Firearms: unsafe handguns

The law creates a tailored exemption from California’s unsafe-handgun sales ban for county probation departments and their sworn officers. It also subjects those officers to the existing vehicle-storage rules for exempt unsafe handguns.

What the law does ​

• Allows county probation departments and sworn county probation officers to buy unsafe handguns for use as service weapons.
• Requires those officers to complete the firearms portion of a Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training-prescribed course.
• Requires officers carrying those handguns to complete their employer’s live-fire qualification at least every three months.
• Applies unattended-vehicle handgun-storage requirements, enforceable by a fine of up to $1,000, to covered county probation officers.

Who it affects ​

• County probation departments.
• Sworn county probation peace officers using unsafe handguns as service weapons.
• County probation officers who leave covered handguns in unattended vehicles.

Context ​

California generally makes manufacturing, selling, giving, or lending an unsafe handgun a crime, subject to specified exemptions.