Firearms: violations.

Existing law prohibits specified persons from owning, purchasing, receiving, or having in his or her possession, any firearm. Existing law prohibits a person, corporation, or firm from knowingly selling, supplying, delivering, or giving possession or control of a firearm to one of those prohibited persons, and makes a violation of that prohibition a felony punishable by imprisonment for 2, 3, or 4 years in the county jail. This bill would make that offense punishable by imprisonment for 2, 3, or 4 years in the state prison. Existing law prohibits a person, corporation, or firearms dealer from selling, supplying, delivering, or giving possession or control of a firearm to anyone whom the person, corporation, or dealer has cause to believe is a prohibited person, and makes a violation of that prohibition punishable as a felony or misdemeanor subject to imprisonment in the county jail or by a fine not to exceed $1,000, or by both that fine and imprisonment. Under existing law, for each felony case, a court is required to hold, and a prosecutor is required to attend, a preliminary hearing. This bill would make that offense a felony punishable by imprisonment for 2, 3, or 4 years in the state prison. By imposing additional duties on local prosecutors by increasing the number of preliminary hearings, and by increasing the penalties of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law prohibits a person, corporation, or dealer from selling, loaning, or transferring a firearm to anyone whom the person, corporation, or dealer knows or has cause to believe is not the actual purchaser or transferee of the firearm, or to anyone who is not the one actually being loaned the firearm, if the person, corporation, or dealer has knowledge that the firearm is to be subsequently sold, loaned, or transferred to avoid provisions of law requiring firearms transfers to be conducted through a firearms dealer and other requirements pertaining to dealer transactions, or to avoid provisions establishing exemptions from those requirements, as specified. Existing law makes this offense punishable as a felony or misdemeanor subject to imprisonment in the county jail or by a fine not to exceed $1,000, or by both that fine and imprisonment. This bill would make that offense a felony punishable by imprisonment for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years in the state prison. By imposing additional duties on local prosecutors, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law prohibits a person, corporation, or firearms dealer from acquiring a firearm for the purpose of selling, loaning, or transferring the firearm if, for a dealer, he or she has the intent to transfer the firearm to a minor or to evade specified requirements on the transfer of firearms, or in the case of a person or corporation, the person or corporation intends to violate the requirement, or provisions of an exception to the requirement, that the transaction be conducted through a licensed firearms dealer. Existing law makes this offense punishable as a misdemeanor by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or as a felony punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years, or by a fine not to exceed $1,000, or by both that fine and imprisonment. This bill would make that offense punishable as a felony by imprisonment for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years in the state prison. By imposing additional duties on local prosecutors, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would appropriate $2,200,000 from the General Fund to the Department of Justice for vertical prosecution, as defined, of those offenses described above, by the department. The bill would require the department to submit a report to the Legislature and the Governor, on or before January 1, 2020, which details the number of prosecutions filed and convictions obtained by the department for the offenses described above. The bill would also make conforming changes. 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.