BILL REQ. #:  S-0480.2 

Read first time 01/31/13.   Referred to Committee on Law & Justice.

     AN ACT Relating to unauthorized access to firearms; reenacting and amending RCW 9.41.010; adding a new section to chapter 9.41 RCW; creating a new section; and prescribing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature acknowledges the constitutional right of individual citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves or the state. The legislature finds, however, that the exercise of that right carries with it many responsibilities, including the responsibility to prevent the unauthorized access to loaded firearms by children. For those who fail to prevent such unauthorized access to firearms, the legislature intends to criminalize only those deviations from the standard of care that constitute criminal negligence.

Sec. 2   RCW 9.41.010 and 2009 c 216 s 1 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
     ((Unless the context clearly requires otherwise,)) The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1) "Antique firearm" means a firearm or replica of a firearm not designed or redesigned for using rim fire or conventional center fire ignition with fixed ammunition and manufactured in or before 1898, including any matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or similar type of ignition system and also any firearm using fixed ammunition manufactured in or before 1898, for which ammunition is no longer manufactured in the United States and is not readily available in the ordinary channels of commercial trade.
     (2) "Barrel length" means the distance from the bolt face of a closed action down the length of the axis of the bore to the crown of the muzzle, or in the case of a barrel with attachments to the end of any legal device permanently attached to the end of the muzzle.
     (3) "Crime of violence" means:
     (a) Any of the following felonies, as now existing or hereafter amended: Any felony defined under any law as a class A felony or an attempt to commit a class A felony, criminal solicitation of or criminal conspiracy to commit a class A felony, manslaughter in the first degree, manslaughter in the second degree, indecent liberties if committed by forcible compulsion, kidnapping in the second degree, arson in the second degree, assault in the second degree, assault of a child in the second degree, extortion in the first degree, burglary in the second degree, residential burglary, and robbery in the second degree;
     (b) Any conviction for a felony offense in effect at any time prior to June 6, 1996, which is comparable to a felony classified as a crime of violence in (a) of this subsection; and
     (c) Any federal or out-of-state conviction for an offense comparable to a felony classified as a crime of violence under (a) or (b) of this subsection.
     (4) "Dealer" means a person engaged in the business of selling firearms at wholesale or retail who has, or is required to have, a federal firearms license under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 923(a). A person who does not have, and is not required to have, a federal firearms license under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 923(a), is not a dealer if that person makes only occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby, or sells all or part of his or her personal collection of firearms.
     (5) "Family or household member" means "family" or "household member" as used in RCW 10.99.020.
     (6) "Felony" means any felony offense under the laws of this state or any federal or out-of-state offense comparable to a felony offense under the laws of this state.
     (7) "Firearm" means a weapon or device from which a projectile or projectiles may be fired by an explosive such as gunpowder.
     (8) "Law enforcement officer" includes a general authority Washington peace officer as defined in RCW 10.93.020, or a specially commissioned Washington peace officer as defined in RCW 10.93.020. "Law enforcement officer" also includes a limited authority Washington peace officer as defined in RCW 10.93.020 if such officer is duly authorized by his or her employer to carry a concealed pistol.
     (9) "Lawful permanent resident" has the same meaning afforded a person "lawfully admitted for permanent residence" in 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1101(a)(20).
     (10) "Loaded" means:
     (a) There is a cartridge in the chamber of the firearm;
     (b) Cartridges are in a clip that is locked in place in the firearm;
     (c) There is a cartridge in the cylinder of the firearm, if the firearm is a revolver;
     (d) There is a cartridge in the tube or magazine that is inserted in the action; or
     (e) There is a ball in the barrel and the firearm is capped or primed if the firearm is a muzzle loader.
     (11) "Machine gun" means any firearm known as a machine gun, mechanical rifle, submachine gun, or any other mechanism or instrument not requiring that the trigger be pressed for each shot and having a reservoir clip, disc, drum, belt, or other separable mechanical device for storing, carrying, or supplying ammunition which can be loaded into the firearm, mechanism, or instrument, and fired therefrom at the rate of five or more shots per second.
     (12) "Nonimmigrant alien" means a person defined as such in 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1101(a)(15).
     (13) "Pistol" means any firearm with a barrel less than sixteen inches in length, or is designed to be held and fired by the use of a single hand.
     (14) "Rifle" means a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed metallic cartridge to fire only a single projectile through a rifled bore for each single pull of the trigger.
     (15) "Sell" refers to the actual approval of the delivery of a firearm in consideration of payment or promise of payment of a certain price in money.
     (16) "Serious offense" means any of the following felonies or a felony attempt to commit any of the following felonies, as now existing or hereafter amended:
     (a) Any crime of violence;
     (b) Any felony violation of the uniform controlled substances act, chapter 69.50 RCW, that is classified as a class B felony or that has a maximum term of imprisonment of at least ten years;
     (c) Child molestation in the second degree;
     (d) Incest when committed against a child under age fourteen;
     (e) Indecent liberties;
     (f) Leading organized crime;
     (g) Promoting prostitution in the first degree;
     (h) Rape in the third degree;
     (i) Drive-by shooting;
     (j) Sexual exploitation;
     (k) Vehicular assault, when caused by the operation or driving of a vehicle by a person while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any drug or by the operation or driving of a vehicle in a reckless manner;
     (l) Vehicular homicide, when proximately caused by the driving of any vehicle by any person while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any drug as defined by RCW 46.61.502, or by the operation of any vehicle in a reckless manner;
     (m) Any other class B felony offense with a finding of sexual motivation, as "sexual motivation" is defined under RCW 9.94A.030;
     (n) Any other felony with a deadly weapon verdict under RCW ((9.94A.602)) 9.94A.825; or
     (o) Any felony offense in effect at any time prior to June 6, 1996, that is comparable to a serious offense, or any federal or out-of-state conviction for an offense that under the laws of this state would be a felony classified as a serious offense.
     (17) "Short-barreled rifle" means a rifle having one or more barrels less than sixteen inches in length and any weapon made from a rifle by any means of modification if such modified weapon has an overall length of less than twenty-six inches.
     (18) "Short-barreled shotgun" means a shotgun having one or more barrels less than eighteen inches in length and any weapon made from a shotgun by any means of modification if such modified weapon has an overall length of less than twenty-six inches.
     (19) "Shotgun" means a weapon with one or more barrels, designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed shotgun shell to fire through a smooth bore either a number of ball shot or a single projectile for each single pull of the trigger.
     (20) "Child" means any person under the age of fourteen.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 9.41 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) A person who, with criminal negligence, stores or leaves a loaded firearm in or on a premise or vehicle under his or her control in such a manner that permits a child to gain access to the loaded firearm without the express permission of the child's parent or the person having charge of the child or without the permission or supervision required by RCW 9.41.042, is guilty of allowing unauthorized firearm access to a child.
     (2) It is an affirmative defense that:
     (a) The person, with lawful possession of the firearm, was carrying the firearm on his or her body;
     (b) The child obtained access to the firearm as a result of unlawful entry by any person; or
     (c) Any injury resulted from a target, sport shooting, or hunting accident.
     (3) It is a misdemeanor if a person violates subsection (1) of this section and a child gains access to the loaded firearm and possesses or exhibits it without supervision:
     (a) In a public place; or
     (b) In a criminally negligent manner.
     (4) It is a class C felony if a person violates subsection (1) of this section and a child gains access to the loaded firearm and uses the firearm to inflict injury or death upon himself or herself or any other person.