Amended IN Senate September 06, 2019

Amended IN Senate August 30, 2019

Amended IN Senate May 15, 2019

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 893

Introduced by Assembly Member Gloria
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Boerner Horvath and Gonzalez)

February 20, 2019

An act to add Section 4158 to the Food and Agricultural Code, relating to agricultural districts.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 893, as amended, Gloria. 22nd District Agricultural Association: firearm and ammunition sales at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

Existing law generally regulates the transfer of firearms and divides the state into agricultural districts. The 22nd District Agricultural Association is comprised of the County of San Diego and includes the Cities of Del Mar and San Diego. A violation of the statutes governing agricultural districts is generally a misdemeanor.

This bill would, on and after January 1, 2021, prohibit the sale of firearms and ammunition at the Del Mar Fairgrounds property located in the 22nd District Agricultural Association, as specified, and would thereby make a violation of that prohibition a misdemeanor. The bill would exclude from its provisions a gun buyback event held by a law enforcement agency.

By creating a new crime, 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.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YES

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) The property known as the Del Mar Fairgrounds (DMFG) is owned by the State of California and managed by the Board of Directors of the 22nd District Agricultural Association (22nd DAA). The 22nd DAA has leased a portion of the DMFG to entities that sponsor marketplaces popularly known as “gun shows,” at which firearms and ammunition and other items are sold to the public approximately five times a year.

(b) The United States has experienced many gun-related tragedies with increasing severity and frequency in the last 30 years, including mass murders at Columbine High School, Sandy Hook Elementary School, and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and an increasing rate of suicide by gun among all levels of society.

(c) The Cities of Del Mar, Solana Beach, and Encinitas have adopted resolutions requesting that the DMFG Board discontinue leasing any portion of its property for use as a gun show. A committee appointed by the Board of Directors of the 22nd DAA to study gun shows conducted research, including inspection tours of the Del Mar Gun Show by members of the committee as well as by several other members of the DMFG Board.

(d) On September 11, 2018, the DMFG Board, by a vote of eight in favor and one against, adopted a recommendation to consider the feasibility of conducting gun shows for only educational and safety training purposes and to prohibit the possession of guns and ammunition on state property.

(e) Gun shows bring grave danger to a community, and the following dangerous incidents, among others, have occurred at gun shows, including, but not limited to, an official vendor accused of trafficking illegal firearms, sales of firearms to individuals registered in the Department of Justice Bureau of Firearms Armed Prohibited Persons System, and illegal importation of large-capacity magazines.

(f) Each of the foregoing arrests was based on gun show enforcement efforts under the Armed Prohibited Persons System, and the department announced in late 2018 that these gun show enforcement efforts had been discontinued and, between the years 2013 and 2017, the San Diego County Sheriff recorded 14 crimes at the Crossroads of the West Gun Shows at the DMFG.

(g) Promoters maintain relationships with a core group of vendors, some selling guns and some selling other merchandise, who travel as the schedule dictates from city to city and state to state and in the West, for example, many of the same vendors can be seen at Crossroads of the West Gun Shows from San Francisco, California, to Tucson, Arizona.

(h)Promoter Bob Templeton refers to this group as his “dedicated cluster of dealers.” In other cases, vendors may migrate independently. One seller of body armor who followed the Crossroads circuit was observed as far east as Dallas, Texas.

SEC. 2.

Section 4158 is added to the Food and Agricultural Code, to read:

4158.

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, an officer, employee, operator, lessee, or licensee of the 22nd District Agricultural Association, as defined in Section 3873, shall not contract for, authorize, or allow the sale of any firearm or ammunition on the property or in the buildings that comprise the Del Mar Fairgrounds in the County of San Diego, the City of Del Mar, the City of San Diego, or any successor or additional property owned, leased, or otherwise occupied or operated by the district.

(b) For purposes of this section:

(1) The definition of “firearm” means the term as included in Section 12001 of the Penal Code.

(2) The term “ammunition” includes assembled ammunition for use in a firearm and components of ammunition, including smokeless and black powder, and any projectile capable of being fired from a firearm with deadly consequence.

(d) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2021.

SEC. 3.

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.