BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 363| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 363 Author: Wright (D) Amended: 8/30/13 Vote: 21 SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 6-0, 4/30/13 AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Block, De León, Liu, Steinberg NO VOTE RECORDED: Knight SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-0, 5/13/13 AYES: De León, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters, Gaines SENATE FLOOR : 36-0, 5/16/13 AYES: Anderson, Beall, Berryhill, Block, Calderon, Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De León, DeSaulnier, Emmerson, Evans, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Monning, Nielsen, Padilla, Pavley, Roth, Steinberg, Walters, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee NO VOTE RECORDED: Knight, Price, Vacancy, Vacancy ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 64-11, 9/3/13 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Firearms: criminal storage: unsafe handguns: fees SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill 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 CONTINUED SB 363 Page 2 and causes injury as specified. Assembly Amendments (1) amend the existing crime of criminal storage of a firearm to include when a person keeps a handgun at a premise where a prohibited person is likely to gain access, does gain access and removes it off premise to a public place, (2) add double-jointing language, and (3) exempt the sale of handguns to or the purchase of handguns by, federal law enforcement agencies from specified unsafe handgun provisions. ANALYSIS : 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. D. 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 fine not exceeding $1,000, or by both that imprisonment and fine. 1.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 CONTINUED SB 363 Page 3 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. 1.Provides 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. 2.Requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) 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. DOJ may charge an annual fee to firearms manufacturers and importers for the costs of implementing this program of handgun safety testing, as specified. 3.Makes it an offense for any person in this state to manufacture or cause to be manufactured, import into the state for sale, keep for sale, offer or expose for sale, give, or lend any unsafe handgun, as defined. Existing law exempts from those prohibitions, the sale of handguns to, or the purchase of handguns by, specified law enforcement entities, among others. 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 is guilty of criminal storage of a firearm. If the prohibited person causes death or great bodily injury, this 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 CONTINUED SB 363 Page 4 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 is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or both. 2.Provides that, beginning January 1, 2015, the fee charged by DOJ for the handgun safety testing program, as specified, shall be paid on January 1 of every year, as specified. 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 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.Amends the existing crime of "criminal storage of a firearm" to provide that if a 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 without the permission of the child's parent or legal guardian, unless reasonable action is taken by the person to secure the firearm against access by the child is punishable of "criminal storage of a firearm in the third degree". 5.Exempts the sale of handguns to or the purchase of handguns by, federal law enforcement agencies from specified unsafe handgun provisions. 6.Adds double-jointing with AB 169 (Dickinson) and AB 231 (Ting) of the current legislative session. Background A recent decision by the federal Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of a man who had allowed such a "prohibited person" to stay in his RV and disclosed to his guest CONTINUED SB 363 Page 5 the location of his firearms in the RV. (United States v. Stegmeier, 701 F.3d 574 (8th Cir. 2012)). The Court found that this constituted a violation of the federal law prohibiting disposing of any firearm or ammunition to a prohibited person. Thus residing with a person who you know, or have reason to know, is prohibited from owning a firearm for any reason, and giving that person access to any firearms you possess whether that person actually uses the firearm to cause harm or not has been found to be a crime under federal law. (U.S. v. Stegmeier, supra, 18 U.S.C. 922(d).) The penalty for violation under federal law is up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. (18 U.S.C. Sec. 924(a)(2), 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3571.) Whether permitting access to firearms to a cohabitant who is prohibited from possessing a firearm is currently a violation of California law is not clear. As noted above, existing California law provides that "no person, corporation, or dealer shall sell, supply, deliver, or give possession or control of a firearm to anyone whom the person, corporation, or dealer knows or has cause to believe is prohibited from possessing a firearm." (Penal Code Sec. 27500) While there does not appear to be any published opinion to this effect, a California court could, as the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently did, find that anyone living with a person who is prohibited from possessing a firearm has the duty to deny access to the firearm by the prohibited person. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes According to the Senate Appropriations Committee: 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 CONTINUED SB 363 Page 6 fine revenue. No net impact on fee revenues. Potential fee revenue increase in FY 2014-15 (Special Fund*) due to the annual fee payment shift to January 1 of each year effective January 1, 2015. SUPPORT : (Verified 9/3/13) California Chapters of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence California Police Chiefs Association Coalition Against Gun Violence CZ-USA Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence South County Citizens Against Gun Violence OPPOSITION : (Verified 9/3/13) California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees California Right to Carry ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the California Police Chiefs Association, "This bill would expand the provisions of California's safe storage law to include the circumstance of when the person who keeps the firearm knows or reasonably should know that a person prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm or deadly weapon is likely to gain access to the firearm." ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : According to the, California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees: "SB 363 utterly destroys the rights of thousands of law-abiding people without a criminal record by expressly prohibiting them from keeping firearms for self-defense when they cohabit or share housing with a prohibited person - even if that prohibited person was not convicted of a violent crime, and no matter if the firearm is kept secure or not. "Furthermore, this bill disproportionately attacks the civil rights of low-income minorities and those who are forced by circumstance to reside in high-crime areas that arguably, have the greatest need to keep firearms for self-defense. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 64-11, 9/3/13 CONTINUED SB 363 Page 7 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Mitchell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NOES: Allen, Cooley, Donnelly, Fox, Grove, Hagman, Jones, Melendez, Morrell, Patterson, Wilk NO VOTE RECORDED: Bigelow, Dahle, Hall, Vacancy, Vacancy JG:ej 9/3/13 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED