BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 892 Hearing Date: June 9, 2015
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|Author: |Achadjian |
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|Version: |February 26, 2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |No |
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|Consultant:|JRD |
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Subject: Unsafe Handguns: Peace Officer's State-Issued
Handguns: Transfer to Spouse
HISTORY
Source: California Association of Highway Patrolmen
Prior Legislation:AB 685 (Achadjian) - Chapter 16, Statutes of
2013
Support: California Police Chiefs Association; Los Angeles
Deputy Sheriffs; Los Angeles Police Protective League,
Riverside Sheriffs
Opposition:None known
Assembly Floor Vote: 79 - 0
PURPOSE
The purpose of this legislation is to exempt the purchase of a
state-issued handgun by the spouse or domestic partner of a
peace officer who died in the line of duty from the prohibition
on unsafe handguns.
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Existing law 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 (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. (Penal Code §§ 27545, 32000, et seq., § 32110.)
Existing law 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 § 32000(a).)
Existing law specifies that this prohibition does not apply to:
The manufacture in California, or importation into this
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 the 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.
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.
Firearms listed as curios or relics, as defined in
federal law.
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, the Department of Justice, any police department, any
sheriff's official, any marshal's office, the Youth and
Adult Correctional Agency, the California Highway Patrol,
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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.
(Penal Code § 32000(b).)
Existing law contains numerous additional exemptions to the safe
handgun requirements, including an exemption for any transfer
that is not required to be made through a licensed dealer. This
exemption alone includes within it another approximately 25
exemptions. (Penal Code §§ 32110, 27850, et seq.)
This bill would exempt the sale, purchase, or delivery of a
handgun, if the sale is of a state-issued handgun to the spouse
or domestic partner of a peace officer who died in the line of
duty.
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION
For the past eight years, this Committee has scrutinized
legislation referred to its jurisdiction for any potential
impact on prison overcrowding. Mindful of the United States
Supreme Court ruling and federal court orders relating to the
state's ability to provide a constitutional level of health care
to its inmate population and the related issue of prison
overcrowding, this Committee has applied its "ROCA" policy as a
content-neutral, provisional measure necessary to ensure that
the Legislature does not erode progress in reducing prison
overcrowding.
On February 10, 2014, the federal court ordered California to
reduce its in-state adult institution population to 137.5% of
design capacity by February 28, 2016, as follows:
143% of design bed capacity by June 30, 2014;
141.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2015; and,
137.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2016.
In February of this year the administration reported that as "of
February 11, 2015, 112,993 inmates were housed in the State's 34
adult institutions, which amounts to 136.6% of design bed
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capacity, and 8,828 inmates were housed in out-of-state
facilities. This current population is now below the
court-ordered reduction to 137.5% of design bed capacity."(
Defendants' February 2015 Status Report In Response To February
10, 2014 Order, 2:90-cv-00520 KJM DAD PC, 3-Judge Court, Coleman
v. Brown, Plata v. Brown (fn. omitted).
While significant gains have been made in reducing the prison
population, the state now must stabilize these advances and
demonstrate to the federal court that California has in place
the "durable solution" to prison overcrowding "consistently
demanded" by the court. (Opinion Re: Order Granting in Part and
Denying in Part Defendants' Request For Extension of December
31, 2013 Deadline, NO. 2:90-cv-0520 LKK DAD (PC), 3-Judge Court,
Coleman v. Brown, Plata v. Brown (2-10-14). The Committee's
consideration of bills that may impact the prison population
therefore will be informed by the following questions:
Whether a proposal erodes a measure which has contributed
to reducing the prison population;
Whether a proposal addresses a major area of public safety
or criminal activity for which there is no other
reasonable, appropriate remedy;
Whether a proposal addresses a crime which is directly
dangerous to the physical safety of others for which there
is no other reasonably appropriate sanction;
Whether a proposal corrects a constitutional problem or
legislative drafting error; and
Whether a proposal proposes penalties which are
proportionate, and cannot be achieved through any other
reasonably appropriate remedy.
COMMENTS
1. Need for This Bill
According to the author:
Currently, The Department of Justice maintains a list of
"unsafe handguns" and prohibits the manufacture, import,
sale and possession of such handguns. A violation
constitutes imprisonment in a county jail for no more than
one year.
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Since many of the state-issued handguns to law
enforcement are listed on the DOJs list of unsafe
handguns, a transfer of such firearm is prohibited to
the spouse and/or domestic partner.
2. "Not Unsafe" Handgun Law and the Effect of This Bill
SB 15 (Polanco), Chapter 248, Statutes of 1999, made it a
misdemeanor for any person in California to manufacture, import
for sale, offer for sale, give, or lend any unsafe handgun, as
defined, with certain specific exceptions. SB 15 defined an
"unsafe handgun" as follows: (a) does not have a requisite
safety device; (b) does not meet specified firing tests; and,
(c) does not meet a specified drop safety test.
SB 489 (Scott), Chapter 500, Statutes of 2003, added to the
unsafe handgun law requirements for semiautomatic pistols that
became effective in 2006 and 2007. The legislation requires
that for a new semiautomatic center-fire pistol firearm to be
added to the roster it has to be equipped with a chamber load
indicator<1> and a magazine disconnect<2> (if it has a
detachable magazine). The legislation also requires that all
semiautomatic rimfire pistols, with a detachable magazine, have
a magazine disconnect. All firearms that were on the not unsafe
handgun list prior to the effective dates were essentially
grandfathered in.
AB 1471 (Feuer), Chapter 572, Statutes of 2007, added
"microstamping" as a requirement for a firearm to be placed on
the not unsafe handgun roster beginning January 1, 2010,
"provided that the Department of Justice certifies that the
technology used to create the imprint is available to more than
one manufacturer unencumbered by any patent restrictions." The
Department of Justice issued the certification on May 17, 2013.
Like the other provisions, the "microstamping" requirement did
not apply to firearms already on the roster.
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<1> A chamber load indicator is a device that plainly indicates
that a cartridge is in the firing chamber. (Penal Code §
16380.)
<2> A magazine disconnect is a mechanism that prevents a
semiautomatic pistol from operating when a detachable magazine
is not inserted in the semiautomatic pistol. (Penal Code §
16900.)
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A number of peace officers are exempt from roster requirements
and, according to the California Association of Highway
Patrolmen, "many of the state-issued handguns to law enforcement
are included on the list of unsafe handguns, a transfer of such
firearm is prohibited to the spouse and/or domestic partner."
This legislation would create an exception to the not unsafe
firearms laws by allowing the sale of a state-issued handgun to
the spouse or domestic partner of a peace officer who died in
the line of duty.
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