Amended  IN  Assembly  April 07, 2021
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 18, 2021

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 876

Introduced by Assembly Member Gabriel
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Chiu and Wicks)

February 17, 2021

An act to amend Section 31910 of, and to add Section 13660 to to, the Penal Code, relating to law enforcement. firearms.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 876, as amended, Gabriel. Law enforcement. Firearms.

Existing

(1) 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, beginning July 1, 2022, requires all handguns not already listed on the roster to be equipped with technology that transfers a microscopic array of characters from the handgun to the cartridge case when the handgun is fired, known as a microstamp. Existing law requires all firearms acquired by a law enforcement agency to be entered as an institutional weapon into the Automated Firearms System (AFS) via the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS).
This bill would require all handguns, with the exception of revolvers, as defined, purchased on or after July 1, 2023, that are owned, used, possessed, or otherwise carried by state, county, city, or other law enforcement officers while on duty to be microstamped within 90 days of purchase or acquisition. The bill would also require all handguns used by any state, county, city, or other law enforcement officer while on duty to be entered into AFS via CLETS within 90 days of acquisition. By requiring local law enforcement to comply with these provisions, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

(2) Existing law, subject to certain 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.
Existing law, commencing July 1, 2022, requires that a handgun, to be included on the roster, be designed and equipped with microscopic characters used to identify the pistol, imprinted on the interior of the pistol and transferred to each cartridge case when the firearm is fired.
This bill would, until July 1, 2022, reinstate a previous requirement that those microscopic characters be imprinted in 2 or more places on the interior of the pistol, provided that the department certifies that the technology used to create the imprint is available to more than one manufacturer unencumbered by any patent restrictions.
Existing law, commencing July 1, 2022, also precludes from inclusion on the list a firearm that is not already on the list if it does not have a chamber load indicator or magazine disconnect mechanism, as specified.
This bill would preclude a firearm from the list if it doesn’t have a chamber load indicator or magazine disconnect mechanism and wasn’t on the roster as of 2006.
The bill would make other nonsubstantive conforming changes.
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 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

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


SECTION 1.

 Section 13660 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

13660.
 (a) All handguns purchased or acquired on or after July 1, 2023, which are described in subdivision (b), shall, within 90 days of purchase or acquisition, be equipped with a microscopic array of characters used to identify the make, model, and serial number of the handgun, etched or otherwise imprinted in one or more places on the interior surface or internal working parts of the handgun, and that are transferred by imprinting on each cartridge case when the firearm is fired.
(b) (1) This section applies to all of the following:
(A) Any handgun owned by any state, county, city, city and county, or other law enforcement agency.
(B) Any handgun used, possessed, or otherwise carried by a state, county, city, city and county, or other peace officer while on duty.
(2) This section does not apply to a handgun that is a revolver.
(c) All handguns described in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) shall, within 90 days of acquisition, be entered as an institutional weapon into the Automated Firearms System (AFS) via the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS) by the state, county, city, city and county, or other law enforcement agency. Any law enforcement agency without access to the AFS shall arrange with the sheriff of the county in which the agency is located to input this information via this system.

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 July 1, 2022, for For all centerfire semiautomatic pistols that are not not, as of January 1, 2006, already listed on the roster pursuant to Section 32015, it does not have a chamber load indicator.
(5) Commencing July 1, 2022, for For all centerfire or rimfire semiautomatic pistols that are not not, as of January 1, 2006, already listed on the roster pursuant to Section 32015, it does not have a magazine disconnect mechanism if it has a detachable magazine.
(6) Commencing January 1, 2010, until 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 used to identify the make, model, and serial number of the pistol, etched or otherwise imprinted in two 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.

(6)

(7) (A) Commencing 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 used to identify the make, model, and serial number of the pistol, etched or otherwise imprinted in 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.
(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)

(8) 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) (7) 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.

 No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution for certain costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district because, in that regard, 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.
However, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains other costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
SEC. 2.

If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.