Firearms dealers: conduct of business.

Under existing law, a firearms dealer or licensee means a person who has a valid federal firearms license, has a regulatory or business license, has a valid seller's permit issued by the State Board of Equalization, has a certificate of eligibility issued by the Department of Justice, has a license granted by a duly constituted licensing authority of any city, county, or city and county, and is among those recorded in the centralized list of licensed firearms dealers kept by the department. Existing law regulates licensed firearms dealers and provides that a license is subject to forfeiture for a breach of specified prohibitions in existing law. Existing law establishes the Dealers' Record of Sale Special Account of the General Fund, into which various fees imposed upon licensed firearms dealers are deposited and which may be used by the department, upon appropriation, to offset specified costs. This bill, commencing July 1, 2022, would authorize the department to impose a civil fine not exceeding $1,000 for a violation of those prohibitions, and a civil fine not exceeding $3,000 for a violation of those prohibitions when the licensee has received written notification from the department regarding the violation and fails to take corrective action, as specified, or the department determines the licensee committed the violation knowingly or with gross negligence. The bill would require these fines to be deposited into the Dealers' Record of Sale Special Account, to be available, upon appropriation, for expenditure by the department to offset the reasonable costs of specified firearms-related regulatory and enforcement activities. The bill would authorize the department to adopt regulations to carry out these provisions.