BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 363 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 363 (Wright) As Amended August 5, 2013 Majority vote SENATE VOTE :36-0 PUBLIC SAFETY 6-0 APPROPRIATIONS 16-1 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Ammiano, Jones-Sawyer, |Ayes:|Gatto, Harkey, Bigelow, | | |Mitchell, Quirk, Skinner, | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian | | |Waldron | |Calderon, Campos, Eggman, | | | | |Gomez, Hall, Holden, | | | | |Linder, Pan, Quirk, | | | | |Wagner, Weber | | | | | | |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------| | | |Nays:|Donnelly | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Expands the crime of "criminal storage" to include keeping a loaded firearm within premises where a prohibited person is likely to gain access and actually accesses and causes injury as specified. Specifically, this bill : 1)Amends 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 pursuant to 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. If the prohibited person causes death or great bodily injury, this would be punishable as a felony by imprisonment in a county jail for 16 months, or two or three years, by a fine not exceeding $10,000, or both; or as a misdemeanor by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or by both that imprisonment and fine. If the prohibited person causes injury, other than great bodily injury, or carries the firearm and draws or exhibits the firearm, as specified, this would be punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or both. SB 363 Page 2 2)Provides that, beginning January 1, 2013, the fee charged by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for the handgun safety testing program, as specified, shall become an annual fee to be paid on January 1 of every year. 3)Amends 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 pursuant to 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 carries it off-premises, or carries it to a school shall be punished by a fine of up to $5,000 and/or imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year. 4)Exempts the sale of handguns to, or the purchase of handguns by, federal law enforcement agencies from specified unsafe handgun provisions. EXISTING LAW : 1)Provides that, except as specified, a person commits the crime of "criminal storage of a firearm of the first degree" if all of the following conditions are satisfied: a) The person keeps any loaded firearm within any premises that are under the person's custody or control. b) The person knows or reasonably should know that a child is likely to gain access to the firearm without the permission of the child's parent or legal guardian. c) The child obtains access to the firearm and thereby causes death or great bodily injury to the child or any other person. 2)Provides that criminal storage of a firearm in the first degree is punishable as a felony by imprisonment in a county jail for 16 months, or two or three years, by a fine not exceeding $10,000, or both; or as a misdemeanor by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, by a SB 363 Page 3 fine not exceeding $1,000, or by both that imprisonment and fine. 3)Provides that, except as specified, a person commits the crime of "criminal storage of a firearm of the second degree" if all of the following conditions are satisfied: a) The person keeps any loaded firearm within any premises that are under the person's custody or control. b) The person knows or reasonably should know that a child is likely to gain access to the firearm without the permission of the child's parent or legal guardian. c) The child obtains access to the firearm and thereby causes injury, other than great bodily injury, to the child or any other person, or carries the firearm and draws or exhibits the firearm, as specified. 4)Specifies that criminal storage of a firearm in the second degree is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or both. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee: 1)Minor state and local correctional costs to the extent anyone is charged with this offense. No one has been committed to state prison under the existing statute in recent years. 2)Potential, likely minor, non-reimbursable local enforcement costs, offset to a degree by fine revenue. 3)No net impact on fee revenues (Dealer Record of Sales Account) which are currently in the range of $265,000. COMMENTS : According to the author, "A firearm owner may legally own a firearm and keep a firearm in his or her own home. However, a problem arises when a person who is prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm is residing in the same home as the person who legally owns a firearm. This means that the prohibited person could potentially have 'possession' and access to the firearm because it is stored under the same roof. SB 363 Page 4 "This is similar to what happened in the tragic Connecticut School shooting on December 14, 2012. Adam Lanza took his mother's firearms and used them to kill his mother, and the 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. If his mother had stored the firearms safely, and away from her son, who had a history of mental instability, it would have made it harder for Mr. Lanza to access the firearms and commit the gruesome crimes. "By imposing a duty on persons who legally own firearms to safely store them when they know, or have reason to know, that they are living with someone who is prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm, the chances that a prohibited person could access and use a firearm is greatly reduced. Firearm owners must recognize that owning a firearm comes with certain responsibilities, one of which is to make sure that they are safely stored so that that prohibited, and possibly dangerous persons with whom they reside, cannot access them." Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion of this bill. Analysis Prepared by : Gabriel Caswell / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 FN: 0001576