BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1674
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Date of Hearing: April 13, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
1674 (Santiago) - As Amended April 6, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY:
This bill prohibits any person from making an application to
purchase more than one long gun within any 30-day period, and
repeals the private party transaction exemption to the
prohibition related to the purchase of more than one handgun in
any 30-day period. However, AB 1674 makes exemptions for
firearms transferred through bequest or intestate succession if
specific conditions are met.
AB 1674
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FISCAL EFFECT:
One-time Department of Justice (DOJ) costs of $350,000 (Dealers
'Record of Sale Account) to analyze and modify the various
databases impacted by this bill.
COMMENTS:
1)Background. Current law prohibits any person from making an
application to purchase more than one handgun within any
30-day period. However, several exemptions are provided,
including any private party transaction conducted through a
licensed firearms dealer. Also, current law prohibits a
handgun from being delivered when a licensed firearms dealer
is notified by the DOJ that within the preceding 30-day period
the purchaser has made another application to purchase a
handgun and the purchase was not exempted, as specified. These
restrictions do not currently apply to long guns (rifles and
shotguns).
2)Purpose. According to the author, "Historically, policymakers
have believed that the bulk of gun violence has been
perpetuated by handguns. Absent any data collection and
analysis to the contrary, this perception has held for several
decades, and has resulted in current law in California which
limits new handgun purchases to one per month per person.
"Recent data collection efforts in the state and elsewhere have
begun to refute this theory, however. In fact, examining
forensic data collected from the mass shootings that have
occurred in the United States throughout the last 30 years,
shows that 72 (exactly half) of the weapons used in those
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crimes were long guns: rifles, shotguns, and semi-automatic
versions thereof. Of the 11 mass shootings in California,
nearly the same is true: 12 long guns were used along with 16
handguns.
?Over the past ten years, Californians have typically purchased
more long guns than handguns, including 538,149 guns in 2013.
Of the 26,682 crime guns entered into the California
Department of Justice's (DOJ) Automated Firearms Systems (AFS)
database in 2009, 11,500 were long guns. Furthermore, DOJ has
found that half the illegal firearms recovered from prohibited
persons are long guns.
"AB 1674 will limit purchases of guns to one per month. This
includes both purchases of used guns and new long guns. With
data showing compelling evidence that long guns are used in
crimes at similar rates to handguns, they should be treated no
differently. In fact, California already maintains parity
between these types of guns in both background checks and sale
records. AB 1674 takes the remaining step by creating parity
in purchase limitations."
AB 1674 includes a process for firearms, not prohibited
firearms, transferred by bequest or intestate succession if
the receiver meets specified criteria and the transfer is
registered with DOJ.
3)Support. The California Chapters of the Brady Campaign to
Prevent Gun Violence states, "It stands to reason that a
person buying large quantities of guns at one time may be
acting as a straw purchaser or gun trafficker. Moreover,
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firearms acquired this way are frequently used in crime. In
fact, an ATF study of tracing data demonstrated that 22% of
all handguns recovered in crime in 1999 were originally
purchased as part of a multiple sale. A similar study found
that 20% of all handguns recovered in crime in 2000 were
originally purchased as part of a multiple sale. Additionally,
a University of Pennsylvania report found that a quarter of
all guns used in crime were purchased as part of a
multiple-gun sale and that guns purchased in bulk were up to
64% more likely to be used for illegal purposes than guns
purchased individually."
4)Opposition. The Firearms Policy Coalition argues, "AB 1674
seeks to limit, chill, and ration a fundamental, individual
right by making it a crime to even apply for the otherwise
lawful purchase of a constitutionally-protected firearm more
than once every thirty days.
"The Second Amendment is not a second-class right and
California's law-abiding residents are not second-class
people. AB 1674 must be rejected for its moral and policy
flaws if not for its blatant constitutional infirmities."
5)Prior Legislation:
a) AB 202 (Knox), Chapter 128, Statutes of 1999, prohibited
any person from applying for more than one concealable
firearm within a 30-day period, and prohibits the delivery
to any person who has made an application to purchase more
than one concealable firearm within 30 days.
b) AB 532 (Knox) of the 1997-98 Legislative Session would
have made it a misdemeanor to take title to more than one
concealable firearm in a 30-day period. In addition, AB
532 would have made it an alternate felony/misdemeanor for
a dealer to deliver a handgun after being notified that a
person was attempting to take title to more than one
handgun in a 30-day period. AB 532 failed passage on the
Assembly floor.
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Analysis Prepared by:Pedro R. Reyes / APPR. / (916)
319-2081