BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
SB 363 (Wright) - Firearms: criminal storage.
Amended: April 22, 2013 Policy Vote: Public Safety 6-0
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: May 13, 2013 Consultant: Jolie Onodera
This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 363 expands the crime of "criminal storage of a
firearm," as follows:
Revises the existing crime of "criminal storage of a
firearm" to extend the firearm owner's knowing standard to
persons prohibited from possessing a firearm, as specified.
Creates a new misdemeanor for any person who owns or
possesses any firearm and resides with an individual who he
or she knows, or has reason to know, is prohibited from
possessing, receiving, owning, or purchasing a firearm
pursuant to state or federal law to fail to secure the
firearm within a locked container, with a locking device, or
within a gun safe, as defined, and store the firearm in a
manner that the individual may not gain access to the
firearm.
Provides that beginning January 1, 2015, the fee charged
by the DOJ for the handgun safety testing program, as
specified, shall be paid on January 1 of each year.
Fiscal Impact:
Likely minor, if any, increase in state incarceration
costs (General Fund) for additional felony convictions under
the expanded definition of the criminal storage of firearms
law resulting in great bodily injury or death. There have
been no commitments to state prison over the past three
years for this offense.
Potential increase in county jail incarceration costs
(Local) for misdemeanor convictions related to violations of
the criminal storage of firearms law.
Non-reimbursable local enforcement costs offset to a
degree by fine revenue.
No net impact on fee revenues. Potential fee revenue
increase in FY 2014-15 (Special Fund*) due to the annual fee
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payment shift to January 1 of each year effective January 1,
2015.
*Firearms Safety and Enforcement Special Fund
Background: California law requires that all firearms be safely
stored. In the case of loaded firearms, a person may be guilty
of a misdemeanor or a felony for keeping a loaded firearm,
should a minor obtain and use it, resulting in injury or death,
or carry it to a public place.
First-degree criminal storage, when a child gains access to a
firearm and causes death or great bodily injury, is an alternate
felony/misdemeanor, punishable by 6 months, two, or three years
in county jail (or state prison pursuant to PC § 1170(h)),
and/or a fine of up to $10,000, or for a misdemeanor, up to one
year in county jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000.
Second-degree criminal storage, when a child gains access to a
firearm and causes injury, or carries the firearm to a public
place, or brandishes the firearm, is a misdemeanor, punishable
by up to one year in county jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000.
This bill addresses the issue of firearm possession by a person
who resides with a person who is prohibited by law from owning a
firearm.
Proposed Law: This bill would amend the existing crime of
"criminal storage of a firearm" to provide that a person who
keeps any loaded firearms within any premises and knows or
reasonably should know that a person who is prohibited from
possessing a firearm under state or federal law is likely to
gain access to the firearm, and that prohibited person does in
fact gain access to the firearm and thereby kills or injures
someone would be guilty of criminal storage of a firearm. In
addition, this bill:
Requires that any person who owns or possesses any firearm
and resides with an individual who he or she knows, or has
reason to know, is prohibited from possessing, receiving,
owning, or purchasing a firearm pursuant to state or federal
law to secure the firearm within a locked container, as
defined, or with a locking device as defined, or within a
gun safe as defined, and store the firearm in a manner that
the individual may not gain access to the firearm and
specify that a violation of this section is a misdemeanor
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punishable by up to one year in county jail, a fine of up to
$1,000, or by both.
Provides that beginning January 1, 2015, the fee charged
by the DOJ for the handgun safety testing program, as
specified, shall be paid on January 1 of every year.
Related Legislation: SB 108 (Yee) 2013 would require all firearm
owners to keep their firearms either locked up or disabled with
a firearm safety device whenever they are not at home. This bill
is on Third Reading on the Senate Floor.
AB 231 (Ting) 2013 would amend the criminal storage of a firearm
statute to create "criminal storage of a firearm in the third
degree" if the person keeps any loaded firearm within any
premises that are under the person's custody or control and
negligently stores or leaves a loaded firearm in a location
where the person knows, or reasonably should know, that a child
is likely to gain access to the firearm, unless reasonable
action is taken by the person to secure the firearm against
access by the child. This bill is on Second Reading on the
Assembly Floor.
AB 500 (Ammiano) 2013 would require all firearm owners who
reside with a prohibited person to keep their firearms either
locked up or disabled with a firearm safety device whenever they
are not at home. This bill is currently on the Suspense File of
the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Staff Comments: This bill would provide that a person who keeps
any loaded firearms within any premises and knows or reasonably
should know that a person who is prohibited from possessing a
firearm under state or federal law is likely to gain access to
the firearm, and that prohibited person does in fact gain access
to the firearm and thereby kills or injures someone would be
guilty of an alternate felony/misdemeanor (wobbler). A felony
violation would be punishable by imprisonment in a county jail
(or state prison pursuant to PC § 1170(h)) for 16 months, two or
three years, a fine of up to $10,000, or both. A misdemeanor
violation would be punishable by imprisonment in a county jail
for up to one year, a fine not more than $1,000, or both that
imprisonment and fine. To the extent this bill results in
increased felony convictions for "criminal storage of a firearm"
resulting in great bodily injury or death, increased state
incarceration costs could result. The CDCR indicates there have
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been no persons committed to state prison for this offense for
the past three years. As a result, any impact on state
incarceration costs is estimated to be minor and infrequent.
This bill creates a new misdemeanor for any person who owns or
possesses any firearm and resides with an individual who he or
she knows, or has reason to know, is prohibited from possessing,
receiving, owning, or purchasing a firearm pursuant to state or
federal law to fail to secure the firearm within a locked
container, with a locking device, or within a gun safe, as
defined, and store the firearm in a manner that the individual
may not gain access to the firearm. By creating a new crime,
this bill would create a state-mandated program and would result
in non-reimbursable local law enforcement and jail incarceration
costs, offset to a degree by fine revenue.
To the extent the provisions of this bill serve to reduce the
incidence of firearms-related injuries and death, potential
future cost savings could be substantial. A study by the
non-profit Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE)
reported over 105,000 incidences of firearm injury and death in
2010 nationally, with an estimated societal cost of over $174
billion in work lost, medical care, insurance, criminal justice
expenses, and pain and suffering. At a unit level, the study
reported a governmental cost of $187,000 to $582,000 per firearm
fatality in medical and mental health care, emergency services,
and administrative and criminal justice costs. The estimated
societal cost per firearm injury or fatality, including lost
work productivity and quality of life was reported at nearly
$430,000 to $5 million, respectively.
This bill provides that beginning January 1, 2015, the fee
charged by the DOJ on licensed firearms manufacturers for the
costs of preparing, publishing, and maintaining the roster
listing of firearms that have been tested by a certified testing
laboratory and determined not to be unsafe handguns, shall be
paid on January 1 of each year. This will result in increased
fee revenues in FY 2014-15 due to the shift in payment to
January 1st of each year, but will not result in any net impact
on fee revenues. The DOJ indicates annual roster fees of
approximately $260,000 (Special Fund).
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