SB 965: Firearms.

Existing law, commencing January 1, 2024, requires the Department of Justice to conduct inspections of specified licensed firearms dealers at least once every 3 years, to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Previous law authorized the department to conduct such inspections. Existing law requires the department to maintain specified records regarding these inspections and to make those records available upon request. Existing law also authorizes the department to inspect licensed ammunition vendors.

Existing law requires the department to maintain a list of all handguns that have been tested and certified not to be unsafe handguns, as defined. Existing law prohibits the sale of a handgun not on the roster, except as specifically exempted.

Existing law requires the department to annually prepare and submit a report to the Legislature analyzing and summarizing specified data received from law enforcement agencies regarding firearms that have been stolen, lost, found, or recovered, have been used in a crime or suspected of having been used in a crime, or are under observation. Existing law requires the department to make this report available to the public.

This bill would require the department to include in this report information about department staffing for conducting inspections of firearms dealers and ammunition vendors, detailed information about each such inspection conducted, including violations and the resolution of those violations, and specified information about the roster of handguns, including information about handguns added to, removed from, or denied addition to, the roster. The bill would require the report due on July 1, 2025, to include this data from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2024, inclusive, and each annual report thereafter, to include the data from the previous year.