Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

Enrolled Copy                                                                     H.B. 507
                            FIREARM POSSESSION REVISIONS
                                      2023 GENERAL SESSION
                                          STATE OF UTAH
                                  Chief Sponsor: Phil Lyman
                              Senate Sponsor: Kirk A. Cullimore
 Cosponsors:                         Tim Jimenez Christine F. Watkins
 Melissa G. Ballard Jason B. Kyle
 Kera Birkeland Trevor Lee
 Kay J. Christofferson Rex P. Shipp
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 LONG TITLE
 General Description:
        This bill amends the definition of a restricted person.
 Highlighted Provisions:
        This bill:
        < defines terms;
        < amends the definition of a restricted person; and
        < makes technical and conforming changes.
 Money Appropriated in this Bill:
        None
 Other Special Clauses:
        None
 Utah Code Sections Affected:
 AMENDS:
        76-10-501, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2015, Chapters 212, 406
        76-10-503, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2021, Chapter 262
        76-10-532, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2015, Chapter 37
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 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
            Section 1. Section 76-10-501 is amended to read:
            76-10-501. Definitions.
            As used in this part:
            (1) (a) "Antique firearm" means:
            (i) any firearm, including any firearm with a matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or
 similar type of ignition system, manufactured in or before 1898; [or]
            (ii) a firearm that is a replica of any firearm described in this Subsection (1)(a), if the
 replica:
            (A) is not designed or redesigned for using rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed
 ammunition; or
            (B) uses rimfire or centerfire fixed ammunition which is:
            (I) no longer manufactured in the United States; and
            (II) is not readily available in ordinary channels of commercial trade; or
            (iii) (A) that is a muzzle loading rifle, shotgun, or pistol; and
            (B) is designed to use black powder, or a black powder substitute, and cannot use fixed
 ammunition.
            (b) "Antique firearm" does not include:
            (i) a weapon that incorporates a firearm frame or receiver;
            (ii) a firearm that is converted into a muzzle loading weapon; or
            (iii) a muzzle loading weapon that can be readily converted to fire fixed ammunition by
 replacing the:
            (A) barrel;
            (B) bolt;
            (C) breechblock; or
            (D) any combination of Subsection (1)(b)(iii)(A), (B), or (C).
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        (2) "Bureau" means the Bureau of Criminal Identification created in Section 53-10-201
 within the Department of Public Safety.
        (3) (a) "Concealed firearm" means a firearm that is:
        (i) covered, hidden, or secreted in a manner that the public would not be aware of its
 presence; and
        (ii) readily accessible for immediate use.
        (b) A firearm that is unloaded and securely encased is not a concealed firearm for the
 purposes of this part.
        (4) "Criminal history background check" means a criminal background check
 conducted by a licensed firearms dealer on every purchaser of a handgun, except a Federal
 Firearms Licensee, through the bureau or the local law enforcement agency where the firearms
 dealer conducts business.
        (5) "Curio or relic firearm" means a firearm that:
        (a) is of special interest to a collector because of a quality that is not associated with
 firearms intended for:
        (i) sporting use;
        (ii) use as an offensive weapon; or
        (iii) use as a defensive weapon;
        (b) (i) was manufactured at least 50 years before the current date; and
        (ii) is not a replica of a firearm described in Subsection (5)(b)(i);
        (c) is certified by the curator of a municipal, state, or federal museum that exhibits
 firearms to be a curio or relic of museum interest;
        (d) derives a substantial part of its monetary value:
        (i) from the fact that the firearm is:
        (A) novel;
        (B) rare; or
        (C) bizarre; or
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        (ii) because of the firearm's association with an historical:
        (A) figure;
        (B) period; or
        (C) event; and
        (e) has been designated as a curio or relic firearm by the director of the United States
 Treasury Department Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms under 27 C.F.R. Sec. 478.11.
        (6) (a) "Dangerous weapon" means:
        (i) a firearm; or
        (ii) an object that in the manner of its use or intended use is capable of causing death or
 serious bodily injury.
        (b) The following factors are used in determining whether any object, other than a
 firearm, is a dangerous weapon:
        (i) the location and circumstances in which the object was used or possessed;
        (ii) the primary purpose for which the object was made;
        (iii) the character of the wound, if any, produced by the object's unlawful use;
        (iv) the manner in which the object was unlawfully used;
        (v) whether the manner in which the object is used or possessed constitutes a potential
 imminent threat to public safety; and
        (vi) the lawful purposes for which the object may be used.
        (c) "Dangerous weapon" does not include an explosive, chemical, or incendiary device
 as defined by Section 76-10-306.
        (7) "Dealer" means a person who is:
        (a) licensed under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 923; and
        (b) engaged in the business of selling, leasing, or otherwise transferring a handgun,
 whether the person is a retail or wholesale dealer, pawnbroker, or otherwise.
        (8) "Domestic violence" means the same as that term is defined in Section 77-36-1.
        [(8)] (9) "Enter" means intrusion of the entire body.
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        Enrolled Copy                                                                            H.B. 507
          [(9)] (10) "Federal Firearms Licensee" means a person who:
          (a) holds a valid Federal Firearms License issued under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 923; and
          (b) is engaged in the activities authorized by the specific category of license held.
          [(10)] (11) (a) "Firearm" means a pistol, revolver, shotgun, short barreled shotgun, rifle
 or short barreled rifle, or a device that could be used as a dangerous weapon from which is
 expelled a projectile by action of an explosive.
          (b) As used in Sections 76-10-526 and 76-10-527, "firearm" does not include an
 antique firearm.
          [(11)] (12) "Firearms transaction record form" means a form created by the bureau to
 be completed by a person purchasing, selling, or transferring a handgun from a dealer in the
 state.
          [(12)] (13) "Fully automatic weapon" means a firearm which fires, is designed to fire,
 or can be readily restored to fire, automatically more than one shot without manual reloading
 by a single function of the trigger.
          [(13)] (14) (a) "Handgun" means a pistol, revolver, or other firearm of any description,
 loaded or unloaded, from which a shot, bullet, or other missile can be discharged, the length of
 which, not including any revolving, detachable, or magazine breech, does not exceed 12 inches.
          (b) As used in Sections 76-10-520, 76-10-521, and 76-10-522, "handgun" and "pistol
 or revolver" do not include an antique firearm.
          [(14)] (15) "House of worship" means a church, temple, synagogue, mosque, or other
 building set apart primarily for the purpose of worship in which religious services are held and
 the main body of which is kept for that use and not put to any other use inconsistent with its
 primary purpose.
          [(15)] (16) "Prohibited area" means a place where it is unlawful to discharge a firearm.
          [(16)] (17) "Readily accessible for immediate use" means that a firearm or other
 dangerous weapon is carried on the person or within such close proximity and in such a manner
 that it can be retrieved and used as readily as if carried on the person.
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        [(17)] (18) "Residence" means an improvement to real property used or occupied as a
 primary or secondary residence.
        [(18)] (19) "Securely encased" means not readily accessible for immediate use, such as
 held in a gun rack, or in a closed case or container, whether or not locked, or in a trunk or other
 storage area of a motor vehicle, not including a glove box or console box.
        [(19)] (20) "Short barreled shotgun" or "short barreled rifle" means a shotgun having a
 barrel or barrels of fewer than 18 inches in length, or in the case of a rifle, having a barrel or
 barrels of fewer than 16 inches in length, or a dangerous weapon made from a rifle or shotgun
 by alteration, modification, or otherwise, if the weapon as modified has an overall length of
 fewer than 26 inches.
        [(20)] (21) "Shotgun" means a smooth bore firearm designed to fire cartridges
 containing pellets or a single slug.
        [(21)] (22) "Shoulder arm" means a firearm that is designed to be fired while braced
 against the shoulder.
        (23) "Single criminal episode" means the same as that term is defined in Section
 76-1-401.
        [(22)] (24) "Slug" means a single projectile discharged from a shotgun shell.
        [(23)] (25) "State entity" means a department, commission, board, council, agency,
 institution, officer, corporation, fund, division, office, committee, authority, laboratory, library,
 unit, bureau, panel, or other administrative unit of the state.
        [(24)] (26) "Violent felony" means the same as that term is defined in Section
 76-3-203.5.
        Section 2. Section 76-10-503 is amended to read:
        76-10-503. Restrictions on possession, purchase, transfer, and ownership of
 dangerous weapons by certain persons -- Exceptions.
        (1) For purposes of this section:
        (a) A Category I restricted person is a person who:
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       Enrolled Copy                                                                           H.B. 507
        (i) has been convicted of [any] a violent felony [as defined in Section 76-3-203.5];
        (ii) is on probation or parole for [any] a felony;
        (iii) is on parole from secure care, as defined in Section 80-1-102;
        (iv) within the last 10 years has been adjudicated under Section 80-6-701 for an offense
 which if committed by an adult would have been a violent felony as defined in Section
 76-3-203.5;
        (v) is an alien who is illegally or unlawfully in the United States; or
        (vi) is on probation for a conviction of possessing:
        (A) a substance classified in Section 58-37-4 as a Schedule I or II controlled substance;
        (B) a controlled substance analog; or
        (C) a substance listed in Section 58-37-4.2.
        (b) A Category II restricted person is a person who:
        (i) has been convicted of [any]:
        (A) a domestic violence offense that is a felony;
        (B) a felony that is not a domestic violence offense or a violent felony and within seven
 years after completing the sentence for the conviction, has been convicted of or charged with
 another felony or class A misdemeanor;
        (C) multiple felonies that are part of a single criminal episode and are not domestic
 violence offenses or violent felonies and within seven years after completing the sentence for
 the convictions, has been convicted of or charged with another felony or class A misdemeanor;
 or
        (D) multiple felonies that are not part of a single criminal episode;
        (ii) (A) within the last seven years has completed a sentence for:
        (I) a conviction for a felony that is not a domestic violence offense or a violent felony;
 or
        (II) convictions for multiple felonies that are part of a single criminal episode and are
 not domestic violence offenses or violent felonies; and
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        (B) within the last seven years and after the completion of a sentence for a conviction
 described in Subsection (1)(b)(ii)(A), has not been convicted of or charged with another felony
 or class A misdemeanor;
        [(ii)] (iii) within the last seven years has been adjudicated delinquent for an offense
 which if committed by an adult would have been a felony;
        [(iii)] (iv) is an unlawful user of a controlled substance as defined in Section 58-37-2;
        [(iv)] (v) is in possession of a dangerous weapon and is knowingly and intentionally in
 unlawful possession of a Schedule I or II controlled substance as defined in Section 58-37-2;
        [(v)] (vi) has been found not guilty by reason of insanity for a felony offense;
        [(vi)] (vii) has been found mentally incompetent to stand trial for a felony offense;
        [(vii)] (viii) has been adjudicated as mentally defective as provided in the Brady
 Handgun Violence Prevention Act, Pub. L. No. 103-159, 107 Stat. 1536 (1993), or has been
 committed to a mental institution;
        [(viii)] (ix) has been dishonorably discharged from the armed forces;
        [(ix)] (x) has renounced the individual's citizenship after having been a citizen of the
 United States;
        [(x)] (xi) is a respondent or defendant subject to a protective order or child protective
 order that is issued after a hearing for which the respondent or defendant received actual notice
 and at which the respondent or defendant has an opportunity to participate, that restrains the
 respondent or defendant from harassing, stalking, threatening, or engaging in other conduct that
 would place an intimate partner, as defined in 18 U.S.C. Sec. 921, or a child of the intimate
 partner, in reasonable fear of bodily injury to the intimate partner or child of the intimate
 partner, and that:
        (A) includes a finding that the respondent or defendant represents a credible threat to
 the physical safety of an individual who meets the definition of an intimate partner in 18 U.S.C.
 Sec. 921 or the child of the individual; or
        (B) explicitly prohibits the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force that
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        Enrolled Copy                                                                              H.B. 507
 would reasonably be expected to cause bodily harm against an intimate partner or the child of
 an intimate partner; or
         [(xi)] (xii) has been convicted of the commission or attempted commission of assault
 under Section 76-5-102 or aggravated assault under Section 76-5-103 against a current or
 former spouse, parent, guardian, individual with whom the restricted person shares a child in
 common, individual who is cohabitating or has cohabitated with the restricted person as a
 spouse, parent, or guardian, or against an individual similarly situated to a spouse, parent, or
 guardian of the restricted person.
         (c) As used in this section, a conviction of a felony or adjudication of delinquency for
 an offense which would be a felony if committed by an adult does not include:
         (i) a conviction or an adjudication under Section 80-6-701 for an offense pertaining to
 antitrust violations, unfair trade practices, restraint of trade, or other similar offenses relating to
 the regulation of business practices not involving theft or fraud; or
         (ii) a conviction or an adjudication under Section 80-6-701 which, according to the law
 of the jurisdiction in which it occurred, has been expunged, set aside, reduced to a
 misdemeanor by court order, pardoned or regarding which the person's civil rights have been
 restored unless the pardon, reduction, expungement, or restoration of civil rights expressly
 provides that the person may not ship, transport, possess, or receive firearms.
         (d) It is the burden of the defendant in a criminal case to provide evidence that a
 conviction or an adjudication under Section 80-6-701 is subject to an exception provided in
 Subsection (1)(c), after which it is the burden of the state to prove beyond a reasonable doubt
 that the conviction or the adjudication is not subject to that exception.
         (2) A Category I restricted person who intentionally or knowingly agrees, consents,
 offers, or arranges to purchase, transfe