BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1810
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Date of Hearing: April 28, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1810 (Feuer) - As Amended: April 5, 2010
Policy Committee: Public
SafetyVote: 4-2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill effective July 1, 2012 applies the same regulations
relating to the reporting and retention of records for handguns
to long guns (rifles and shotguns). Specifically, this bill:
1)Deletes the prohibition on peace officers and Department of
Justice (DOJ) employees retaining or compiling information
regarding long gun transactions, as specified.
2)Expands the requirement for gun dealers to maintain handgun
records report information relative to bringing a handgun into
the state, as specified, to include long guns.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)One-time costs in the range of $400,000 for software
development to allow DOJ to retain the long gun information
(Dealers' Record of Sale Account (DROS)). The 2010-11 budget
as released in January shows an $18 million DROS reserve. (DOJ
charges dealers a DROS fee; dealers pass on the cost to the
customer, currently $19 per transaction. DOJ is reviewing a
potential DROS fee reduction in light of this reserve.)
2)Moderate annual GF costs, potentially in excess of $150,000,
for increased state prison costs to the extent this bill makes
it easier to identify persons in a prohibited class who are
illegally in possession of a long gun. (Under current law,
felons, specified misdemeanants, and drug addicts and mentally
ill persons, as specified, are prohibited from possessing any
gun. A violation may be punished as an felony.)
AB 1810
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3)Unknown, likely minor nonreimbursable local law enforcement
and incarceration costs, offset to a degree by increased fine
revenue, to the extent local gun dealers violate reporting
requirements related to long guns.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . Current law requires the destruction of long gun
sales and transfer records. This bill requires the
preservation of records for long guns sold or transferred
after July 1, 2012.
Gun sales and transfer records are created after a background
check on a gun purchaser or new owner is completed. DOJ
maintains records of handguns sold or transferred in
California in a state database. Under current law, however,
sales and transfer records for long guns must be destroyed
within five days of a cleared transaction.
Under current law, peace officers and DOJ employees are
prohibited from retaining or compiling certain information
relating to long gun transactions. This prevents law
enforcement from using the information to identify the owners
of long guns used in crimes, as well as long guns owned by
persons prohibited by law from possessing guns. Current law
also and puts law enforcement at risk when they respond to an
emergencies or serve warrants without the complete knowledge
of what guns may be present at a residence.
According to the author, "Long guns (rifles and shotguns) play
a significant role in our gun violence epidemic. Of the 26,682
crime guns entered into the AFS database in 2009, 11,500 were
long guns. DOJ sweeps to seize illegally possessed firearms
have uncovered roughly equal numbers of illegal handguns
(2,143) and long guns (2,019). Just last year alone,
Californians purchased 253,296 long guns, significantly more
than the 225,000 handguns acquired in the same time period?
"AB 1810 would stop the needless destruction of long gun
records, which prevents law enforcement from using this
information to quickly identify the owners of crime guns.
Without these records, law enforcement must painstakingly
trace a recovered firearm from the manufacturer, through the
distributor, to the firearms dealer who sold the weapon. AB
1810 would also ensure the integrity of long gun records by
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removing reporting and recordkeeping exemptions that currently
apply to certain long gun transfers."
2)This bill adds long guns to DOJ's Automated Firearms System
(AFS) Database . An officer responding to a call or serving a
warrant would be able to access AFS and be forewarned of the
likelihood of encountering a long gun.
Through AFS, DOJ is able to use handgun records to identify
and disarm persons who have purchased a handgun and
subsequently become prohibited from possessing a firearm
because they have fallen into a prohibited class (felons,
specified misdemeanants, narcotic addicts and mentally ill
persons). DOJ has found many prohibited persons whose handguns
are in the DOJ database, are in also possession of long guns.
3)Support . According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun
Violence, "Data from DOJ shows that there are an increasing
number of long gun sales and transfers in California.
Specifically, average annual long gun sales have increased by
7.7% during the 2000-2009 period when compared to 1991-1999.
Moreover, crime gun trace requests for long guns have almost
tripled during the last three years. Finally, in implementing
its Armed and Prohibited Persons System Program, DOJ is
finding that 54% of illegal firearms recovered from prohibited
persons are long guns. The lack of long gun records results in
a huge deficiency in the AFS database and hampers law
enforcement efforts to solve gun crimes, identify illegal
trafficking channels and disarm prohibited persons, such as
criminals or domestic violence offenders."
4)Opposition . Gun-related organizations contend requiring
retention of long gun records, and the attendant
administrative costs of will force small gun retailers out of
business, resulting in job loss and decreasing state tax
revenue.
Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081