CA Senate Approves Sen. Skinner’s Gun Safety Legislation, SB 377
The California Senate today approved SB 377, gun safety legislation by Sen. Nancy Skinner that would prohibit law enforcement officers from buying illegal firearms for their personal use or reselling them.
“Today, the state Senate voted overwhelmingly to close an ill-advised loophole that has allowed law enforcement officers to buy handguns that are otherwise illegal in our state,” said Sen. Skinner, D-Berkeley. “Alarmingly, some officers have taken advantage of this loophole for their personal gain by profiting off the resale of these illegal guns. With SB 377, an illegal gun is an illegal gun — no exceptions.”
The state Senate voted 27-8 to approve SB 377. The bill now goes to the state Assembly.
Over the years, California has enacted some of the most effective gun safety laws in the nation. According to the CDC, California now has one of the lowest firearm mortality rates in the nation.
California’s strict gun laws include bans on the sale of many types of unsafe handguns. The California Department of Justice maintains a roster of handguns that it has certified as being legal to sell and purchase in the state because the firearms meet the state’s tough safety standards. Handguns not certified on the DOJ’s list are known as “off roster,” and are unlawful to purchase or sell in California.
However, there is a loophole that allows police officers to buy off-roster guns for their personal use. Also included in this loophole are officers who work for sheriff’s departments and those employed by a wide-range of other public agencies, including the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Parks and Recreation Department, Fish and Wildlife, county welfare fraud investigators, and college campus and K-12 school police.
In recent years, there have been high-profile scandals involving California officers who purchased off-roster firearms and then resold them, effectively becoming illegal arms dealers. Incidents like this led the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to issue a bulletin warning about the growing trend of law enforcement officers engaging in illegal firearms sales.
Current state law also contains another loophole: It does not require law enforcement officers to wait 10 days — like all other Californians — to purchase legal handguns. SB 377 would also close this loophole and require officers to undergo the 10-day waiting period just like everyone else.
“All other Californians are required wait 10 days to buy a handgun and are prohibited from purchasing off-roster guns. The people we entrust to uphold our gun safety laws should not be exempt from them,” Sen. Skinner added.
Sen. Nancy Skinner represents the 9th Senate District and is chair of the Senate Budget Committee and the California Legislative Women’s Caucus.