BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  SB 1367
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 8, 2012

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                   SB 1367 (Fuller) - As Amended:  August 6, 2012 

          Policy Committee:                             Water, Parks and 
          Wildlife     Vote:                            13-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill allows a peace officer-active duty or honorably 
          retired-to carry a gun while hunting deer during archery-only 
          season.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Negligible state costs, if any.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  .  The author notes that peace officers are 
            authorized to carry firearms at most times.  The author 
            contends the current-law prohibition on carrying a firearm 
            while bow- hunting deer creates a dilemma for a bow-hunting 
            peace officer.  Such an officer must choose between 
            responsibly, but illegally, maintaining possession of his or 
            her firearm while on the hunt or legally, but irresponsibly, 
            abandoning the firearm in his or her vehicle while he or she 
            treks miles, on foot, in search of deer.  The author also 
            notes that hunters encounter potential dangers in the woods, 
            including mountain lions, bears and illegal marijuana grows, 
            and that peace officers in possession of firearms would be 
            better protected from these dangers.

           2)Background.   The Department of Fish and Game (DFG) regulates 
            hunting in California.  In order to legally hunt deer, a 
            hunter must pay a fee to DFG to obtain a deer tag, which the 
            department issues in limited numbers.  During the general deer 
            hunting season, authorized hunters may use firearms or archery 
            equipment to take deer.  However, prior to the opening of the 








                                                                  SB 1367
                                                                  Page  2

            general deer hunting season, DFG permits archery-only deer 
            hunts, during which a relatively small number of deer are 
            killed.  Current law prevents participants in archery-only 
            deer hunts from possessing a firearm.  

            According to DFG, the prohibition on firearms primarily is 
            motivated by a concern over poaching:  it is difficult for DFG 
            wardens to determine if a deer, killed and dressed in the 
            field, was legally slain by an arrow or illegally by a bullet.

           3)Hobson's Choice, or Just Leave the Gun at Home.   As noted, 
            current law allows active duty and honorably retired peace 
            officers to carry firearms; however, it does not require them 
            to do so.  Conceivably, peace officers intending to hunt deer 
            with bow and arrow could leave their firearms at home, thereby 
            remedying the dilemma described by the author.  

           4)There are Dangers in the Wilderness.   Nonetheless, the dangers 
            cited by the author, while real, are rare and, to some extent, 
            avoidable.  According to DFG, there were 16 verified mountain 
            lion attacks between 1890 and 2007, and none more recently; 12 
            verified bear attacks since 1980; and six reports since 2009 
            of hunters being threatened by marijuana growers, though no 
            injuries.  While armed peace officers may be better able to 
            protect themselves from such dangers through the use of 
            firearms, to the extent their arrows offer insufficient 
            defense, so would any other gun-armed archer hunting deer. 

           5)Support.   This bill is supported by the National Rifle 
            Association (NRA) and the California Rifle and Pistol 
            Association (both sponsors) and the Peace Officers Research 
            Association of California.  

           6)Opposition.   At the time this analysis was prepared, this 
            committee had not received any formal notices of opposition to 
            this bill, though a Senate committee analysis lists Paw Pac as 
            an opponent.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081