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CA:Bill Toughens Gun Dealer Laws
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Bill Toughens Gun Dealer Laws
Legislation Makes It Harder For Phony Dealers To Forge Licenses
OBSERVER STAFF REPORT
In another victory for gun violence victims, the California Assembly recently passed AB 2080 (Steinberg), the Gun Trafficking Prevention Act. On a vote of 48-29, the Assembly approved Senate amendments and sent the measure to Governor Davis for signature.
The Gun Trafficking Prevention Act allows police to improve efforts to block the trafficking of illegal firearms.
"Current law makes it too easy for a phony gun dealer to forge a license, buy huge quantities of cheap guns, and illegally dump them on our streets," said Eric Gorovitz, Western Policy director for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, which sponsored the bill.
"AB 2080, which is a model for improvements in federal law, lets law enforcement spot and block these phony transactions before they occur," he said.
When a licensed gun dealer orders guns from a distributor or from another dealer, current law only requires the recipient to provide the sender with a signed copy of a federal firearms license.
The distributor is not required to confirm the validity of the license. AB 2080 improves the law by requiring any federal firearms licensee who is sending guns to any licensee in California to first confirm with the California Department of Justice that the recipient is properly licensed.
One of the most egregious trafficking cases in history, which occurred in the San Francisco Bay area, led to AB 2080. Sean Twomey, an electronics salesman with a prior criminal record, got a federal firearms license in 1996. Although he never used it when it was valid, after it expired, he scanned it into his computer, altered the expiration date, and sent signed copies to gun distributors. Although Twomey's buying patterns clearly showed criminal activity, the distributors never bothered to check whether the license was valid.
After removing the serial numbers, Twomey resold the guns for huge profits to gangs, drug dealers and other prohibited purchasers. By the time Twomey was arrested in 1999, he had dumped over 1,100 illegal guns into California communities. His guns have surfaced in dozens of crimes including bank robberies, homicides and assaults on police officers.
"AB 2080 tells gun dealers and would-be traffickers that California won't allow their fraud and irresponsibility to threaten the safety of our communities," Gorovitz said.
http://www.sacobserver.com/news/092502/gun_dealer_law.htm
Edited by - josey1 on 09/28/2002 05:49:22
Legislation Makes It Harder For Phony Dealers To Forge Licenses
OBSERVER STAFF REPORT
In another victory for gun violence victims, the California Assembly recently passed AB 2080 (Steinberg), the Gun Trafficking Prevention Act. On a vote of 48-29, the Assembly approved Senate amendments and sent the measure to Governor Davis for signature.
The Gun Trafficking Prevention Act allows police to improve efforts to block the trafficking of illegal firearms.
"Current law makes it too easy for a phony gun dealer to forge a license, buy huge quantities of cheap guns, and illegally dump them on our streets," said Eric Gorovitz, Western Policy director for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, which sponsored the bill.
"AB 2080, which is a model for improvements in federal law, lets law enforcement spot and block these phony transactions before they occur," he said.
When a licensed gun dealer orders guns from a distributor or from another dealer, current law only requires the recipient to provide the sender with a signed copy of a federal firearms license.
The distributor is not required to confirm the validity of the license. AB 2080 improves the law by requiring any federal firearms licensee who is sending guns to any licensee in California to first confirm with the California Department of Justice that the recipient is properly licensed.
One of the most egregious trafficking cases in history, which occurred in the San Francisco Bay area, led to AB 2080. Sean Twomey, an electronics salesman with a prior criminal record, got a federal firearms license in 1996. Although he never used it when it was valid, after it expired, he scanned it into his computer, altered the expiration date, and sent signed copies to gun distributors. Although Twomey's buying patterns clearly showed criminal activity, the distributors never bothered to check whether the license was valid.
After removing the serial numbers, Twomey resold the guns for huge profits to gangs, drug dealers and other prohibited purchasers. By the time Twomey was arrested in 1999, he had dumped over 1,100 illegal guns into California communities. His guns have surfaced in dozens of crimes including bank robberies, homicides and assaults on police officers.
"AB 2080 tells gun dealers and would-be traffickers that California won't allow their fraud and irresponsibility to threaten the safety of our communities," Gorovitz said.
http://www.sacobserver.com/news/092502/gun_dealer_law.htm
Edited by - josey1 on 09/28/2002 05:49:22
Comments
Thursday September 26, 3:25 pm ET
NEWTOWN, Conn., Sept. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- California Governor Gray Davis signed recently enacted legislation making lawful manufacturers more vulnerable to lawsuits when their non-defective products are criminally misused. The move opens the door to politically motivated nuisance lawsuits designed to financially * an industry with a long-standing and genuine commitment to further reducing accidents and to working cooperatively with law enforcement in its efforts to combat the criminal and accidental misuse of firearms.
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Under California statutes previously, firearms manufacturers never received immunity or special protection against lawsuits, whether product liability claims or other recognized tort law claims. An injured plaintiff could sue a firearm manufacturer for defects in the way a firearm was designed or manufactured. The law recognized that some products, knives and firearms for example, must by their very nature be dangerous in order to function. The mere fact of injury, therefore, does not entitle an injured person to recover from the manufacturer.
Legislation that Davis approved was enacted to remove this common sense notion from California's statutes, and to now hold the firearm industry to a higher standard than other manufacturers of legal, non-defective products when those goods are used by criminals.
California's action flies in the face of national trends. Unanimous opinions from twenty-three of the most respected judges in the country, on the highest courts in New York, Connecticut and Florida, as well as of the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, have ruled that firearm manufacturers cannot be held liable for criminal acts over which they have no control.
"Today's signing sends a loud and clear message to other lawful and responsible manufacturers of legal products, that California is not a friendly place to do business," notes Lawrence G. Keane, vice president and general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. "This also demonstrates the urgent need for Congress to enact federal legislation to bar such suits." Bills are currently pending in both the House and Senate.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation, founded in 1961, represents approximately 2,200 members involved in the sales and marketing of firearms and related products. NSSF produces videos and publishes numerous brochures and booklets for educators, parents, firearms owners, sportsmen and hunters. Safety education focuses on safe handling and storage, with special emphasis on properly storing an unloaded firearm to be inaccessible to children or other unauthorized persons. For more information about safe and responsible firearms ownership, visit the NSSF's web site at http://www.nssf.org or Project HomeSafe's site at http://www.projecthomesafe.org .
This release is also available in the Press Room section of the NSSF.org Web site.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020926/nyth144_1.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878