California students, cities could get gun-trace data

In California, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks’ AB 1743 would make it easier for more public institutions to get at the state’s firearm-trace records. The bill does not change who can own a gun or what happens when a crime is committed. It changes who can ask to use records the state already keeps, so local governments and campuses can study where guns are stolen, recovered or tied to crimes.

Those requests could come from any California town, city or county, any state government agency, California community colleges, the California State University, the University of California or any private nonprofit university in the state.

The database already exists

The records live in the Department of Justice Automated Firearms System. Existing law requires law enforcement agencies to enter certain firearms that have been reported stolen, lost, found, recovered, held for safekeeping, surrendered, relinquished or under observation. Agencies also have to report all available information needed to identify and trace the history of recovered firearms that are illegally possessed, used in a crime or suspected of having been used in a crime within seven calendar days of getting that information.

The Department of Justice must keep the information for at least 10 years, and the attorney general sets the guidelines for academic and policy research access. AB 1743 would keep that structure in place and clarify that the information is available, upon request, to the wider set of public institutions named in the bill.

A wider circle of users

The practical change is about who gets a clearer seat at the table when gun-trace data is used for policy work. A city analyst, a county public-safety office or a university researcher may be trying to connect firearm recoveries to theft patterns, illegal possession or crime trends in a way that is useful for local decisions, not just statewide reporting.

Recorded votes show the bill cleared a floor vote.