pax version 1.2 BILL ANALYSIS SENATE COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY David Roberti, Chairman 1993-94 Regular Session SB 46x (Roberti) As introduced Hearing date: May 10, 1994 Penal Code SAH:rn ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN - ADDITION OF "GENERIC" DESCRIPTION OF BANNED WEAPONS HISTORY Source: Author; State Treasurer Prior Legislation: SB 263 - Chapter 954, Statutes of 1991 AB 357 - Chapter 19, Statutes of 1989 SB 292 - Chapter 18, Statutes of 1989 Support: Legal Community Against Violence; Handgun Control; Los Angeles District Attorney Opposition: National Rifle Association; Gun Owners of California; California Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc. KEY ISSUE SHOULD A "GENERIC DEFINITION" OF ASSAULT WEAPONS BE ADDED TO THE EXISTING LIST OF ENUMERATED ASSAULT WEAPONS WHICH ARE GENERALLY PROHIBITED BY EXISTING LAW IN CALIFORNIA, THEREBY BANNING ADDITIONAL WEAPONS FROM THE STATE? PURPOSE Existing law, the Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Control Act of 1989, generally prohibits the sale, manufacture, distribution, transport, import, possession, or lending of assault weapons in California. Violations of the Act are a felony. The Act contains a list which enumerates the designated semiautomatic rifles, pistols, and shotguns which are assault weapons and subject to the Act. (Penal Code Sections 12280 and 12276) (More) SB 46x (Roberti) Page 2 The Attorney General is authorized to file a petition in Superior Court to declare that additional weapons are to be subject to the Act's prohibitions on the basis that those weapons are essentially identical to weapons on the list of prohibited assault weapons. (Penal Code Section 12276.5) Persons who lawfully possessed an assault weapon prior to June 1, 1989, were allowed a period of time to register such weapons with the Department of Justice and to keep such weapons subject to specified restrictions. Any persons lawfully owning weapons subsequently added by the Superior Court to the prohibited category of weapons will be allowed a period of time to register and keep those weapons as well. (Penal Code Section 12285) This bill proposes to add an objective definition of additional assault weapons which are restricted in California. The bill adds "semiautomatic" rifles and pistols which accept detachable magazines and which in addition have at least two of specified characteristics. Semiautomatic shotguns are also added which have at least two of specified characteristics, one of which may be the ability to accept a detachable magazine. This bill would allow any person lawfully possessing an assault weapon which would be restricted upon enactment of the bill to use the existing procedures in law to register such weapons within 90 days of the effective date of this bill. The purpose of this bill is to add additional assault weapons to the existing restrictions applicable to such weapons in the Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Control Act of 1989. COMMENT 1. Need for this bill. Since 1989, the Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Control Act of 1989 has restricted assault weapons in California. The Department of Justice has been engaged in an on-going court action to add a "copycat" weapon - the Colt Sporter - to the list of restricted weapons. Federal Representative Stark recently requested data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms which shows that the California restrictions on assault weapons are working. That data measured law enforcement requests for "traces" on assault weapons. As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle on April 26, 1994: "The numbers, which reflect how many assault weapons were confiscated by law enforcement officials, showed that federal traces in California stabilized after the state ban as they soared nationally...Assault weapons make up 1 percent of (More) SB 46x (Roberti) Page 3 all guns, but account for 8 percent of federal criminal traces, said bureau spokesman Jack Killorin. 'I'd be hard put to think of another type of weapon that is eight times more popular with criminals than with legitimate shooters,' he said. 'That's telling us something important.'" Congressman Stark also wrote a May 4, 1994, letter to members of Congress which states: "After examining data provided by the FBI on police killed by guns between 1986 and 1993, it becomes clear that although less than 1% of all privately-owned American guns are assault weapons, they are 9% of the guns used by cop killers." (These are nationwide statistics and do not reflect specific statistics for states with restrictions on assault weapons versus states without.) Adding an objective, "generic", definition of assault weapons to the current California law will cover additional assault weapons, including not only "copycat" models of the current list of weapons but weapons designed, manufactured, and sold since the 1989 law took effect. 2. Proposed new language. This bill proposes the following objective definitions of assault weapons: -A semiautomatic rifle that has an ability to accept a detachable magazine and has at least two of the following: (A) A folding or telescoping stock. (B) A pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon. (C) A bayonet mount. (D) A flash suppressor or threaded barrel designed to accommodate a flash suppressor. -A semiautomatic pistol that has an ability to accept a detachable magazine and has at least two of the following: (A) An ammunition magazine that attaches to the pistol outside of the pistol grip. (B) A threaded barrel capable of accepting a barrel extender. (C) A shroud that is attached to, or partially or completely encircles, the barrel and that permits the shooter to hold the firearm with the nontrigger hand without being burned. (D) A manufactured weight of 50 ounces or more when the pistol is unloaded. (More) SB 46x (Roberti) Page 4 -A semiautomatic shotgun that has at least two of the following: (A) A folding or telescoping stock. (B) A pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon. (C) A fixed magazine capacity in excess of six rounds. (D) An ability to accept a detachable magazine. NOTE: these definitions are virtually identical to the language which will be discussed in conference in Congress as the debate continues on a federal assault weapons ban. 3. How would the anticipated Federal ban on assault weapons affect California? The anticipated enactment of the new federal ban on assault weapons will apply prospectively only. The House and the Senate in Washington have both passed a prospective ban which lists 19 named assault weapons and contains a "generic" description of assault weapons as well. It will stop the future manufacture, sale, and transfer of assault weapons in this country manufactured after the effective date of the new federal law. It will also effectively stop the importation of assault weapons manufactured before that effective date but not otherwise legally in the United States prior to the ban. However, all the hundreds of thousands of assault weapons in this country legally in other states will still be legally transferred and sold in the United States unless a given state itself has restrictions on assault weapons, such as the California law enacted in 1989. 4. Both the Federal law under discussion and the proposed language in SB 46x apply to rimfire - .22 caliber - assault weapons. The objective description of assault weapons contained in this bill - and in the federal bills - would restrict both centerfire and .22 caliber assault weapons which otherwise are included in the definitions. While military assault weapons, with the possible exception of training weapons, have been manufactured in larger calibers, some manufacturers are reportedly making and marketing assault weapons in .22 rimfire caliber. For example, one study states that: "...some handgun and assault weapon manufacturers have begun advertising their weapons as 'plinkers' ready-made for target shooting...The 1992 Feather Industries catalog offers an assault rifle in both 9mm and .22 caliber with collapsible stock and high-capacity detachable ammunition magazine. The SB 46x (Roberti) Page 5 catalog features a father handing the gun to his baseball-capped son...the advertising copy promises that the rifle is 'quickly becoming the choice of the next generation|'" (Cease Fire, Sugarman and Rand, page 19) Other .22 caliber assault weapons described and pictured in the 1994 Gun Digest (pages 372-374) include the Feather AT-22 Semi-Auto Carbine (20-shot magazine), the Federal Engineering XC222 Auto Carbine (30-shot magazine), the Grendel R-31 Auto Carbine (30-shot magazine), and the Mitchell M-16A-1/22 Rifle (15-shot magazine). (All the magazine sizes mentioned are for the magazine sold with the weapon; after-market larger capacity magazines are likely available.) The current list of assault weapons restricted in California are all centerfire weapons, i.e., they use bullets which have a primer in the center of the base of the bullet which is struck/detonated by a firing pin which strikes that center. Modern larger caliber weapons - rifles, pistols, and shotguns - are all centerfire. The only modern common rimfire caliber is the .22 which has primer material in the base of the bullet and is struck on the rim of the base and detonated by the firing pin. All of the 19 listed assault weapons in the federal bills are centerfire as well. ***********