SR-701-007 (2)
.
?C/-tOOr
.
~"B
..
CA:RMM:jld332jhpc
City Council Meeting 1-30-90
JA~ ~ U ~990
Santa Monica, California
70' - 001
STAFF REPORT
TO:
Mayor and city council
FROM:
city Attorney
SUBJECT:
Ordinance Adding Chapter 5B to the Santa Monica
Municipal Code Requiring a Fifteen (15) Day
Waiting Period Before the Delivery of Any Rifle
At its meeting of September 26, 1989, the City Council
directed the City Attorney to prepare an ordinance that would
require a fifteen (15) day waiting period before any person could
accept delivery of a rifle.
The accompanying ordinance adds
Chapter 5B to the Santa Monica Municipal Code and is presented to
the city council for its consideration.
The ordinance is directed at rifles and other similar
firearms which at present are not subject to any waiting period.
Currently, under state law, only purchasers of handguns and other
concealed firearms must wait fifteen days before accepting
delivery of the weapon.
The operative language of the ordinance will permit a
"cooling offll period before someone obtains a rifle.
In many
instances, such a period will reduce the risks that the rifle
will be used senselessly during a period of emotional depression
or rage.
~-B
- 1 -
JAN 30 i990
.
.
The ordinance does not require registration of rifles and
the seller of the rifle is not obligated to notify any department
of the city of the impending sale.
RECOMMENDATION
It is respectfully recommended that the accompanying
ordinance be introduced for first reading.
PREPARED BY: Robert M. Myers, City Attorney
Joseph Lawrence, Assistant city Attorney
- 2 -
.
.
.
CA:RMM:jld331/hpc
city council Meeting 1-30-90
Santa Monica, California
ORDINANCE NUMBER
(City Council Series)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF SANTA MONICA ADDING CHAPTER 5B TO THE SANTA
MONICA MUNICIPAL CODE REQUIRING A FIFTEEN (15) DAY
WAITING PERIOD BEFORE THE DELIVERY OF ANY RIFLE
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES ORDAIN AS
FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1.
Chapter 5B is added to the Santa Monica
Municipal Code to read as follows:
Chapter 5B. DELIVERY OF RIFLES.
Section 5530.
Findings.
The City
Council finds and declares:
(a) The sale of firearms other
than
concealed
weapons
is
largely
unregulated within the City of Santa
Monica and the State of California. As a
result, almost any adult can purchase and
take delivery of a rifle or other similar
firearm without forethought or while
severely emotionally upset, depressed, or
enraged.
(b) In the hands of such a
purchaser, a rifle poses a threat to the
- 1 -
.
.
~
public health,
every resident
Monica.
(c) Purchasers of rifles who are
safety,
of the
and security of
city of Santa
emotionally upset, depressed, or enraged
have used these weapons to cause numerous
deaths, including suicides, as well as
severe bodily injuries. Their victims
are frequently innocent family members,
neighbors, and children.
(d) These deaths and injuries can
be reduced or eliminated if the purchaser
is required to wait at least fifteen (15)
days before accepting delivery of the
weapon. During this waiting period many
purchasers' emotional upset will subside
or the purchaser will be able to obtain
necessary counseling, thereby diminishing
the risk that random and senseless acts
of violence will occur.
Section 3531. Definitions. The
following terms are defined for purposes
of this Chapter as follows:
(a) Rifle. A rifle is:
(1) Any firearm other than
one that is capable of being concealed
upon the person, which has a barrel
- 2 -
.
.
~
greater than sixteen
length.
( 16)
inches in
(2) The term "rifle" does
not include any of the following:
(a) Any pistol,
revolver, or other firearm capable of
being concealed upon the person which is
defined and regulated by the provisions
of California Penal Code Sections 12001,
12021, 12025, and 12071(a) (3).
(b) Any "machine gun"
as defined in California Penal Code
Section 12200.
(c) Any
firearm, curio, or relic as
California Penal Code
antique
def ined in
Sections
12020 (b) (5) and 12020 (b) (7) .
(d) Any weapon defined
in California Penal Code Sections
12020(b) (8) and 12276.
(e) Any short barreled
shot-gun or rifle as defined in
California Penal Code Section 12020(c).
(f) Any firearm or
device subject to regulation by the state
of California or the United States
government, but only to the extent that
- 3 -
.
.
state or
regulation.
federal
law preempts
city
Section 3532. Waiting Period for
Sale of Rifles. Except as otherwise
provided for in this Chapter, following
an agreement to purchase, lease, trade,
or barter exchange any rifle, no person,
including any wholesale or retail gun
dealer, shall deliver possession or
control of any rifle unless at least
fifteen (15) calendar days have elapsed
since the time that the transaction was
otherwise consummated.
Section 3533. Exceptions.
(a) Nothing in this Chapter shall
prohibit the acquisition or disposition
of any rifle 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 the state of California or the
united States.
(b) Nothing in this Chapter shall
apply to the exchange of any rifle by
gift, bequest, or intestate succession.
- 4 -
.
.
.
(c) Nothing in this Chapter shall
affect any transaction between a
wholesale gun dealer and any other retail
gun dealer who is receiving the rifle for
inclusion in its inventory and later
sale.
(d) Nothing in this Chapter shall
affect the delivery of any rifle when
such delivery 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
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.
- 5 -
.
.
SECTION 4. 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. This Ordinance shall become
effective after 30 days from its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
'-i.l.-i ~--T \.."\
ROBERT M. MYERS
City Attorney
l.- '" ~._'\" ____ ~
-)
- 6 -