BILL ANALYSIS Ó
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1511|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1511
Author: Santiago (D) and Chiu (D)
Amended: 5/17/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 5-2, 5/10/16
AYES: Hancock, Glazer, Leno, Liu, Monning
NOES: Anderson, Stone
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 5/16/16
AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza
NOES: Bates, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: Not relevant
SUBJECT: Firearms: lending
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill modifies firearm loan provisions relating to
infrequent loans.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Requires licensed firearms dealers, before they may deliver a
firearm to a purchaser, to perform a background check on the
purchaser through the federal National Instant Criminal
Background Check System (NICS). (18 U.S.C §§ 921, et seq.)
2)Requires that, except as specified, all sales, loans, and
AB 1511
Page 2
transfers of firearms to be processed through or by a
state-licensed firearms dealer or a local law enforcement
agency. (Penal Code § 27545.)
3)Provides that there is a 10-day waiting period when purchasing
a firearm through a firearms dealer. During which time, a
background check is conducted and, if the firearm is a
handgun, a handgun safety certificate is required prior to
delivery of the firearm. (Penal Code §§ 26815, 26840(b) and
27540.)
4)Creates numerous exceptions to a variety of different and
specified firearms transfer requirements, including Penal Code
Section 27545, for loans of firearms under a variety of
different circumstances. The general categories of these
exceptions are:
a) For target shooting at target facility. (Penal Code §
26545.)
b) To entertainment production. (Penal Code § 26580.)
c) Several exceptions relating to law enforcement officers
and government agencies (Penal Code §§ 2660, et seq.)
d) For infrequent loan of non-handgun; curio or relic
(Penal Code § 27966) [commencing January 1, 2014]
e) To a consultant-evaluator. (Penal Code § 27005.)
f) To minors. (Penal Code § 27505.)
g) Infrequent loans to persons known to each other. (Penal
Code § 27880.)
h) Where the firearm stays within the presence of the
owner. (Penal Code § 27885.)
i) To a licensed hunter. (Penal Code § 27950.)
5)Provides for infrequent loans to person known to each other,
as specified in Penal Code Section 27880, allows for the loan
AB 1511
Page 3
of a firearm between persons known to each other, if the
following requirements are met:
a) The loan is infrequent, as defined in Section 16730;
b) The loan is for any lawful purpose;
c) The loan does not exceed 30 days in duration; and
d) Until January 1, 2015, if the firearm is a handgun, the
individual being loaned the firearm shall have a valid
handgun safety certificate. Commencing January 1, 2015, for
any firearm, the individual being loaned the firearm shall
have a valid firearm safety certificate, except that in the
case of a handgun, an unexpired handgun safety certificate
may be used.
This bill:
1)Limits the infrequent loan provisions to a loan to "a spouse,
registered domestic partner, or any of the following
relations, whether by consanguinity, adoption, or
steprelation: (1) Parent. (2) Child. (3) Sibling. (4)
Grandparent. (5) Grandchild."
2)States that if the firearm being loaned is a handgun, the
handgun must be registered to the person making the loan, as
specified.
Comments
This bill modifies firearm loan provisions relating to
infrequent loans to persons known to each other.
The provisions of current law which allow for firearms to be
infrequently loaned to a person known to the owner, authorizes a
firearm to be loaned between persons who are personally known to
each other, if all of the following requirements are satisfied:
The loan is infrequent, meaning, for handguns, less than six
transactions per calendar year and for firearms other than
handguns, occasional and without regularity.
AB 1511
Page 4
The loan is for any lawful purpose.
The loan does not exceed 30 days in duration.
If the firearm is a handgun, the individual being loaned the
handgun shall have a valid handgun safety certificate.
(Penal Code § 27880.)
This bill deletes the requirement that the person be personally
know to the owner of the firearm, and instead requires that the
loan be made to a specified family member. This bill
additionally requires that if the firearm being loaned is a
handgun, it must be registered to the person making the loan.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
State prisons: Potential minor to moderate increase in state
costs (General Fund) to the extent narrowing the firearm loan
provisions results in additional commitments to state prison.
Commitments to state prison under Penal Code § 27590(b), (c),
or (e), in which violations of firearm loan provisions can be
charged as a felony, have been infrequent, however, to the
extent even two additional commitments to state prison occur
statewide in any one year would result in new state costs of
$58,000 based on the contract bed rate of $29,000 per inmate.
County jails: Potentially significant increase in local costs
(Local Funds) to the extent narrowing the firearm loan
provisions results in additional misdemeanor and felony
convictions subject to county jail sentences. The Department
of Justice data indicates less than 100 arrests annually
statewide for violations of existing firearm loan provisions
of law. Potential costs would largely be dependent on the
degree to which the narrowed firearm loan provisions are
AB 1511
Page 5
enforced, which is unknown.
SUPPORT: (Verified5/17/16)
Coalition Against Gun Violence, a Santa Barbara County Coalition
Everytown for Gun Safety
Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America
OPPOSITION: (Verified5/17/16)
California Sportsman's Lobby
California State Sheriffs' Association
Firearms Policy Coalition
Outdoor Sportsmen's Coalition of California
Safari Club International
Several individuals
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms
Demand Action for Gun Sense in America state:
I am writing on behalf of Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms
Demand Action for Gun Sense in America in strong support of
your legislation, AB 1511, to close a loophole in California
law that allows dangerous people who are prohibited from
possessing guns to borrow guns with no background check and no
questions asked.
q Background checks on all gun sales save lives.
California is generally a leader on this issue.
California has strong gun violence prevention laws,
including a requirement that all gun sellers run criminal
background checks on their buyers, whether the seller is a
federally licensed firearm dealer (FFL), or an unlicensed,
private seller who sells guns online or at gun shows.
Background checks are the most effective way to ensure that
AB 1511
Page 6
a prospective buyer is not a felon, domestic abuser, person
with dangerous mental illness, or otherwise legally
prohibited from having guns.
o Federal law only requires licensed dealers to
run background checks on potential buyers.
o California is one of 18 states that go further
and require background checks on all handgun sales. In
these states:
§ Women are 46 percent less likely to
be shot to death by intimate partners; [Footnote
omitted]
§ Law enforcement are 48 percent less
likely to be killed with handguns; [Footnote
omitted] and
§ People are 48 percent less likely to
kill themselves with guns. [Footnote omitted]
q But there is currently an unusual loophole in
California's background check law.
California law has an exception that allows anyone to
borrow a gun for up to 30 days without a background check.
This exception is highly unusual among the states with
comprehensive background check laws:
o Of the 17 other states that require background
checks on all handgun sales, only 2 have loan
exceptions as broad as California's. [Footnote
omitted.]
o In fact, of the 11 other states with a
comprehensive system like California's that requires
background checks on all gun sales, no other state has
a loan exception as broad as California's.
q Several recent shootings around the country involving
loaned guns demonstrate the danger of this broad exception
(see appendix, below).
All of these loans were to friends or acquaintances (as
opposed to family members) who did not accurately assess
the danger that the person posed.
In the absence of a background check, the lender took
AB 1511
Page 7
the borrower's word that the gun was to be used for a
lawful purpose, and a tragedy resulted.
q AB 1511 will fix this loophole and help keep guns out of
the hands of dangerous people.
The bill retains the exception for loans to close family
members, who are best positioned to know if the relative
receiving the firearm has a background or circumstance that
prohibits gun possession.
This would bring California in line with the vast
majority of the states with comprehensive background check
laws, including the states that most recently enacted these
measures like Washington and Oregon.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: According to the California State
Sheriffs' Association:
California has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation,
yet gun violence continues to plague our state. We must
continue to take steps to keep guns and ammunition out of the
hands of criminals and other prohibited persons. That said,
this measure would make little progress toward that goal.
Instead, it would place additional restrictions on law abiding
citizens who wish lend firearms to each other. In doing so,
AB 1511 would likely result in the allocation of law
enforcement resources to regulating the gun-owning practices
of otherwise law-abiding persons at the expense of efforts to
keep firearms and ammunition out of the hands of criminals and
other persons that should not be armed.
Sheriffs are generally supportive of efforts to create
appropriate penalties for persons who steal firearms and for
criminals who are found to possess firearms. We have
supported bills that create mechanisms to keep firearms away
from certain persons, including in the form of gun violence
restraining orders. Ultimately, we do not believe AB 1511
will be successful in keeping firearms or ammunition away from
dangerous persons.
AB 1511
Page 8
Prepared by:Jessica Devencenzi / PUB. S. /
5/18/16 16:21:34
**** END ****