O1468
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City council Meeting 2-28-89
Santa Monica, California
ORDINANCE NUMBER 1468(CCS)
(City Council Series)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY' OF SANTA MONICA ADDING CHAPTER SA TO THE SANTA
MONICA MUNICIPAL CODE TO PROHIBIT THE
SALE AND POSSESSION OF ASSAULT WEAPONS
AND DECLARING THE PRESENCE OF AN EMERGENCY
THE CITY' COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES ORDAIN AS
FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1.
Chapter 5A is added to the Santa Monica
Municipal Code to read as follows:
CHAPTER SA. ASSAULT WEAPONS.
SECTION 3520.
Findings.
The Ci ty
council finds and declares:
(a) The citizens of the city of Santa
Monica and surrounding communi ties have
recently been experiencing unprecedented
episodes of violence and endangerment in the
form of random and uncontrolled shootings
occurring with semiautomatic assault weapons.
(b) There is a significant municipal
concern in immediately addressing this matter
by removing such weapons from the streets and
neighborhoods of the City of Santa Monica.
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(c) The public health and welfare of
the citizens of the city of Santa Monica
urgently require that the sale and possession
of assault weapons within the City of Santa
Monica be prohibited.
SECTION 3521. Definitions. The
following terms are defined for purposes of
this Chapter as follows:
(a) Assault Weapon. An assault weapon
is:
(1) Any semiautomatic action,
center fire rifle, or carbine, with the
ability to accept a detachable ammunition
magazine capable of holding at least twenty
rounds of ammunition including, but not
limited to, the following firearms or their
replicas: AR 15 semiautomatic assault
rifles, Uzi semiautomatic assault rifles or
carbines, Ingram Mac-IO semiautomatic assault
carbines, Ingram Mac-II semiautomatic assault
carbines, Heckler and Koch 93 semiautomatic
assault rifles, Heckler and Koch 91
semiautomatic assault rifles, AK-47
semiautomatic assault rifles, AKM-47
semiautomatic assault rifles, all Avtomat
Kalashnikov weapons, MI-A semiautomatic
assault rifles, M-14 semiautomatic assault
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rifles, Thompson semiautomatic carbines, and
any other semiautomatic carbines manufactured
by Auto Ordinance;
(2) Any shotgun with a barrel of
less than 18 inches and a folding stock or
magazine capacity of more than six rounds of
ammunition.
(3) Any weapon which may be
readily restored to an operable assault
weapon, as defined in (1) and (2) above.
(4) Any part, or combination of
parts, designed or intended to convert a
weapon into an assault weapon, as defined in
(1) or (2) above, or any combination of parts
from which an assault weapon may be readily
assembled, if those parts are in the
possession or under the control of the same
person.
(5) The term "assault weapon"
does not include the fOllowing: any device
defined as a "machine gun" in California
Penal Code Section 12200; any pistol,
revolver, handgun, or other firearm which is
capable of being concealed upon one's person,
as defined and regulated by the provisions of
California Penal Code Sections 12021 and
12025; any firearm which does not use fixed
ammunition: any firearm manufactured prior to
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1898; any manually operated bolt action
firearm; any lever action firearm; any slide
action firearm; any single-shot firearm; any
multiple-barrel firearm; any revolving
cylinder firearm; any semiautomatic firearm
which use exclusively Mannlicher-style clips;
semiautomatic weapons manufactured prior to
1954; rim-fire weapons that employ a tubular
magazine; any firearm defined in California
Penal Code sections 12020(b) (5), (b) (7), or
(b) (8); any short-barreled rifle or shotgun
as defined in California Penal Code section
12020 (c); any assault weapon which has been
modified either to render it permanently
inoperable or to permanently make it a device
no longer def ined as an assault weapon; or
any firearm or device subject to regulation
by the state or federal government, but only
to the extent that state or federal law
preempts City regulation.
(b) Semiautomatic Weapon. A
semiautomatic weapon is a weapon which fires
a single projectile for each single pull of
the trigger and which is capable of firing
more than a single projectile without manual
reloading.
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SECTION 3522. Sale of Assault weapons
Prohibited. Except as otherwise provided for
in this Chapter, no person, including any
wholesale or retail gun dealer, shall sell,
lease, distribute, barter, trade, give, or
offer or display for sale, loan,
distribution, barter, or trade, or transfer
ownership or control of any assault weapon.
SECTION 3523. Possession of Assault
Weapons Prohibited. Except as otherwise
provided for in this Chapter, no person,
including any wholesale or retail gun dealer,
shall possess any assault weapon on or after
May 1, 1989.
SECTION 3524. Exceptions.
(a) Nothing in this Chapter shall
prohibit the acquisition, possession, or
disposition of assault weapons by any police
department, sheriff's or marshal's offices,
the California Highway Patrol, other local,
state, and federal law enforcement agencies,
or the military and naval forces of this
state or of the United states, for use in the
discharge of their official duties; nor shall
anything in this Chapter prohibi t the
possession of assault weapons or their
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ammunition magazines
regular, salaried,
employees, or agents
offices, agencies,
or other parts by
fUll-time officers,
of such departments,
or forces when such
personnel are on duty and the use of assault
weapons is within the scope of their duties.
(b) The provisions of this Chapter
shall not apply to the possession of any
assault weapon when such possession is
prohibited by the provisions of Section 2010
of the California Fish and Game Code.
(e) Notwithstanding the provisions of
Sections 3522 or 3523, any person who obtains
title to, or ownership or possession of an
assault weapon by bequest, gift, or intestate
succession may retain possession for a period
of time not to exceed sixty (60) days, and
shall within that time either transfer title
and possession of the weapon to a dealer
licensed pursuant to Article 4 of the state
of California Penal Code, commencing at
section 12250, to the Santa Monica Police
Department or other pol ice agency, to such
other person authorized by law to possess
such assault weapon, or cause the weapon to
be destroyed or modified so that it is made
permanently inoperable.
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(d) An assault weapon may be
maintained in the possession of an entity or
establishment engaged in the business of
motion picture, television, video or
theatrical production, but only for the
purpose of being utilized as part of the
motion picture, television, video, or
theatrical production by an authorized
participant therein or by an authorized agent
or employee of the entity or establishment,
and only if the entity or establishment
properly secures such assault weapon from
unauthorized use.
(e) An assault weapon may be possessed
by any federal, state, or local historical
society, museum or not-for-profit
institutional collection which is open to the
public, provided any such weapon is properly
housed, secured from unauthorized handling
and is unloaded.
(f) Nothing in this Chapter shall
prohibit the sale or possession of any
assault rifle when such sale or possession is
prohibited by state or federal law.
SECTION 2. Any provision of the Santa Monica Municipal
Code or appendices thereto inconsistent with the provisions of
this Ordinance, to the extent of such inconsistencies and no
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further, are hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary
to affect the provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 3. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause,
or phrase of this Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid
or unconstitutional by a decision of any court of any competent
jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the
remaining portions of this Ordinance. The city Council hereby
declares that it would have passed this Ordinance, and each and
every section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase not
declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether
any portion of the Ordinance would be subsequently declared
invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 4. This Ordinance is declared to be an emergency
measure adopted pursuant to the provisions of City Charter
section 615 and is necessary for preserving pUblic peace, health
and safety. The urgency of its adoption is set forth in findings
above.
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SECTION 5. The Mayor shall sign and the City Clerk shall
attest to the passage of this Ordinance. The City Clerk shall
cause the same to be published once in the official newspaper
within 15 days after its adoption.
Pursuant to Ci ty Charter
Section 6l9(d), this Ordinance shall take effect and be in full
force immediately after the passage and adoption thereof.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
~~ W\. ~
ROBERT M. MYERS U
city Attorney
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Adopted and approved this 28th day of February, 1989.
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I hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance No. 1468 (CCS)
was duly and regularly introduced at a meeting of the city
council on the 28th day of February 1989; that the said Ordinance
was thereafter duly adopted at a meeting of the City Council on
the 28th day of February 1989 by the following Council vote:
Ayes: Councilmembers: Abdo, Finkel, Genser, Jennings,
Katz, Reed, Mayor Zane
Noes: Councilmembers: None
Abstain: Councilmembers: None
Absent: Counci1members: None
ATTEST:
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City Clepk
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