BILL NUMBER: AJR 45 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Feuer
(Principal coauthor: Senator DeSaulnier)
AUGUST 6, 2012
Relative to firearms.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 45, as introduced, Feuer. Firearms: assault weapons.
This measure would urge the President and Congress of the United
States to reauthorize the Federal Assault Weapons Ban.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, Assault weapons are a class of semiautomatic firearms
designed with military features that allow them to spray large
amounts of fire quickly and accurately. They are distinguishable from
standard sporting firearms by features such as pistol grips and the
ability to accept a detachable magazine; and
WHEREAS, Assault weapons are frequently used in mass shootings,
including the 1993 101 California Street attack which involved two
TEC-9 semiautomatic handguns, and the recent Aurora, Colorado
shooting which involved an AR-15 style semiautomatic assault rifle
with a 100-round ammunition drum which would have been prohibited
under the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which expired in 2004, if it
had been in effect; and
WHEREAS, The Federal Assault Weapons Ban, passed in 1994 with the
strong leadership of Senator Dianne Feinstein, banned certain models
of semiautomatic assault weapons, as well as high-capacity ammunition
magazines that hold more than 10 rounds; and
WHEREAS, Seven states, including California, have enacted laws
banning assault weapons. The District of Columbia and five large
urban cities in the United States have local laws banning assault
weapons. California and New Jersey have the most comprehensive
approaches to defining assault weapons. Originally passed in 1989,
California law bans roughly 75 assault weapon types, models, and
series, by name, and provides a one-feature generic test for rifles
and pistols; and
WHEREAS, We must not allow another tragedy to occur before the
national assault weapons ban is reenacted. The assault weapons ban
meant fewer Americans were killed by assault weapons. Studies show a
significant decrease in the use of these weapons in crimes committed
during the period of 1994 to 2004 when they were banned by the
federal law. During the first nine years of the ban, the use of
assault weapons in crime dropped by two-thirds. The number of gun
murders in the country dropped 7 percent during the ban; and
WHEREAS, Since the expiration of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban,
450 violent crimes involving assault weapons were committed and 750
individuals were shot by assault weapons, 350 of whom were killed;
and
WHEREAS, Even as the Supreme Court found an individual right to
gun ownership in the Second Amendment, the court observed that "l]ike
most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not
unlimited," it is "not a right to keep and carry any weapon
whatsoever." Furthermore, the court noted that there exists a
"historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of 'dangerous and
unusual weapons'"; and
WHEREAS, The accessibility of assault weapons, in conjunction with
large-capacity ammunition magazines, enables lethality on a
devastating scale. Because our borders are porous and only a small
number of states regulate assault weapons and large-capacity
magazines, without a comprehensive federal law even states that take
steps to protect their communities from these weapons are vulnerable
to criminals who use them; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature urges the President and the
Congress of the United States to reauthorize the Federal Assault
Weapons Ban, which Congress did not review in 2004; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the
Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative
from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the
author for appropriate distribution.