BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1663 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 13, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Lorena Gonzalez, Chair AB 1663 (Chiu) - As Introduced January 14, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Public Safety |Vote:|5 - 2 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill amends the definition of an assault weapon as it pertains to rifles and defines "detachable magazines" and "fixed magazines". Specifically, this bill: 1)Classifies a semiautomatic centerfire rifle which does not have a fixed magazine with the capacity to accept no more than 10 rounds, as an assault weapon. AB 1663 Page 2 2)Eliminates specific characteristics from the definition of what constitutes an assault weapon; thus expanding the universe of firearms that qualify as assault weapons. 3)Requires registration with the Department of Justice (DOJ) of any assault weapon that does not have a fixed magazine and was lawfully possessed between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2016, including those weapons with an ammunition feeding device that can be removed readily from the firearm with the use of a tool, and by the person who, on or after January 1, 2017, lawfully possesses that firearm. Registration of the firearm must occur by July 1, 2018. 4)All other existing prohibitions on possession, sale or manufacture of assault weapons apply to firearms redefined as assault weapons. FISCAL EFFECT: 1)Significant cost to DOJ (Dealers' Record of Sale Account), $1.8 million in 2016-17, $2.7 million in 2017-18, and $1.3 million annually thereafter. DOJ estimates two million assault weapons will be registered to 500,000 different owners. These costs include additional staff, adoption of regulations, and one-time information technology development to implement a public-facing application that allows the public to register firearms classified as assault weapons. AB 1663 allows DOJ to charge a fee of up to $15 per person. 2)The use of a "new" assault weapon by an individual in the commission of a crime may result in additional time served in state prison or county jail. Failure to register an assault weapon is a misdemeanor. This cost may be moderate, however, AB 1663 Page 3 difficult to quantify: a) According to the California Department of Corrections (CDCR), the contracted out-of-state bed rate is $29,000. If every year, two individuals serve four additional years in state prison, the first-year cost would be $58,000, $116,000 the second, $174,000 the third, and $232,000 every year thereafter. b) Local costs for incarceration are nonreimbursable, but are offset to a degree by fine revenue. COMMENTS: 1)Background. In response to a proliferation of shootings involving semi-automatic weapons, the California Legislature passed the Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Control Act (AWCA) in 1989. The immediate cause of the AWCA's enactment was a random shooting earlier that year at the Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, California. An individual armed with an AK-47 semi-automatic weapon opened fire on the schoolyard, where 300 pupils were enjoying their morning recess. Five children ages six to nine were killed, and one teacher and 29 children were wounded. In 1999, the Legislature amended the AWCA in order to broaden its coverage and to render it more flexible in response to technological developments in the manufacture of semiautomatic weapons. Current law defines an "assault weapon" as one of certain specified rifles and pistols, including a semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and has at least one of the following: a) A pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon; b) A thumbhole stock; AB 1663 Page 4 c) A vertical handgrip; d) A folding or telescoping stock; e) A grenade launcher or flare launcher; f) A flash suppressor; or, g) A forward handgrip. Current law defines a "detachable magazine" as any ammunition feeding device that can be removed readily from the firearm with neither disassembly of the firearm action nor use of a tool being required. A bullet or ammunition cartridge is considered a tool. Ammunition feeding device includes any belted or linked ammunition, but does not include clips, en bloc clips, or stripper clips that load cartridges into the magazine. Current law also provides that unlawful possession of an assault weapon is an alternate felony-misdemeanor and it is punished by imprisonment in a county jail for a period not exceeding one year, or by imprisonment for 16 months, two or three years. However, a first violation of these provisions is punishable by a fine not exceeding $500 if the person was found in possession of no more than two firearms and certain specified conditions are met. Furthermore, under current law, any person who within California manufactures, imports into California, offers for sale, or who gives or lends any assault weapon with specified exceptions is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment in state prison for four, six, or eight years. 2)Purpose. According to the author, AB 1663 addresses the heart of the limitations in the AWCA, and fulfills its original intent: to prohibit firearms that provide the ability to detach a magazine and rapidly reload, resulting in what ultimately is the power of the shooter to have virtually unlimited killing capacity. AB 1663 prohibits the future sale, purchase, manufacture, importation, or transfer in California of semi-automatic rifles that can accept detachable magazines. AB 1663 Page 5 High-capacity detachable ammunition magazines allow shooters to expel large amounts of ammunition quickly and have no sporting purpose. However, in California an ammunition magazine is not viewed as detachable if a "tool" is required to remove it from the weapon. The "bullet button" is a release button for the ammunition magazine that can be activated with the tip of a bullet. With the tip of the bullet replacing the use of a finger in activating the release, the button can be pushed and the detachable ammunition magazine removed and replaced in seconds. This bill would do away with the six prohibited features in current law. The argument is that a rifle outfitted with the features that make a gun look like a military-style weapon, e.g., pistol grip, flash suppressor, collapsible stock, etcetera, may be more dangerous than one that lacks these features, but these features may not pose the greatest public safety concern. Conversely, the lack of these features does not make a rifle less lethal than one that has them. Under this bill, even a "featureless" semiautomatic rifle, like the Mini-14, would be required to have a fixed magazine, holding no more than 10 rounds of ammunition. The use of an assault weapon in the commission of a crime carries additional punishments, and in some cases the sentence is served in state prison instead of county jail. By expanding the universe of assault weapons, this bill will result in additional commitments to county jails and state prison. 3)Support: According to the California Chapters of the Brady Campaign, " the industry has been able to exploit a loophole in the [ACWA] regulations that allows for the continued sale and possession of fully functional assault weapons. Assembly Bill 1663 seeks to definitively close the loopholes in a manner that will prevent the firearm industry from continuing to market these lethal military-style weapons in California. AB 1663 Page 6 "Mass shootings perpetrated by unbalanced individuals using assault weapons are reported all too often in the news. As was tragically demonstrated at Sandy Hook School and in the recent San Bernardino shooting, the ability to rapidly reload adds enormously to the carnage. An exchangeable magazine can be reloaded in one second and is the key feature that enables the rapid rate of continuous fire that can kill many people very quickly. Requiring a fixed magazine on future sales or transfers of long guns would, over time, decrease the lethality in future mass shootings." 4)Opposition: According to the Firearms Policy Coalition, "AB 1663 seeks to vastly expand the Assault Weapons Control Act, regulations that ban (by several methods, including make and model, function, cosmetic features, and caliber) popular, constitutionally-protected firearms that are in common use for lawful purposes across the United States. "AB 1663 would move the goal posts yet again for the millions of law abiding residents and visitors who have quite reasonably, given the volume, struggled for years to keep up with the frenetic pace of California's ever-increasing firearm regulations?" 5)Related Legislation: SB 1664 (Levine), would redefine what constitutes an assault weapon in order to close the bullet button loophole. SB 1664 would also require registration of weapons which now fall under the new definition but which previously were not prohibited. SB 1664 is also scheduled for hearing in today. 6)Prior Legislation: a) SB 47 (Yee), of the 2013-2014 Legislative Session, would have closed the bullet button loophole by redefining an assault weapon in statute as 'a semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that does not have a fixed magazine' and has any one of several specified features. SB 47 was held on this AB 1663 Page 7 Committee's Suspense file. b) SB 374 (Steinberg), of the 2013-2014 Legislative Session, would have closed the bullet button loophole by redefining an assault weapon as it pertains to rifles and defines "detachable magazines" and "fixed magazines." Specifies that rifles which are not assault weapons have fixed magazines. SB 347 was vetoed by the Governor. SB 347 was vetoed by the Governor. In his veto message, the Governor stated, in part: "The State of California already has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, including bans on military-style assault rifles and high-capacity ammunition magazines. "Moreover, hundreds of thousands of current gun owners would have to register their rifles as assault weapons and would be banned from selling or transferring them in the future. "I don't believe that this bill's blanket ban on semi-automatic rifles would reduce criminal activity or enhance public safety enough to warrant this infringement on gun owners' rights." c) SB 249 (Yee), of the 2011-12 Legislative Session, would have prohibited any person from importing, making, selling, loaning, transferring or possessing any conversion kit designed to convert certain firearms with a fixed magazine into firearms with a detachable magazine. SB 249 was held on this Committee's Suspense file. Analysis Prepared by:Pedro Reyes / APPR. / (916) 319-2081 AB 1663 Page 8