California Law Essay, Research Paper

Caleb Fairley

Judicial Proc.

9/03/00

1. California law restricts the use of guns by seeing to it that the guns are safer, and by being safer they are registered by the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice tests the guns to make sure that they meet all safety needs and that the guns are not faulty.

2. The type of gun that the California law restricts is a gun that is capable of being concealed on someone. This type of gun is known as an unsafe gun. These guns must go through thorough testing by the Department of Justice at a specified laboratory. If the gun passes it then becomes available for sale.

3. The two tests the California legislature require are done by dropping the gun to test the proper safety devices and shooting the gun 600 rounds to see if the gun is faulty in any way. When firing the 600 rounds, they stop after every 50 rounds to let the gun cool off, and after every 100 rounds to tighten any loose parts on the gun. If the gun fires the required 600 times without more than six malfunctions not due to magazines or ammunition and without any cracks or breaks to operating parts that would increase injury risk. The manufacturer of the gun must provide must provide three guns of each make for the testing. The other test is that the gun is dropped from six different positions from a fixture onto a concrete slab from a height of 1m + 1cm. The gun is also dropped in a cocked position. If the gun does not fire from any of the positions and it passes the firing test, then the gun passes.

4. The Department of Justice certifies laboratories that are to test the guns and see to it that they pass. If they do pass the guns are added to a registered list.

5. Two differences between the California legislation and the Illinois legislation are the California legislation sees to it that the guns made for sale are safer for people to handle and operate. It also tries to make it less likely for an accident to occur. The Illinois legislation does nothing to make the guns safer, its main point is that the parent or guardian is held responsible if the son or daughter under the age of 14 uses the gun in an unsafe way. Another difference is that the California legislation is dealing with guns that can be concealed and considered to be unsafe. The Illinois legislation is dealing with all guns in general.

I personally like the Illinois law better than the California law. I believe that parents should be held responsible for the actions of their children. It should not be tough to keep the guns in a place where young kids do not have access to them. As far as the California law, I believe that no one should be able to carry a concealed weapon whether it is deemed safe or unsafe.