencing January 1, 2001, no "unsafe handgun" CONTINUED AB 1964 Page 2 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 are exempted from those restrictions. 2.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. 3.Requires that, commencing January 1, 2010, all semiautomatic pistols that are not already listed on the roster be designed and equipped with a microscopic array of characters that identify the make, model, and serial number of the pistol, etched or otherwise imprinted in two or more places on the interior surface or internal working parts of the pistol, and that are transferred by imprinting on each cartridge case when the firearm is fired, provided that the DOJ certifies that the technology used to create the imprint is available to more than one manufacturer unencumbered by any patent restrictions. On May 17, 2013, DOJ issued that certification. 4.Specifies that roster requirements do not apply to a single-action revolver that has at least a five-cartridge capacity with a barrel length of not less than three inches, and meets any of the following specifications: A. The firearm is a curio or relic. B. The firearm has an overall length of over seven and a half inches when the handle, frame or receiver, and barrel are assembled. C. The firearm has an overall length of over seven and a half inches when the handle, frame or receiver, and barrel are assembled and is currently approved for importation under the federal regulations. 5.Specifies that a single-shot pistol with a barrel length of not less than six inches and has an overall length of at least CONTINUED AB 1964 Page 3 10.5 inches is exempt from roster requirements. This bill amends an exemption to the safe handgun requirements 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 10.5 inches when the handle, frame or receiver, and barrel are assembled. This exemption does not apply to a semiautomatic pistol that has been temporarily or permanently altered to that it will not fire in semiautomatic mode. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes SUPPORT : (Verified 6/20/14) All Saints Church of Pasadena California Chapters of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence Coalition Against Gun Violence Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence League of Women Voters of California Los Angeles City Attorney Michael Feuer Los Angeles District Attorney's Office Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti Physicians for Social Responsibility South County Citizens Against Gun Violence Women Against Gun Violence OPPOSITION : (Verified 6/20/14) California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The Law Center to Prevent Gun violence states, in part: Unfortunately, a critical gap in the state's unsafe handgun law enabled the continued circulation of these dangerous guns on the consumer marker. Under current law, any semiautomatic handgun that has been temporarily altered to operate as a single-shot weapon (i.e., a gun that can only hold a single ammunition round at a given time) is exempt from the unsafe handgun law. As a result, manufacturers and dealers may sell CONTINUED AB 1964 Page 4 these temporarily altered single-shot guns to purchasers, who may then convert them back into semiautomatic handguns that would not meet the state's safety requirements. According to the Department of Justice, sales of single-shot guns have skyrocketed and more than 18,000 of these dangerous weapons were sold in California in 2013 alone. AB 1964 would amend the law so that the unsafe handgun law's requirements apply to any semiautomatic pistol, even if it has been temporarily or permanently altered into a single-shot functionality. ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees states, in part: The clear intent of this measure is to further narrow California's already onerous and overly burdensome "not unsafe" handgun roster and eliminate more firearms from the non-peace officer marketplace. While AB 1964's passage would certainly reinforce the arguments against the roster in ongoing federal civil rights litigation (see, e.g., Peña v. Lindley), we must remain opposed to AB 1964 on its merits. There is no evidentiary need for the passage of AB 1964. The penal code, as it relates to firearms, is already overflowing with laws that are not enforced or unenforceable. AB 1964 is a solution in search of a problem and may be the bill that bursts the penal code levee. In 2008, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in District of Columbia v. Heller that firearms in common use for lawful purpose-such as those targeted for prohibition by AB 1964-are protected under the Second Amendment. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 48-25, 4/24/14 AYES: Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chesbro, Cooley, Dababneh, Daly, Dickinson, Fong, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Hall, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NOES: Achadjian, Allen, Bigelow, Chávez, Conway, Dahle, Donnelly, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gorell, Grove, Hagman, CONTINUED AB 1964 Page 5 Jones, Linder, Logue, Maienschein, Melendez, Nestande, Olsen, Patterson, Salas, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk NO VOTE RECORDED: Eggman, Gray, Harkey, Mansoor, Medina, Nazarian, Vacancy JG:k 6/23/14 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED