Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns
From: [wd 6 cmu] at [netcom.com] (Eric Williams)
Subject: AB 2546: CA bullet licensing
Date: Thu, 7 Apr 1994 06:48:22 GMT
I was poking around in the California legislature data and noticed the
following. Heads up!
======================================================================
pax version 1.2
BILL NUMBER: AB 2546 AMENDED 04/04/94
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 4, 1994
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Polanco
JANUARY 19, 1994
An act to add Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 12830) to
Title 2 of Part 4 of the Penal Code, relating to ammunition.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2546, as amended, Polanco. Ammunition: registration and
licensing.
Existing law establishes prohibitions with regard to the
manufacture, importation, sale, distribution, or possession of
specified ammunition.
This bill, in addition, would restrict the purchase, sale,
and distribution of bullets, casings, or cartridges in this
state to duly registered and licensed buyers and vendors, as
defined, who shall meet certain fee and operational
requirements. The bill also would require that the sale and
distribution of bullets, casings, or cartridges in this state be
limited only to those cartridges consisting of bullets and
casings that carry an identification mark affixed by a
registered and licensed manufacturer, as defined, who shall meet
certain fee and operational requirements. The bill, among
other things, would require that the ammunition be packaged and
distributed exclusively in boxes that are clearly labeled with a
lot number, containing not less than 25 nor more than 100
cartridges per box. The bill would require the Attorney General
to develop an electronic data base (California Ammunition
Registry) and an integrated electronic data transmission
verification system (EDTVS) for tracking the distribution, sale,
and possession of ammunition available in this state. {+
The bill would prohibit the manufacture, transfer, or
possession of any type of caseless ammunition, as defined. +}
Because this bill would create new crimes, it would impose a
state-mandated local program.
The bill also would create the Ammunition Registration
Account in the General Fund, from which funds are to be
appropriated by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act to fund
the department's actual costs of implementing this bill, as
specified.
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.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:
yes. State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of
the following:
(a) Violent crime involving firearms is escalating year by
year in California and in the nation, causing tremendous,
needless, and tragic loss of life and human potential.
(b) Handguns were used to murder 12,489 people in the United
States in 1992, up 10 percent from 1991 and up 65 percent from
1988 (source: FBI Uniform Crime Report). More than 5,350 of
those killed by guns in 1991 were children under the age of 19.
As many as 80,000 minor children were wounded, requiring
treatment at an average cost of fourteen thousand dollars
($14,000) each (source: National Association of Children's
Hospitals). In California, more than 90,000 robberies and
assaults were perpetrated with firearms in 1992, while the 3,920
people who were murdered that year included 2,426 people who
were murdered with handguns (source: California Department of
Justice Law Enforcement Information Center).
(c) According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and
Firearms, more than 200 million firearms, including 67 million
handguns, are currently in the possession of private citizens,
while 285,000 people are licensed to sell guns. The sheer
magnitude of these numbers makes the task of controlling the
future spread of guns effectively impossible.
(d) Because of the widespread dispersion of firearms among
all socioeconomic groups, and the increase in
firearms-associated violent crime in recent years, virtually all
Californians agree on the need to find effective means of
controlling the influence and spread of gun-related violence in
order to save lives and reduce the fear of becoming a victim of
violent crime.
(e) An effective means of controlling the killing potential
of the tens of millions of guns that are already pervasive in
society is the effective and efficient regulation of ammunition.
If the availability of ammunition were controlled and
monitored, criminals would be much less likely to gain access to
it, and when they did, ammunition found at crime scenes would
lead straight to the perpetrators of the crime. Therefore, the
Legislature intends that this act will require the regulation
and monitoring of the distribution of all ammunition throughout
California by requiring the licensure of manufacturers, vendors,
and buyers of ammunition and ammunition components, {- and -}
by requiring the initiation of individually identified bullets
and casings so as to effect the monitoring of the ammunition {+
, and by prohibiting any and all caseless ammunition that does
not leave a solid casing remaining after a bullet is fired +} .
SEC. 2. Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 12830) is added to
Title 2 of Part 4 of the Penal Code, to read:
CHAPTER 7. THE CALIFORNIA AMMUNITION REGISTRATION AND
LICENSING ACT
Article 1. General Provisions
12830. This act shall be known and may be cited as the 1995
California Ammunition Registration and Licensing Act.
12831. For purposes of this chapter, the following
definitions shall apply:
(a) "Bullet" means the projectile that is propelled from a
cartridge upon the discharge of a firearm.
(b) "Buyer" or "purchaser" means any person, other than a
vendor, who purchases or who is in possession of cartridges,
bullets, or casings in this state.
(c) "Cartridge" or "ammunition" means the entire body,
consisting of a bullet and a casing, of any form of ammunition
that is designed and manufactured for the express purpose of
being fired or discharged from, or the primary use of which is
the firing or discharge from, a handgun, rifle, or shotgun.
(d) "Casing" means the {- entirety of a cartridge that is not
a bullet.
(e) -} {+ portion of a cartridge that encases the bullet,
primer, and propellant, and that remains after a bullet is
fired.
(e) "Caseless ammunition" means any type of ammunition that
does not leave a tangible solid casing once a bullet is fired.
(f) +} "Department" means the Department of Justice. {-
(f) -} {+
(g) +} "Identification marking," "mark," or "marker" means
any physical imprint, alpha-numerical code, or other means
specified in this chapter or by regulation, of identifying a
cartridge, bullet, or casing sufficiently to allow law
enforcement authorities to determine precisely the manufacturer,
vendor, and purchaser of an individual cartridge, bullet, or
casing. {-
(g) -} {+
(h) +} "Manufacturer" means any person, including a
corporation, firm, partnership, association, or other legal
relationship that manufactures ammunition, including cartridges,
bullets, or casings, for handguns, rifles, or shotguns, or that
imports ammunition into this state from outside the territorial
limits of the United States. {-
(h) -} {+
(i) +} "Unmarked ammunition" means ammunition that is not
carrying an identification mark affixed by a licensed
manufacturer as required pursuant to this chapter. {-
(i) -} {+
(j) +} "Vendor" or "seller" means any person, including a
corporation, firm, partnership, cooperative, association,
not-for-profit corporation, or other entity that sells,
distributes, exchanges, transports for purpose of sale or
distribution, or otherwise makes available to another person or
persons bullets, casings, or cartridges, whether for sale at
wholesale or at retail, at a commonly recognized place of
business, or at any other location in this state.
12832. (a) This chapter restricts the privilege of
purchasing bullets, casings, or cartridges in this state to duly
registered and licensed buyers, restricts the privilege of
selling or distributing bullets, casings, or cartridges in this
state to duly registered and licensed vendors, and requires that
the sale and distribution of bullets, casings, or cartridges in
this state be limited only to those cartridges consisting of
bullets and casings that carry an identification mark affixed by
a licensed manufacturer.
(b) This chapter establishes the authority of the Attorney
General to develop an electronic data base system for tracking
the distribution, sale, and possession of ammunition available
in this state.
(c) This chapter shall be liberally construed so as to effect
its purposes and conditions.
Article 2. Manufacturers of Bullets, Casings, or
Cartridges
12835. (a) Every manufacturer wishing to sell or distribute
bullets, casings, or cartridges in this state shall, as a
condition of registration and licensure, propose to the Attorney
General a method of producing an identification marking on all
bullets and casings.
(b) The marking shall be sufficient to provide a permanent,
"cradle-to-grave" means of identifying any bullet, casing, or
cartridge that is sold in this state and that may be recovered
by law enforcement authorities at a crime scene, and the means
of tracing the bullet or casing to the manufacturer, vendor, and
purchaser of the cartridge.
(c) The Attorney General shall approve or disapprove a
manufacturer's proposed method within 60 days of receiving the
proposal, and shall notify the manufacturer in writing of its
decision. If disapproved, the Attorney General may suggest
alternative methods of marking ammunition that will comply with
this section.
12836. No manufacturer shall produce bullets, casings, or
cartridges for sale in this state, or otherwise supply any
ammunition to, any vendor or other person in this state, unless
all of the following conditions are met:
(a) Every bullet and casing carries an identification marking
that has been approved by the Attorney General pursuant to
subdivision (c) of Section 12835.
(b) Ammunition is packaged and distributed exclusively in
boxes that are clearly labeled with a lot number and that
contain not less than 25, and not more than 100 cartridges.
(c) The Attorney General has been provided, in advance of the
ammunition {+ either +} arriving in this state, {+ for
ammunition manufactured or produced outside of the state, or
leaving the site of manufacture or production, for ammunition
manufactured or produced in the state, +} all of the following
information:
(1) A list of identification markings paired with information
regarding the size and other pertinent physical features of all
cartridges distributed, transported, or sold to vendors or
other persons in this state. The list shall be in a form that
is readily usable by the operator of, and that can be
machine-read into, the electronic registry established pursuant
to Section 12862. {- The -} {+ For ammunition manufactured or
produced outside of the state, the +} list shall be submitted so
as to be received by the Attorney General at least 14 days
prior to the date on which the cartridges arrive in the state.
{+ For ammunition manufactured or produced in the state, the
list shall be submitted to the Attorney General at least 14 days
prior to the date on which the cartridges will leave the site
of manufacture or production for any reason including storage,
distribution, sale, exchange, or transportation for purpose of
sale or distribution. +}
(2) The name of the vendor that receives the {- cartridges,
the dates on which the ammunition is -} {+ cartridges.
(3) Either of the following dates:
(A) The dates on which the ammunition is +} expected to enter
the state {- , the -} {+ for ammunition manufactured or
produced outside of the state.
(B) The dates on which the ammunition is expected to leave
the site of its manufacture or production for ammunition
manufactured or produced in the state.
(4) The +} date on which the vendor is expected to take
possession of the shipment {- , other -} {+ .
(5) Any other +} information essential to recognizing the
identification mark on the bullet and casing {- , and any -} {+
--
Eric Williams | [wd 6 cmu] at [netcom.com] | [WD 6 CMU] at [WD6CMU.]#NOCAL.CA.USA.NA