BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 892|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 892
Author: Achadjian (R)
Introduced:2/26/15
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/9/15
AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Glazer, Leno, Liu, Monning, Stone
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 4/16/15 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Unsafe handguns: peace officers state-issued
handguns: transfer to spouse
SOURCE: California Association of Highway Patrolmen
DIGEST: This bill exempts 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.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)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
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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.)
2)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).)
3)Specifies, in Penal Code section 32000(b), that this
prohibition does not apply to:
a) 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 DOJ 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 state.
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, the 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
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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.
4)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 exempts 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.
Background
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 (a device that plainly indicates that a cartridge is
in the firing chamber) and a magazine disconnect (a mechanism
that prevents a semiautomatic pistol from operating when a
detachable magazine is not inserted in the semiautomatic
pistol). 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
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"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.
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.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:NoLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified6/9/15)
California Association of Highway Patrolmen (source)
California Police Chiefs Association
Gun Owners of California
Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
Los Angeles Police Protective League
Riverside Sheriffs
OPPOSITION: (Verified6/9/15)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT:
According to the California Association of Highway Patrolmen
(CAHP):
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AB 892, closes a loophole in existing law related to the
transfer of a state-issued handgun to the spouse or domestic
partner of a peace officer that was killed in the line of
duty.
Existing law allows the department head to authorize the
transfer of a state-issued handgun to the widow or domestic
partner of a peace officer who was killed in the line of duty.
However, the Department of Justice maintains a list of
"unsafe handguns" and prohibits the manufacture, import, sale
and possession of such handgun. A violation constitutes
imprisonment in a county jail for no more than one year.
Since 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.
AB 892 adds an exemption for the spouse or domestic partner of
a peace officer who was killed in the line of duty, which will
essentially allow them to receive their spouse or domestic
partner's state-issued service weapon, regardless of whether
it has been deemed unsafe by the Department of Justice.
In closing, we thank you again for authoring this legislation,
and we look forward to its successful passage.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 4/16/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang,
Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle,
Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden,
Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder,
Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina,
Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen,
Patterson, Perea, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas,
Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner,
Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Quirk
Prepared by:Jessica Devencenzi / PUB. S. /
6/18/15 19:00:39
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