Firearms: unsafe handguns.

Existing law prohibits the manufacture, importation, sale, or transfer of an unsafe handgun, as defined. Existing law exempts from this prohibition sales to specified law enforcement agencies or other specified government agencies for use by specified employees and sales to specified peace officers. Existing law imposes certain vehicle storage requirements on specified persons who obtain an unsafe handgun. A violation of those provisions is a crime. This bill would exempt from the prohibition on unsafe handguns, the sale of a handgun to, or the purchase of a handgun by, additional specified entities for use by sworn members of those entities, including the California Horse Racing Board and the State Department of Public Health. This bill would specify that the sale of an unsafe handgun to certain specified entities and members of those entities is only authorized if the handgun is to be used as a service weapon by a peace officer who has successfully completed the basic course prescribed by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) and who qualifies with the handgun, as specified, at least every 6 months. The bill would also provide that this training requirement would be satisfied by completion of other specified POST training before January 1, 2021. Because the bill would expand the application of the crime of improperly storing an unsafe handgun in an unattended vehicle to additional persons, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require the Department of Justice to maintain, as specified, a database of unsafe handguns obtained pursuant to these exemptions, and would require the department, by no later than March 1, 2021, to provide a notification to the persons and entities who possess or thereafter obtain an unsafe handgun, regarding the prohibitions on the sale and transfer of those handguns. The bill would also require these persons or entities to notify the department of the sale or transfer of such a handgun within 72 hours of the sale or transfer, as specified, but would provide that a sale or transfer made through a licensed firearm dealer would satisfy this requirement. The bill would authorize the department to charge a fee for these purposes. The bill would make other conforming changes. The bill would impose a civil penalty of up to $10,000 on a person or entity in possession of an unsafe handgun that fails to notify the department of any sale or transfer of the handgun and would impose a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for the unlawful sale or transfer of an unsafe handgun. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 28230 of the Penal Code proposed by SB 914 to be operative only if this bill and SB 914 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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.