BILL ANALYSIS
SB 130
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Date of Hearing: June 29, 1999
Counsel: Gregory Pagan
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Mike Honda, Chair
SB 130 (Hayden) - As Amended: June 24, 1999
SUMMARY : Requires the Attorney General (AG) to develop and
implement minimum safety standards for firearms safety devices,
and mandates that all firearms manufactured in California or
sold or transferred by a licensed firearms dealer be accompanied
by an approved firearms safety device and bear a safety warning
label, as specified. Specifically, this bill :
1)Provides that effective January 1, 2002 all firearms sold or
transferred in California by a licensed firearms dealer,
including private transfers through a dealer, and all firearms
manufactured include or be accompanied by a firearms safety
device approved by the AG.
2)Exempts the sale and transfer of firearms if the purchaser or
transferee owns or has recently purchased a gun safe, as
specified, or has recently purchased an approved safety
device, as specified.
3)Requires the AG, not later than January 1, 2000, to commence
development of regulations, as specified, to implement a
minimum safety standard for firearm safety devices to reduce
the risk of firearm-related injuries to children.
4)Requires that the AG adopt and issue regulations regarding a
final safety standard for firearm safety devices and report
these standards to the Legislature by January 1, 2001. These
standards are effective January 1, 2002.
5)Requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to certify
laboratories to test firearm safety devices in order to verify
compliance with standards, and to compile and publish a roster
of approved safety devices that have met the DOJ's standards.
The DOJ may charge any laboratory seeking certification a fee
not exceeding the costs of certification including the costs
of developing regulations and standards.
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6)Authorizes the AG after January 1, 2002 to order recall and
replacement of any firearm or firearm safety device that does
not conform to the standards and warnings required by this
bill. Requires that the licensed manufacturer bring the
firearm or the firearm safety device into conformity or
provide a replacement.
7)Requires that all firearms sold or transferred in California
by a licensed firearms dealer, including private transfers
through a dealer, and all firearms manufactured bear a
specific warning label.
8)Requires that law enforcement investigating an incident must
report to the AG any incident in which a child 18 years of age
or younger suffered an unintentional or self-inflicted gunshot
wound in which the child suffered serious injury or was
treated for an injury by a medical professional.
9)Provides that a violation of this bill is punishable by a fine
of $1,000; a second violation is punishable by a fine of
$1,000 and a 30-day license suspension; and a third violation
results in a permanent loss of a license.
10)Provides that the DOJ may require each dealer to charge each
firearm purchaser a fee not to exceed $1 for each firearm
transaction for the purpose of supporting program costs
relating to this bill, including the establishment,
maintenance, and upgrading of related database systems and
public rosters.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Specifies prohibitions and requirements with regard to the
circumstances under which a person licensed to sell firearms
may sell or transfer a firearm. (Penal Code Section 12071.)
2)Requires that a licensee offer to provide a specified
informational pamphlet to each purchaser or transferee of a
firearm or person being loaned a firearm. (Penal Code Section
12071.)
3)Establishes the crime of criminal storage of a firearm which
arises when a person keeps a loaded firearm and knows or
reasonably should know that a child under the age of 14 is
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likely to gain access to the firearm, and the child gains
access and causes death, injury, or exhibits the firearm as
specified, (Penal Code Section 12035.)
4)Provides that the DOJ must issue a certificate of eligibility
to an applicant if DOJ's records indicate that the applicant
is not a person prohibited from possessing a firearm. (Penal
Code Section 12071(a)(4).)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Authors Statement . According to the author, "In the years
1987 to 1996, nearly 2,200 children in the United States under
the age of 15 years died in unintentional shootings. In 1996
alone, 138 children were shot and and killed unintentionally.
Thus, on average, more than 11 children every month, or one
child every three days, were shot or killed unintentionally in
firearms-related incidents.
"The United States leads the industrialized world in the rates
of children and youth lost to unintentional, firearms-related
death. A 1997 study from the federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention reveals that for unintentional
firearm-related deaths for children under the age of 15, the
rate in the United States was nine times higher than in 25
other industrialized nations.
"To prevent unintentional shootings, fifteen of the nation's
firearms manufacturers agreed to sell their firearms with
trigger locks in 1997. However, there are no standards for
these safety devices, and neither the federal nor state
government requires safety devices to be sold with firearms.
In addition, many manufacturers (including all the California
manufacturers) refused to sign onto this agreement, and the
sale of 'used' guns. For these reasons, many firearms sold in
California do not come with an adequate safety device.
"The Aroner/Scott/Hayden Firearms Safety Act would do a great
deal to prevent unintentional shootings by: (a) creating
standards for firearms safety devices, (b) requiring devices
sold in California to meet these standards, and (c) mandating
that safety devices be included with all firearms sold along
with firearms.
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"86% of Americans surveyed support legislation requiring
handguns to be childproof. Over 30 California cities have
passed ordinances requiring safety devices to be sold with
firearms. The time has come for statewide legislation that
certifies firearms safety devices, requires California
manufacturers to package firearms with these devices and
mandates that devices be sold along with firearms."
2)Minimum Safety Standards . This bill requires the AG to
develop and implement minimum safety standards for firearms
safety devices to significantly reduce the risk of
firearms-related injuries to children 18 years of age and
younger. The bill has proposed guidelines for use by the AG
in developing the standards, including addressing the risk of
injury from unintentional gunshot wounds and from
self-inflicted gunshot wounds by unauthorized users, which
include provisions ensuring that firearms safety devices are
reusable and of adequate quality to prevent unauthorized users
from firing firearms and ensure that these devices cannot be
readily removed from firearms except by authorized adult users
using appropriate methods of access. This bill also states
that the AG should give appropriate consideration to the use
of devices not detachable, but permanently installed and
incorporated into the design of firearms. The AG has the
authority to implement regulations requiring that a firearm
safety device be incorporated into the design of the firearm
which would prevent the sale or transfer of older firearms not
so equipped. If the AG were to require that the firearm
safety device be of a type that might prove to be costly or
expensive, the AG could prevent the sale or transfer of
firearms. However, this bill does require that the AG report
the final standards to the Legislature one year prior to
implementation.
3)Mandatory Law Enforcement Reporting Requirement . This bill
requires that each lead law enforcement agency investigating
an incident report to the Department of Health Services any
incident in which a child 18 years of age or younger suffered
an unintentional or self-inflicted gunshot wound or where a
child died, suffered serious injury, or was treated for an
injury by a medical professional as a result of the incident.
This requirement will place additional costs and burdens on
local law enforcement, and this bill does not state the
purpose for the requirement or what the Department of Health
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Services is to do with this information. This bill does not
require that the Department of Health Services establish a
data bank or do anything with the material collected. Is this
provision necessary?
4)Prior Legislation .
a) AB 1124 (Aroner), of the 1997-98 Legislative Session,
required a person licensed to sell firearms to provide each
buyer with a trigger lock. AB 1124 was vetoed.
b) SB 1550 (Hayden), of the 1997-98 Legislative Session,
required firearms dealers to offer use-limitation devices
to firearm purchasers. SB 1550 was vetoed.
5)Pending Legislation: AB 106 (Scott) is identical to SB 130
and presently pending before the Senate Public Safety
Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Child, Youth and Family Coalition
California Congress of Parents, Teachers, and Students Inc.
California District of the American Academy of Pediatrics
California Organization of Police and Sheriffs
California Peace Officers' Association
California Police Chiefs' Association
California Psychiatric Association
City of Los Angeles
City of Oakland
City of West Hollywood
Handgun Control, Inc.
John Klehs, Chair State Board of Equalization
Legal Community against Violence
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
Los Angeles Police Department
Orange County Citizens for the Prevention of Gun Violence
Physicians for a Violence-Free Society
Trauma Foundation
Violence Prevention Coalition of Orange County
Women against Gun Violence
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Opposition
California Shooting Sports Association
Gun Owners of California, Inc.
National Rifle Association of America
Analysis Prepared by : Gregory Pagan / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744