BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 293
Page 1
Date of Hearing: July 2, 2013
Chief Counsel: Gregory Pagan
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Tom Ammiano, Chair
SB 293 (DeSaulnier) - As Amended: May 24, 2013
SUMMARY : Provides that if two owner-authorized handguns are
placed on the Department of Justice (DOJ) roster of not unsafe
handguns, commencing two years from the date the second handgun
was placed on the roster, DOJ shall not place a handgun on the
roster that is not an owner-authorized handgun. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Defines an "owner-authorized handgun" as a handgun that has a
permanent programmable biometric or other permanent
programmable feature as part of its original manufacture that
renders the handgun incapable of being fired except when
activated by the lawful owner or other authorized users, and
that cannot be readily deactivated.
2)Requires owner-authorized handguns to comply with the
following minimum performance standards:
a) The firearm shall not fail to recognize the authorized
user, and shall not falsely recognize an unauthorized user,
more than one time per thousand recognition attempts.
b) The time from first contact to use recognition and
firearm enablement shall not be more than 0.3 seconds.
c) The time from loss of contact with the authorized user
and firearm disablement shall be no more than 0.3 seconds.
d) When the firearm is enabled the "ready" condition shall
be indicated by a visible indicator.
e) If the recognition technology on the firearm is battery
operated, the firearm shall be equipped with a low power
indicator that emits an audible signal.
f) If the user is not recognized, or if the power supply
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fails, the firearm shall be inoperable.
g) Enabling authorized user information shall be stored in
the firearm as permanent memory that is restored when the
power is restored.
h) The firearm shall capable of use by more than one
authorized user and, if the firearm uses hand recognition
technology, it shall recognize either of the authorized
user's hands.
3)States that an owner-authorized handgun shall only be
programmed by a licensed firearms dealer.
4)Provides that biometric data collected for the purpose of
programming the owner authorized handgun shall not be used for
any purpose other than programming the owner-authorized
handgun, and the DOJ shall not retain any biometric data that
may be stored.
5)Requires a manufacturer that has developed an owner-authorized
handgun meeting the minimum specified standard to submit the
handgun for testing, at the owner's expense, before the
handgun may be placed on the DOJ's roster of not unsafe
handguns.
6)States that if two owner-authorized handguns have been place
on the DOJ roster of not unsafe handguns, commencing two years
from the date the second handgun was placed on the roster, DOJ
shall not place a handgun on the roster that is not an
owner-authorized handgun.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that the sale, loan, or transfer of firearms in almost
all cases must be processed by, or through, a state licensed
dealer or a local law enforcement agency. (Penal Code Sections
27540, 27545, and 28050.)
2)Provides that commencing January 1, 2001, no "unsafe handgun" may
be manufactured or sold in California by a licensed dealer, except
as specified, and requires that the Department of Justice 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 or sheriff in
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smaller counties are exempted from those restrictions. (Penal
Code Sections 27545, 32000, et seq., and 32110.)
3)Defines an "unsafe handgun" as any pistol, revolver, or other
firearm capable of being concealed upon the person, as specified,
which lacks various safety mechanisms and does not pass listed
tests, as specified. (Penal Code Section 31910.)
4)Requires any concealable firearm manufactured in California, or
intended to be imported for sale, kept for sale, or offered for
sale to be tested within a reasonable period of time by an
independent laboratory, certified by the DOJ, to determine whether
it meets required safety standards, as specified. (Penal Code
Section 32010.)
5)Requires DOJ, on and after January 1, 2001, to compile, publish,
and thereafter maintain a roster listing all of the pistols,
revolvers, and other firearms capable of being concealed upon the
person that have been tested by a certified testing laboratory,
have been determined not to be unsafe handguns, and may be sold in
this state, as specified. The roster shall list, for each
firearm, the manufacturer, model number, and model name. (Penal
Code Section 32015.)
6)Provides that DOJ may charge every person in California who is
licensed as a manufacturer of firearms, as specified, and any
person in California who manufactures or causes to be
manufactured, imports into California for sale, keeps for sale, or
offers or exposes for sale any pistol, revolver, or other firearm
capable of being concealed upon the person in California, an
annual fee not exceeding the costs of preparing, publishing, and
maintaining the roster of firearms determined not to be unsafe,
and the costs of research and development, report analysis,
firearms storage, and other program infrastructure costs, as
specified. (Penal Code Section 32015.)
7)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 Section
32000(a).] Specifies that this section shall not apply to any
of the following [Penal Code Section 32000(b)]:
a) The manufacture in California, or importation into this
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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 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.
b) 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.
c) Firearms listed as curios or relics, as defined in
federal law.
d) 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, 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.
8)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 Section 32000(c).]
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author "SB 293 would
require two years after two manufacturers have
owner-authorized handguns on the 'Roster of Handguns Certified
for Sale; no handgun can be placed on the roster by the
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Department of Justice that is not owner-authorized.
"An owner-authorized handgun could not be fired by a child or
teen unless authorized by the parent or legal guardian,
thereby establishing some parental control over the weapon.
This would prevent young people from accidentally shooting
themselves and others, or committing suicide or homicide with
handguns. Most parents would say that they keep their
firearms locked away from their children, but all too often
kids find the gun and tragedy follows.
"According to the Center for Disease Control, suicide is the
fourth leading cause of death of children and teens; over 43%
are committed with firearms. Despondent teens, or other
depressed individuals who are not authorized users, would be
unable to commit suicide with a personalized handgun."
2)Argument in Support : The California Chapter of the Brady
campaign to Prevent Gun Violence states, "SB 293 would require
all newly manufactured or imported handguns in California to
be 'owner-authorized' or personalized in a way that would
allow them to be fired only by authorized person. This bill
specifies the requirements that such a handgun would have to
meet and requires that manufacturers submit new models to the
DOJ for certification at the manufacturer's expense. Once two
or more new models have been placed on the safe handgun
roster, the DOJ will be prohibited from placing any additional
handguns on the roster unless they also have owner-authorized
technology.
"The concept of an owner-authorized handgun has been under
discussion for over 15 years. In 2002, New Jersey passed a
law similar to SB 293. A number of technological solutions
have been explored, but none had been sufficiently reliable.
However, there have been recent advances in access control
technologies and features for handguns and prototypes are
becoming available. This technology has the potential to
achieve very high authorized user recognition reliability and
very short response times.
"Once owner-authorized handguns are commercially available,
accidental firearm injuries, homicides, and suicides could be
significantly reduced. Personalized handguns would be
inoperable by unauthorized users - including children,
troubled young adults, and thieves - thereby helping to
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prevent intentional and unintentional gun violence in
California."
3)Argument in Opposition : The California Association of
Firearms Retailers argues, "By permitting a specified failure
rate, SB 293 recognizes itself that no safe and reliable
'owner authorized' handgun technology is available, even after
years of research and development. The technology is still
not perfected and thus is not ready for sale to the public.
"Firearm retailers oppose mandates as proposed in SB 293 because
anything less than 100% reliability in the technology could
result in unproven, potentially less safe and less reliable
handguns being available for sale to the public.
"This, in turn, would create a situation that could result in
increased liability exposure for firearms dealers. This
especially true in the case of SB 293 because, although the
bill mandates performance standards for the technology at the
time of manufacturing, it contains no standards for device
quality, durability, warranty or for device manufacturing
processes.
"As a result, SB 293 could allow lesser quality devices into the
retail marketplace that could fail soon after purchase.
"Leaving it to the DOJ to establish such standards by regulation
will just result in another bill that cannot be properly
implemented because the legislation did not contain adequate
direction to the DOJ relative to exactly what is needed.
"The loaded chamber indicator and microstamping bills are two
recent examples of legislation that were so vague in their
drafting that is virtually impossible to successfully
implement them.
"In the case of firearms, complete reliability can mean the
difference between life and death for someone in a
self-defense situation.
"Legislative mandates as provided in SB 293 can operate to deny
consumers the ability to purchase the firearms having the
features that best meets their specific needs. Consumers who
do not want to buy 'user authorized' features should not be
mandated to purchase them. Such devices will also add
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significantly to the purchase price of a handgun which could
create an economic barrier preventing many from buying them.
"It is also likely that design changes will have to be made to
existing models of handguns to accommodate the technology,
thus further increasing the costs of production and consumer
prices."
4)Prior Legislation:
a) AB 2235 (DeSaulnier) of the 2007-2008 Legislative
Session was substantially similar to this bill in that it
defined an owner-authorized handgun and required DOJ to
certify when owner authorized handguns are available for
retail sale. AB 2235 was held on the Senate Appropriations
suspense file.
b) AB 1219 (Frommer) of the 2001-2002 Legislative Session
prohibited the sale manufactured after January 1, 2004,
unless that firearm includes an integrated safety device
which prevents children and unauthorized users from
discharging the firearm. AB 1219 was later substantially
amended into a different subject matter.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Federation of State and Municipal and County Employees
California Chapter of the American College of Emergency
Physicians
California Chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
City of Los Angeles
City of Oakland
Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence
South County Citizens Against Gun Violence
Opposition
California Association of Firearms Retailers
California Rifle and Pistol Association
California Sportsman's Lobby
Crossroads of the West Gun Shows
Gun Owners of California
National Rifle Association
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National Shooting Sports Foundation
Outdoor Sportsmen's Coalition of California
Safari Club International Foundation
Sheriff of Riverside County
Sheriff of Shasta County
Three private individuals
Analysis Prepared by : Gregory Pagan / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744