Firearms: unsafe handguns.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide information about what happens if peace officers do not meet the new three-month training requirement, nor does it specify whether local agencies will receive additional funding to comply with the new rules.

Firearms: Unsafe Handguns

AB-1615 changes the training requirements and storage rules for peace officers in county probation departments who use unsafe handguns as service weapons.

What This Bill Does

• Changes the training requirement for peace officers using unsafe handguns to every three months instead of six months.
• Requires certain vehicle storage rules for people who have unsafe handguns, including those in county probation departments.

Who It Names or Affects

• Peace officers employed by county probation departments

Terms To Know

Unsafe Handgun

A handgun that does not meet certain safety standards and is regulated under the law.

POST

The Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, which sets training requirements for peace officers in California.

Limits and Unknowns

• Does not specify what happens if a peace officer does not meet the new three-month training requirement.
• Requires local agencies to follow new rules without providing extra funding.
• The bill has passed both chambers but its final status is unknown as of now.

Official Summary Text

AB 1615, as introduced, Nguyen.
Firearms: unsafe handguns.
Existing law makes it a crime, punishable by not more than one year in county jail, to manufacture or cause to be manufactured, import into the state for sale, keep for sale, offer or expose for sale, give, or lend an unsafe handgun. Existing law establishes certain exemptions to this prohibition, including, among others, exemptions for sales to specified law enforcement agencies and other specified government agencies for use by specified employees and sales to specified peace officers.
Existing law specifies that the sale of an unsafe handgun to certain specified entities, including county probation departments, 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. Existing law also provides that this training requirement may be satisfied by completion of the firearm portion of a training course prescribed by POST, if that training was completed before January 1, 2021.
This bill would instead authorize a peace officer employed by a county probation department and using an unsafe handgun as a service weapon to satisfy the above-described training requirement by completion of the firearm portion of a training course prescribed by POST and who qualifies with the handgun, as specified, at least every 3 months.
Existing law imposes certain vehicle storage requirements on specified persons who obtain an unsafe handgun, including sworn members of a county probation department who have completed the basic course or, prior to January 1, 2021, completed the firearm portion of a training course described above. A
violation of those provisions is a crime.
Because the bill would expand the application of the crime described above to sworn members of a county probation department who have completed the firearm portion of a training course, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
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.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF