SB 427-FN - AS INTRODUCED
2000 SESSION
SENATE BILL 427-FN
AN ACT banning the sale or transfer of "Saturday night specials."
SPONSORS: Sen. Cohen, Dist 24; Sen. Larsen, Dist 15; Rep. M. Fuller Clark, Rock 36; Rep. Konys, Hills 33
This bill prohibits the sale, transfer or lease of "Saturday night specials" or "junk guns" in the state, and makes violation of this prohibition a felony.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
00-2690
05/09
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand
AN ACT banning the sale or transfer of "Saturday night specials."
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Statement of Purpose. The general court recognizes the need to prohibit the sale, transfer or lease of "Saturday night specials" or "junk guns" for the following reasons:
I. They are poorly constructed, and not suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes.
II. They are small and light, making them easy to conceal, and present a threat to the public welfare and law enforcement officers.
III. Of the firearms traced nationally in 1995, the 3 firearms most commonly traced to crimes were "Saturday night specials".
IV. Numerous public leaders and law enforcement officials have supported a ban on "Saturday night specials".
V. The federal government has already prohibited the importation of foreign manufactured "Saturday night specials".
VI. In recent years, firearm manufacturers have made token modifications to this type of handgun, including carbon steel breechface inserts, solid steel barrel tubes and steel linings incorporated in soft castings, all of which have resulted in no advancement, or only marginal advancement, in the durability of the handguns.
VII. Devices such as fragile half-cock hammer notches in derringers and single-action revolvers, manual pistol slide locks, rudimentary hammer or trigger locks that act by simple interference and crude grip safety levers are being increasingly used.
VIII. Cosmetic remodeling by firearm manufacturers does not ameliorate the core design deficiencies of "Saturday night specials," and they continue to be dangerous products due to their low quality of manufacture and metallurgy, so as to be unacceptable in the stream of commerce.
IX. A firearm's frame, barrel, breechback, cylinder, and slide must be completely fabricated of heat-treated carbon steel, forged alloy or other material of equal or higher tensile strength in order to reliably contain the weapon's ballistic power, and any firearm in which all of these components do not meet this standard is an inherently unsafe product.
2 New Subdivision; Sale or Transfer of "Saturday Night Specials" or "Junk Guns." Amend RSA 159 by inserting after section 25 the following new subdivision:
"Saturday Night Specials" Or "Junk Guns"
159:26 Prohibited Transactions.
I. No licensee shall sell, rent, lease, transfer or deliver, or offer for sale, lease, transfer or delivery, any firearm to any purchaser in the state unless such sale is to a business entity that is primarily a firearm wholesaler and the sale, by its terms, prohibits the purchaser from reselling such firearm to a firearm retailer or consumer in the state if such firearm has a frame, barrel, cylinder, slide or breechblock that is composed of:
(a) Any metal having a melting point of less than 900 degrees Fahrenheit;
(b) Any metal having an ultimate tensile strength of less than 55,000 pounds per square inch; or
(c) Any powered metal having a density of less than 7.5 grams per cubic centimeter.
II. This subdivision shall not apply to any make or model of firearm for which a sample of 3 firearms in new condition all pass the following test: each of the 3 samples shall fire 600 rounds, stopping every 100 rounds to tighten any loose screws and to clean the gun if required by the cleaning schedule in the user manual, and as needed to refill the empty magazine or cylinder to capacity before continuing. For any firearm that is loaded in a manner other than via a detachable magazine, the tester shall also pause every 50 rounds for 10 minutes. The ammunition used shall be the type recommended by the firearm manufacturer in its user manual or, if none is recommended, any standard ammunition of the correct caliber in new condition. A firearm shall pass this test if it fires the first 20 rounds without a malfunction, fires the full 600 rounds with not fewer than 6 malfunctions, and completes the test without any crack or breakage of an operating part of the firearm. The terms "crack" or "breakage" shall not include a crack or breakage that does not increase the danger of injury to the user.
III. For the purposes of evaluating the results of this test, malfunction shall mean any failure to feed, chamber, fire, extract or eject a round or any failure to accept or eject a magazine or any other failure which prevents the firearm, without manual intervention beyond that needed for routine firing and periodic reloading, from firing the chambered round or moving a new round into position so that the firearm is capable of firing the new round properly. Malfunction shall not include a misfire caused by a faulty cartridge the primer of which fails to detonate when properly struck by the firearm's firing mechanism.
IV. For the purposes of this subdivision, the term "firearm" shall mean a pistol, revolver or other weapon of any description, loaded or unloaded, from which a shot or bullet can be discharged and of which the length of the barrel or barrels is less than 16 inches, or 18 inches in the case of a shotgun, as originally manufactured provided, however, that the term firearm shall not include any weapon that is:
(a) Constructed in a shape that does not resemble a handgun, short-barreled rifle or short-barreled shotgun including, but not limited to, covert weapons that resemble key chains, pens, cigarette lighters or cigarette packages; or
(b) Not detectable as a weapon or potential weapon by x-ray machines commonly used at airports or walk-through metal detectors.
V. The term "Saturday night special" shall not include any of the following:
(a) Any pistol for which the propelling force is classified as pneumatic, that is, of, or related to, compressed air or any other gases not directly produced by combustion;
(b) Children's pop guns or toys; or
(c) Any pistol which has been modified to either render it permanently inoperable, or permanently made into a device no longer classified as a "Saturday night special."
159:27 Exemptions. Nothing in this subdivision relative to the sale of "Saturday night specials" shall prohibit the use or disposition of any firearms by sheriffs, constables, marshals, police officers or any other duly appointed peace officers in the performance of their official duties, nor to persons who are authorized by the United States government for such firearm use in the performance of their official duties.
159:28 Penalty.
I. Any person who violates any of the provisions of this subdivision shall be guilty of a class B felony.
II. Notwithstanding the provisions of RSA 651:2, any person convicted under this subdivision shall be subject to imprisonment for a term not to exceed 2 years.
III. Each person violating any portion of this subdivision shall be guilty of a separate offense for each and every day during which violation of any portion of this subdivision is being committed, continued or permitted by such person and shall be punishable accordingly.
3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2001.
LBAO
00-2690
12/16/99
SB 427-FN - FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT banning the sale or transfer of "Saturday night specials."
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Administrative Office of the Courts, Judicial Council, and the Department of Corrections have determined this bill may increase state expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2001 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on county and local expenditures or on state, county and local revenue.
METHODOLOGY:
The Administrative Office of the Courts stated this bill creates a new category of class B felony offense that involves firearms most commonly traced to crimes, and that caseload at the superior court will increase to the degree that costs will increase. The Office estimated that a class B felony is an open case for approximately 120 days and that it will result in approximately a two day trial. However, it is impossible to estimate the number of cases that will be prosecuted or brought to trial. It is therefor, impossible to predict the additional costs to the Branch although it is reasonable to assume additional costs to the Branch due to increased caseload.
The Judicial Council assumed that any cases arising from the enactment of this law for which the Indigent Defense Fund may be liable, will, in the first instance be handled by the Public Defender or contract attorneys who accept these cases on a fixed fee basis of $687.50 for each felony charge. If an assigned counsel attorney must be used, the hourly rate of $60 with a fee cap of $3,000 for felony cases will apply. If a motion to exceed the fee cap is approved and/or "services other than counsel" are approved, these will also be chargeable to the Indigent Defense Fund. The Council is unable to predict the number of cases or trials which may arise as a result of the passage of this legislation, therefor, they are unable to estimate the dollar amount of the anticipated costs of such representation.
The Department of Corrections is unable to predict how many, if any, individuals would be incarcerated as result of this legislation. The average cost of incarceration for FY 1999 was $19,358 per inmate. The average cost of probation/parole supervision was $842 per inmate.
The Department of Justice has stated this bill will have no fiscal impact on the Department.