2005 New and Amended California Firearms Legislation

Effective January 1, 2006, the California Penal Code (PC) will include new as well as revised weapons code sections. This bulletin provides a brief summary of these changes in law. For more detailed language, you may contact the California State Capitol Legislative Bill Room at (916) 445-2323 to obtain copies of these bills (order by statute year and chapter number) or you may access the full text of these bills via the Internet at the Legislative Counsel's Bill Information website.

AB 1060 (Stats. 2005, ch. 715) (Liu)

• Requires that all firearms that are in the inventory of the licensee be stored within the licensed location and be secured as specified in(PC 12071).
• Repeals provisions that allowed for the transfer of a firearm through a county sheriff's department on a form prescribed by the DOJ, in counties with a population of less than 200,000 persons (PC 12084).
• Requires law enforcement agencies to report information related to firearms held by a law enforcement agency for safekeeping directly into the Automated Firearms System (AFS) that is administered and maintained by the DOJ (PC 11108).

SB 48 (Stats. 2005, ch. 681) (Scott)

• Makes ammunition vendors criminally liable for selling ammunition to underage purchasers unless they have checked bonafide identification (e.g., issued by a federal, state, county, or municipal government, or subdivision or agency thereof, including, but not limited to, a motor vehicle operator's license, California state identification card, identification card issued to a member of the armed forces, or other form of identification that bears the name, date of birth, description, and picture of the person). The law for the sale of ammunition is thus similar to the law for the sale of alcohol (PC 12316).
• Allows ammunition vendors to sell ammunition or reloaded ammunition that can be used in both a rifle and a handgun to persons at least 18 years of age but less than 21 years of age only if the vendor reasonably believes the ammunition is being acquired for use in a rifle and not a handgun (PC 12316).

SB 269 (Stats. 2005, ch. 683) (Dutton)

• Exempts from unsafe handgun testing, as specified, single-shot pistols with a barrel length of not less than six inches and an overall length of at least 10 ½ inches when the handle, frame or receiver and barrel are assembled (PC 12133).

AB 86 (Stats. 2005, ch. 167) (Levine)

• Restricts local law enforcement agencies from purging lost/stolen firearm records from the Automated Firearms Systems (AFS) until they are recovered. Accordingly, local law enforcement agencies must now maintain records of lost/stolen firearms in their files indefinitely or until the firearms have been recovered or it has been determined that the lost/stolen records were entered in error. Also, restricts local law enforcement agencies from purging records of firearms that are "Under Observation". Such records must be retained by the agency until the firearms are no longer under observation. Consequently, in an effort to insure that above conditions are met, DOJ will no longer accept batch requests for purging of AFS law enforcement records.
• Requires the DOJ to retain an Automated Firearms System (AFS) record of a lost/stolen firearm until the firearm is found, recovered, no longer under observation, or it is determined that the record was entered in error. Requires information about lost/stolen non-serialized property uniquely inscribed to be entered directly into the appropriate DOJ automated system (P.C. 11108).

AB 88 (Stats. 2005, ch. 690) (Koretz)

• Specifies that each illegal assault weapon or .50 BMG rifle possessed by a defendant can be the basis of a separately punishable offense, except as a first violation that involves one or two guns, subject to certain conditions as specified (PC 12280).

AB 1288 (Stats. 2005, ch. 702) (Chu)

• Mandates the court presiding over a domestic violence case to issue or consider issuing a firearms prohibition order, where good cause for its issuance exists, even if the court did not issue a stay away order in the domestic violence case. Relinquishment of any firearms owned or possessed by the subject is required if such an order is issued (PC 136.2).
• Allows law enforcement to advise certain domestic violence victims if the state database reflects that their abuser purchased or possesses a firearm. A victim who received this information could disclose it to others only to the extent that he or she believed it necessary to protect himself, herself, or a third party from bodily harm (PC 11106).

SB 489 (Stats. 2003, ch. 500) (Scott) (2003 bill - Provisions are operative beginning 1/1/2006)

• Requires that effective January 1, 2006, no semiautomatic centerfire pistol model may be added to the roster of handguns certified for sale in California unless it has a chamber load indicator or, if it has a detachable magazine, a magazine disconnect mechanism. Also effective January 1, 2006, no rimfire semiautomatic pistol that has a detachable magazine may be added to the certified list of handguns for sale in California unless it has a magazine disconnect mechanism. Handgun models that have been placed on the roster prior to the new requirements becoming operative may remain on the roster without these features (PC §§ 12126, 12130).