BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2165
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Date of Hearing: April 12, 2016
Chief Counsel: Gregory Pagan
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr., Chair
AB
2165 (Bonta) - As Amended April 7, 2016
SUMMARY: Provides that any peace officer who has completed the
Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) course
in the carrying and use of a firearm shall be exempt from the
state prohibition relating to the sale or purchase of an unsafe
handgun.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires commencing January 1, 2001, 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 Section 32000(a).]
a) Specifies that this section shall not apply to any of
the following:
i) 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
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Department of Justice (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.
ii) 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.
iii) Firearms listed as curios or relics, as defined in
federal law.
iv) 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, 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. (Pen. Code, § 32000, subd.
(b).)
2)Specifies that violations of the unsafe handgun provisions are
cumulative with respect to each handgun and shall not be
construed as restricting the application of any other law.
(Pen. Code, § 32000, subd. (c).)
3)Defines "unsafe handgun" as any pistol, revolver, or other
firearm capable of being concealed upon the person, as
specified, which lacks various safety mechanisms, as
specified. (Pen. Code, § 31910.)
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4)Requires any concealable firearm manufactured in California,
imported for sale, kept for sale, or offered for sale to be
tested within a reasonable period of time by an independent
laboratory, certified by the state Department of Justice
(DOJ), to determine whether it meets required safety
standards, as specified. (Pen. Code, § 32010.
5)Requires DOJ, on and after January 1, 2001, 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. (Pen. Code, § 32015, subd, (a).)
6)Provides that DOJ may charge every person in California who is
licensed as a manufacturer of firearms, as specified, and any
person in California who manufactures or causes to be
manufactured, imports into California for sale, keeps for
sale, or offers or exposes for sale any pistol, revolver, or
other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person in
California, an annual fee not exceeding the costs of
preparing, publishing, and maintaining the roster of firearms
determined not be unsafe, and the costs of research and
development, report analysis, firearms storage, and other
program infrastructure costs, as specified. (Pen. Code, §
32015, subd. (b)(1).)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
1)Author's Statement: According to the author, "AB 2165 is a
simple clarification allowing trained peace officers to
continue to carry and use their existing firearms for use in
the discharge of their official duties. Many of these officers
have been issued these weapons by their departments over the
past several years, but recent changes in interpretation by
the Department of Justice has put these officers in limbo and
created a risk of legal and financial liability. This has
affected agencies up and down the state, from more specialized
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police departments that do not serve a particular
municipality, to probation departments, and finally the
Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and the Department of
Insurance. These categories of peace officers participate in
mutual aid situations, task forces, sting operations and
arrests-all high-risk situations require that these officers
be properly armed. It is imperative that we provide the
statutory basis for the parity between agencies that has
existed since the creation of the roster."
2)Argument in Support: According to the California Statewide
Law Enforcement Association: "In 2001, Penal Code §32000
created a list of non-exempt agencies who may purchase
non-roster firearms for use in the discharge of their official
duties. Certain trained peace officers and law enforcement
personnel were left off of the list. These peace officers are
often required to participate in mutual aid situations, task
forces, sting operations and arrests. These high-risk
situations require that these officers be properly warned.
"Recent enforcement of the gun roster by the Department of
Justice would require thousands of law enforcement to forfeit
their guns. This legislation is necessary because it will
allow officers, who have gone through the appropriate training
to carry and keep their 'non-roster' handguns, while on active
duty. Not fixing this issue will create a serious risk of
liability that is easily avoidable with the amendment to Penal
Code §830.3. There is also a cost savings to the State of
California because new handguns will not have to be purchased
for many of these personnel. Lastly, this bill simply seeks
parity with other peace officers and various law enforcement
agencies".
3)Argument in Opposition: According the California Chapter of
the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, "California Brady
Chapter members worked hard for many years to get the original
Unsafe Handgun Ace (SB 15) signed into law in 1999. Chapter
members were instrumental in the enactment of additions to the
Act in 2003 and 2007. This law is very personal to Brady
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members - chapter leaders have lost children whose lives might
have been saved were the Act in effect.
"Under SB 15, no handgun may be manufactured, imported or
transferred unless that handgun model has passed firing,
safety, and drop tests and is certified for sale in California
by the Department of Justice. Requirements for a chamber load
indicator and a magazine disconnect, which will prevent
accidental shootings, and mico-stamping feature, which will
allow law enforcement to positively link used cartridge
casings recovered at crime scenes to the crime gun, were later
added to the Act.
"Certain categories of law enforcement are exempt from the
Unsafe Handgun Act and AB 2165 would additionally exempt 'any
other peace officer described in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with
Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code.' Thus any
person who is considered a sworn 'peace officer' under
California law, including certain employees of the State
Department of Fish and Game, Parks and Recreation, Forestry
and Fire Protections, and Alcoholic Beverage Control, if they
are tasked with law enforcement roles, as well as welfare
fraud and child support investigators, certain coroners,
certain park rangers, and certain housing authority patrol
officers, would be exempt. This results in an inappropriate
and unacceptable broadening of exemptions that impedes
realizing the safety benefits fo the newer requirements.
"Officers frequently take their service weapons home and, in
some cases, fail to lock them securely. Firearms with
prominent loaded chamber indicators and magazine disconnect
safety devices, as required for new models und the Act, are
safer than those without these safety features. There are many
instances of even highly trained law enforcement officers
being unaware that a round remains in the chamber of a pistol
that lacks a loaded chamber of a pistol that lacks a loaded
chamber indicator and unintentionally shooting someone. Unsafe
gun designs help cause many unintentional firearm injuries and
deaths.
"Under California law, exempt persons are allowed to purchase
and later sell off-roster handguns to nonexempt persons via a
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private party transfer. AB 2165 would thereby place more
off-roster handguns into the civilian market and undermine the
purpose of the Act."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Peace Officers Research Association of California (Co-sponsor)
State Coalition of Probation Organizations (Co-sponsor)
California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (Co-sponsor)
California Department of Insurance
California Correctional Supervisors Association
Kern County Probation Officers Association
Chief Probation Officers of California
California Probation, Parole, and Correctional Association
Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association
Los Angeles Probation Officers Union, AFSCME local 685
San Diego Police Officers Association
San Diego County probation Officers Association
Sacramento Police Officers Association
Sacramento County Probation Association
Madera Probation Peace Officers Association
Santa Clara County Probation Peace Officers' Association
San Joaquin County Probation Officer Association
Stanislaus County Deputy Probation Officers Association
Riverside Sheriffs' Association
Ventura County Professional Peace Officers Association
Fraternal Order of Police, N. California Probation Lodge 19
Opposition
Oakland/Alameda Chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun
Violence
California Chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
Orange County Citizens for the Prevention of Gun Violence
Analysis Prepared
by: Gregory Pagan / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744
AB 2165
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