From the transcript of the House of Representatives session of June 4, 2007 - debate on:

"Substitute for Senate Bill Number 938, AN ACT CONCERNING A STUDY OF LIMITING THE PURCHASE OF HANDGUNS TO ONE PER MONTH

. . .

"REP. LAWLOR: (99^th)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This Bill amends the existing statute regarding reporting theft of an assault weapon to include firearms.

The existing law requires the report to be made with 72 hours of when the person discovered, or should have discovered, the loss or theft, and as I indicated, this an existing statute to which we're adding all firearms.

The penalties provided for failure to report for a first violation of this law, that would be an infraction. And for a subsequent violation, it would be a Class D felony. Those are the lowest of the felonies.

And if it is an intentional failure to report, that would be the next higher penalty, which would be that of a Class C felony.

The Bill also makes it clear that if someone has applied for a permit to carry, if that application is granted, a person applying for a permit to carry a pistol or revolver or handgun should be, must be issued instructions relating to the responsibilities which would be required by this Bill, if it is actually passed.

And then in the third and final section, establishes a new crime for firearms trafficking. If it can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that a particular person, knowingly and intentionally, directly or indirectly causes one or more firearms that that person owns to come into the possession of someone who that person knows is prohibited from owning that firearm, that would be a Class C felony.

So, Mr. Speaker, I think that the Bill itself is relatively simple. I think it's very important to note that concerns that some Legislators had with the language that was debated here last year have been resolved by using the language in the existing law regarding the discovery of the lost or stolen firearm, rather than the newer should have known standard that had been debated last year.

Now, Mr. Speaker, I think it's important to point out a couple of things about the current law. The current law already has some obligations for individuals who are required to do certain things under certain circumstances.

For example, there is an existing statute, which requires the owner of an automobile or someone in possession of an automobile, if that is stolen to report that immediately to the police.

And there are many other examples of similar types of duties, which are imposed upon individuals where normally no such duty exists. For example, the other day we debated the mandated reporter's statute, which says if you are in a particular category, teacher, police officer, physician, whatever.

If you become aware that a child has been abused, you have an obligation to report that and failure to report it carries with it a fine and other potential penalties. So this is in that category.

We are imposing a duty on a class of people, in this case, owners of firearms, a duty to report the theft or loss of a firearm to the local police department within 72 hours.

And accommodation is made in the Bill for situations where it may not be intentional, accidental so to speak. Or where someone may not be aware that they have this responsibility, so for a first violation, the maximum penalty would be an infraction, which is a fine and no possible criminal penalties.

And a subsequent violation, however, would carry the normal criminal penalties for failure to abide by the handgun or firearm regulations.

So I think that's an important point to keep in mind. And in anticipation of other questions dealing with the issue of an intentional violation of this law, there is a very clear definition in our criminal statutes for intentional conduct.

So by incorporating a reference to intentional violations, it would require for someone to be prosecuted for that, that they were aware the law imposed the duty.

They were aware the handgun actually had been lost or stolen, not simply a case where they hadn't discovered it yet, but they were aware that it had been lost or stolen and made a conscious decision not to report it knowing that they had an obligation to do so under those circumstances. So that's the situation, which would trigger the Class C felony.

Mr. Speaker, I think it's worth noting that this has been a request of our law enforcement community for the past couple of years.

The reason they have asked for it is because they have encountered situations where they have been able to trace back a firearm from a crime scene to the most recent lawful owner of that firearm and when they ask that owner where the firearm was, they were met with the response, well, it must have been lost or it must have been stolen and in some cases, months earlier.

Because there's no legal obligation to do anything under those circumstances, there is nothing at that point the police can do.

With the passage of this law, the police will be able to hold people accountable if they thought that they were trying to traffic guns into the hands of people who subsequently would use them in crimes.

And finally I want to say, Mr. Speaker, and I think this is very important to keep in mind. Like most of you, I am personal friends with quite a few law-abiding gun owners and without exception, each of them have said that they would not hesitate, they absolutely would report to the police the loss or theft of one of their own firearms.

Law-abiding gun owners have no problem with this requirement. This is what they believe their responsibility already is.

This just imposes that responsibility on the irresponsible gun owners so that they can be held accountable. So, Mr. Speaker, for all those reasons, I urge passage of the Bill."

The amendment under discussion at this point in the transcript passed both the House and the Senate.  The final bill as amended was also approved.  It was signed by the Governor has become law.