Today's Law As Amended


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AB-893 22nd District Agricultural Association: firearm and ammunition sales at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.(2019-2020)



As Amends the Law Today


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.

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.
(c) This section does not apply to a gun buyback event held by a law enforcement agency.
(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.