Amended  IN  Assembly  May 04, 2020

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2847

Introduced by Assembly Member Chiu

February 20, 2020

An act to amend Section 296 31910 of the Penal Code, relating to forensic evidence. firearms.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2847, as amended, Chiu. Forensic evidence collection. Firearms: unsafe handguns.
Existing law, subject to exceptions, generally makes it an offense to manufacture or sell an unsafe handgun, as defined, and requires the Department of Justice to compile a roster listing all of the handguns that have been tested and determined not to be unsafe handguns. Existing law establishes criteria for determining if a handgun is an unsafe handgun, including, for firearms manufactured after a certain date and not already listed on the roster, the lack of a chamber load indicator, magazine disconnect mechanism, and technology that transfers a microscopic array of characters from the firearm to the cartridge case when the firearm is fired, known as a microstamp. Existing law requires the microstamp to be transferred to the cartridge upon firing and to be imprinted in 2 or more places on the internal working parts of the handgun.
This bill, effective July 1, 2022, would revise the criteria for unsafe handguns by requiring the microstamp to be imprinted in one place on the interior of the handgun, and would require the department, for every new firearm added to the roster, to remove, as specified, 3 firearms from the roster that are not compliant with current requirements. By expanding the number of firearms the sale or manufacture of which would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The bill would authorize the department to adopt emergency regulations, as specified, to implement the provisions of this bill.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law, as amended by the DNA Fingerprint, Unsolved Crime and Innocence Protection Act, Proposition 69, approved by voters at the November 2, 2004, general election, requires a person who has been convicted of a felony offense, among others, to provide buccal swab samples, right thumbprints, and a full palm print impression of each hand, and any blood specimens or other biological samples required for law enforcement identification analysis. Existing law imposes these requirements regardless of when the crime charged or committed became a qualifying offense. Proposition 69 may be amended by a statute that is passed by a majority vote if the amendments are consistent with, and further the purposes of, the proposition.

This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NOYES   Local Program: NOYES  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The Unsafe Handgun Act is an essential consumer and public safety measure that was designed to ensure that handguns sold and manufactured in this state function properly and come equipped with lifesaving features that protect lawful users and aid law enforcement in identifying individuals who have criminally misused firearms to endanger the public.
(b) Data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Fatal Injury Reports indicate that California’s rate of unintentional shooting deaths has fallen substantially since the Unsafe Handgun Act’s initial provisions went into effect in 2001. In the preceding five years, between 1996–2000, nearly 400 Californians died as a result of unintentional shooting injuries. By 2013–17, the most recent five years of data available from the CDC, the rate of unintentional shooting deaths in California had fallen by nearly two-thirds.
(c) Among the Unsafe Handgun Act’s critical safety standards is the requirement that a new semiautomatic pistol model includes a chamber load indicator and magazine disconnect mechanism. These features alert a person handling a handgun that the weapon is loaded and ensure a handgun cannot fire a chambered cartridge if the magazine has been removed. Researchers have determined that these features are capable of saving many lives by preventing unintentional shootings.
(d) Another standard that is critical for public safety is the Unsafe Handgun Act’s requirement that a new semiautomatic pistol model includes a mechanism to imprint a unique microscopic array of characters onto the casing of each round fired by the weapon, that can be used to identify the weapon’s make, model, and serial number and assist law enforcement in identifying those who have criminally used firearms to endanger the public.
(e) Recent research indicates that across the nation, large numbers of shootings are never reported to law enforcement, and large numbers of fatal and nonfatal shootings go unsolved and undeterred. An in-depth investigation by The Washington Post found that across 52 of the nation’s largest cities, 53 percent of murders of African Americans never led to an arrest, let alone a conviction. Other investigative reports have indicated that homicides and attempted homicides involving firearms may be even less likely to lead to an arrest. Research reported by The Trace found that across 22 cities, 65 percent of fatal shootings involving an African American or Hispanic victim never led to an arrest. In California, the Department of Justice reported that from 2007–16, an average of 39 percent of homicides went unsolved annually. When shootings, homicides, and other firearm crimes are unsolved and undeterred, retaliatory cycles of violence, trauma, and vigilantism are more likely to erupt instead, leading to increased interpersonal gun violence and injury, and weakened trust in the justice system.
(f) Incorporating a chamber load indicator and magazine disconnect mechanism in more handgun models sold in California would likely reduce unintentional firearm deaths and injuries in this state, and help encourage the development and sale of handguns incorporating these basic product safety features nationally.
(g) Incorporating microstamping features in more handgun models sold in California would likely reduce interpersonal gun violence in this state by aiding law enforcement efforts to solve and deter shootings, homicides, and other gun-related crimes, and prevent cycles of retributive violence from occurring.
(h) Unfortunately, firearm manufacturers have obstructed full implementation of the Unsafe Handgun Act by refusing to develop and sell handguns that incorporate microstamping features, claiming it is impossible or impractical for them to do so. The Legislature rejects these claims for reasons including the following:
(1) Microstamping is feasible and reliable, as has been shown during live demonstrations at the California Highway Patrol testing range in Sacramento and the Los Angeles Police Academy, where legible microstamped characters were visible on all cartridges tested.
(2) The inventor of microstamping, Todd Lizotte, estimates that the costs of implementing microstamping are minimal: between $1.50 and $5.00 per firearm.
(3) The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute concedes that “microstamped characters that identify the make, model, and serial number of a semi-automatic pistol can be etched or imprinted on the tip of the pistol’s firing pin” and tests have shown it is feasible to do the same on the firearm breechface.
(i) The Legislature continues to believe that the requirements of the Unsafe Handgun Act serve consumer and public safety and are feasible and necessary. In light of efforts to obstruct this lifesaving law, the Legislature has considered and adopted the amendments contained in this act, including a provision to require that new semiautomatic pistol models have microstamped characters on one location on the interior surface or internal working parts of the pistol instead of two. The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute concedes this can be done on the pistol’s firing pin, and tests have shown that such imprints allow for successful identification of microstamped characters in 97 percent of cases.
(j) The Legislature adopts these and the other provisions in this Act in order to discourage further obstruction by the firearm industry, ensure that firearm manufacturers responsibly incorporate lifesaving features into more handguns sold in California, expedite the manufacture and sale of new semiautomatic pistol models equipped with microstamping features to help solve more firearm crimes and prevent cycles of interpersonal gun violence, and continue to protect Californians from interpersonal shootings, gun crimes, and unintentional shooting death and injury.

SEC. 2.

 Section 31910 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

31910.
 As used in this part, “unsafe handgun” means any pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person, for which any of the following is true:
(a) For a revolver:
(1) It does not have a safety device that, either automatically in the case of a double-action firing mechanism, or by manual operation in the case of a single-action firing mechanism, causes the hammer to retract to a point where the firing pin does not rest upon the primer of the cartridge.
(2) It does not meet the firing requirement for handguns.
(3) It does not meet the drop safety requirement for handguns.
(b) For a pistol:
(1) It does not have a positive manually operated safety device, as determined by standards relating to imported guns promulgated by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
(2) It does not meet the firing requirement for handguns.
(3) It does not meet the drop safety requirement for handguns.
(4) Commencing January 1, 2006, July 1, 2022, for a center fire all centerfire semiautomatic pistol pistols that is are not already listed on the roster pursuant to Section 32015, it does not have either a chamber load indicator, or a magazine disconnect mechanism. indicator.
(5) Commencing January 1, 2007, July 1, 2022, for all center fire centerfire or rimfire semiautomatic pistols that are not already listed on the roster pursuant to Section 32015, it does not have both a chamber load indicator and if it has a detachable magazine, a magazine disconnect mechanism. mechanism if it has a detachable magazine.

(6)Commencing January 1, 2006, for all rimfire semiautomatic pistols that are not already listed on the roster pursuant to Section 32015, it does not have a magazine disconnect mechanism, if it has a detachable magazine.

(7)

(6) (A) Commencing January 1, 2010, July 1, 2022, for all semiautomatic pistols that are not already listed on the roster pursuant to Section 32015, it is not designed and equipped with a microscopic array of characters that used to identify the make, model, and serial number of the pistol, etched or otherwise imprinted in two one or more places on the interior surface or internal working parts of the pistol, and that are transferred by imprinting on each cartridge case when the firearm is fired, provided that the Department of Justice certifies that the technology used to create the imprint is available to more than one manufacturer unencumbered by any patent restrictions. fired.
(B) The Attorney General may also approve a method of equal or greater reliability and effectiveness in identifying the specific serial number of a firearm from spent cartridge casings discharged by that firearm than that which is set forth in this paragraph, to be thereafter required as otherwise set forth by this paragraph where the Attorney General certifies that this new method is also unencumbered by any patent restrictions. Approval by the Attorney General shall include notice of that fact via regulations adopted by the Attorney General for purposes of implementing that method for purposes of this paragraph.
(C) The microscopic array of characters required by this section shall not be considered the name of the maker, model, manufacturer’s number, or other mark of identification, including any distinguishing number or mark assigned by the Department of Justice, within the meaning of Sections 23900 and 23920.
(7) The Department of Justice shall, for each semiautomatic pistol newly added to the roster pursuant to Section 32015, remove from the roster exactly three semiautomatic pistols lacking one or more of the applicable features described in paragraphs (4), (5), and (6) of subdivision (b) and added to the roster before July 1, 2022. Notwithstanding those paragraphs, each semiautomatic pistol removed from the roster pursuant to this subdivision shall be considered an unsafe handgun. The Attorney General shall remove semiautomatic pistols from the roster pursuant to this subdivision in reverse order of their dates of addition to the roster, beginning with the semiautomatic pistol added to the roster on the earliest date and continuing until each semiautomatic pistol on the roster includes each of the applicable features described in those paragraphs.

SEC. 3.

 (a) The Department of Justice may adopt emergency regulations pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code) to implement this act. The initial adoption of emergency regulations shall be deemed an emergency and necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, or general welfare.
(b) Emergency regulations adopted pursuant to this section shall be effective only until July 1, 2022, or until the adoption of regulations by the Attorney General through the regular rulemaking process, whichever comes first.

SEC. 4.

 No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.
SECTION 1.Section 296 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
296.

(a)The following persons shall provide buccal swab samples, right thumbprints, and a full palm print impression of each hand, and any blood specimens or other biological samples required pursuant to this chapter for law enforcement identification analysis:

(1)A person, including a juvenile, who is convicted of or pleads guilty or no contest to a felony offense, or is found not guilty by reason of insanity of a felony offense, or a juvenile who is adjudicated under Section 602 of the Welfare and Institutions Code for committing a felony offense.

(2)An adult person who is arrested for, or charged with, any of the following felony offenses:

(A)A felony offense specified in Section 290 or attempt to commit a felony offense described in Section 290, or a felony offense that imposes upon a person the duty to register in California as a sex offender under Section 290.

(B)Murder or voluntary manslaughter, or an attempt to commit murder or voluntary manslaughter.

(C)Commencing on January 1, 2009, an adult arrested or charged with a felony offense.

(3)A person, including a juvenile, who is required to register under Section 290 or 457.1 because of the commission of, or the attempt to commit, a felony or misdemeanor offense, or a person, including a juvenile, who is housed in a mental health facility or sex offender treatment program after referral to the facility or program by a court after being charged with a felony offense.

(4)The term “felony” as used in this subdivision includes an attempt to commit the offense.

(5)This chapter does not prohibit collection and analysis of specimens, samples, or print impressions as a condition of a plea for a non-qualifying offense.

(b)The provisions of this chapter and its requirements for submission of specimens, samples, and print impressions as soon as administratively practicable applies to all qualifying persons regardless of sentence imposed, including a sentence of death, life without the possibility of parole, or a life or indeterminate term, or any other disposition rendered in the case of an adult or juvenile tried as an adult, or whether the person is diverted, fined, or referred for evaluation, and regardless of disposition rendered or placement made in the case of juvenile who is found to have committed a felony offense or is adjudicated under Section 602 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.

(c)The provisions of this chapter and its requirements for submission of specimens, samples, and print impressions as soon as administratively practicable by qualified persons as described in subdivision (a) shall apply regardless of placement or confinement in a mental hospital or other public or private treatment facility, and shall include, but not be limited to, the following persons, including juveniles:

(1)A person committed to a state hospital or other treatment facility as a mentally disordered sex offender under Article 1 (commencing with Section 6300) of Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 6 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.

(2)A person who has a severe mental disorder as set forth in Article 4 (commencing with Section 2960) of Chapter 7 of Title 1 of Part 3 of the Penal Code.

(3)A person found to be a sexually violent predator pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with Section 6600) of Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 6 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.

(d)The provisions of this chapter are mandatory and apply whether or not the court advises a person, including a juvenile, that the person must provide the data bank and database specimens, samples, and print impressions as a condition of probation, parole, or a plea of guilty, no contest, or not guilty by reason of insanity, or an admission to any of the offenses described in subdivision (a).

(e)If at any stage of court proceedings the prosecuting attorney determines that specimens, samples, and print impressions required by this chapter have not already been taken from a person, as defined under subdivision (a), the prosecuting attorney shall notify the court orally on the record, or in writing, and request that the court order collection of the specimens, samples, and print impressions required by law. However, a failure by the prosecuting attorney or any other law enforcement agency to notify the court shall not relieve a person of the obligation to provide specimens, samples, and print impressions pursuant to this chapter.

(f)(1)Prior to final disposition or sentencing in the case, the court shall inquire and verify that the specimens, samples, and print impressions required by this chapter have been obtained and that this fact is included in the abstract of judgment or dispositional order in the case of a juvenile. The abstract of judgment issued by the court shall indicate that the court has ordered the person to comply with the requirements of this chapter and that the person shall be included in the state’s DNA and Forensic Identification Data Base and Data Bank program and be subject to this chapter.

(2)Failure by the court to verify specimen, sample, and print impression collection or enter these facts in the abstract of judgment or dispositional order in the case of a juvenile does not invalidate an arrest, plea, conviction, or disposition, or otherwise relieve a person from the requirements of this chapter.