Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/3d/136/509.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 13:42:56+00:00

Document:
JANE DOE et al., Petitioners, v. CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO et al., Respondents.
GEORGE SORACCO et al., Petitioners, v. CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO et al., Respondents.
Jeremiah F. Hallisey, Don B. Kates, Jr., O'Brien & Hallisey, Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro, Noble K. Gregory, Vaughn R. Walker and Robert A. Gordon for Petitioners.
George Agnost, City Attorney, Buck E. Delventhal and Thomas J. Owen, Deputy City Attorneys, William F. McCabe, Jonathan R. Bass, Jacobs, Sills & Coblentz, Dirk M. Schenkkan, Brian E. Gray, Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Robertson & Falk, Robert A. Thompson, Annamary E. Gannon, Pettit & Martin and Thomas E. Horn for Respondents.
Natalie E. West, City Attorney (Berkeley), John Belcher, Assistant City Attorney, Louis B. Green City Attorney (Sunnyvale), and Diane M. Lee, City Attorney (Palo Alto), as Amici Curiae on behalf of Respondents.
These two petitions challenge the validity of the San Francisco Handgun Ordinance [or Handgun Ordinance], adopted June 28, 1982, and effective July 28, 1982. The main contention is that the State of California has passed laws (Gov. Code, § 53071 and Pen. Code, § 12026) which preempt the field. Handgun control is a volatile issue of great public importance, invoking complex policy considerations. While we are sensitive to the political and social overtones of a case such as this, we are here concerned only with the narrow legal question of whether the state Constitution and state statutes permit San Francisco to enact such an ordinance. We conclude that they do not.
The ordinance in question provides that "[i]t shall be unlawful for any person to possess, within the City and County of San Francisco, any handgun" and that one violating the ordinance "shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for not less than thirty (30) days nor [136 Cal. App. 3d 512] more than six (6) months." Though the law became effective July 28, 1982, it is not being enforced yet because it provides a 90-day grace period to permit residents to turn in to the police or otherwise relinquish their handguns. A number of persons are exempt from the ordinance, including peace officers, members of the military while engaged in the performance of their duties, persons using licensed target ranges, certain licensed collectors, certain licensed guards and special peace officers, and persons engaged in business and possessing handguns within fixed places of business.
The ordinance also exempts "[p]ersons who are authorized to carry handguns pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section 12050) of Chapter 1 of Title 2 of Part 4 of the Penal Code, and persons who are authorized to sell handguns pursuant to Penal Code section 12070." This particular exemption plays an important role in the arguments of the parties and will be discussed in detail below.
Several different principles are involved in the law of preemption. The two pertinent provisions of the California Constitution are article XI, section 7: "A county or city may make and enforce within its limits all local, police, sanitary, and other ordinances and regulations not in conflict with general laws" and article XI, section 5, subdivision (a): "It shall be competent in any city charter to provide that the city governed thereunder may make and enforce all ordinances and regulations in respect to municipal affairs, subject only to restrictions and limitations provided in their several charters and in respect to other matters they shall be subject to general laws ..."
The City and County of San Francisco (hereafter sometimes City and County) concedes that "it cannot be argued that the regulation of firearms is a municipal affair within the meaning of Article XI, Section 5, subdivision (a)," of the state Constitution. We agree. Clearly, the Handgun Ordinance, which prohibits possession by both residents and those passing through San Francisco, legislates in an area of statewide concern. (SeeProfessional Fire Fighters, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles, supra, 60 Cal.2d at pp. 293-294, and cases cited therein; Long Beach Police Officers Assn. v. City of Long Beach, supra, 61 Cal.App.3d at p. 371.) It affects not just persons living in San Francisco, but transients passing through and residents of nearby cities where San Francisco's handguns might be sold.
Both petitioners and respondents agree that the state Legislature has preempted the fields of registration and licensing of handguns and their users. The main area of dispute concerns whether this preemption also applies to individual possession of handguns. The arguments are best understood through examination of the decision inGalvan v. Superior Court, supra, 70 Cal. 2d 851.
Following the Galvan decision the Legislature added Government Code section 9619 (Stats. 1969, ch. 1428, § 1) renumbered and amended in 1971 (Stats. 1971, ch. 438, § 95) to its present form as Government Code section 53071: "It is the intention of the Legislature to occupy the whole field of regulation of the registration or licensing of commercially manufactured firearms as encompassed by the provisions of the Penal Code, and such provisions shall be exclusive of all local regulations, relating to registration or licensing of commercially manufactured firearms, by any political subdivision as defined in Section 1721 of the Labor Code." Thus, in reaction to Galvan the Legislature expressly preempted the area of registration which San Francisco had attempted to enter.
The City and County of San Francisco argues that neither Government Code section 53071 nor Penal Code section 12026 bars it from enacting its handgun ordinance. Concerning Government Code section 53071, the City and County argues that it provides only that the state has preempted the areas of registration and licensing and says nothing about a local government's ability to regulate possession. The City and County notes that nothing in its ordinance establishes a permit system; the ordinance [136 Cal. App. 3d 515] imposes an outright ban on possession and merely exempts from its ban those who have received permits under state law. The City and County contends that an outright ban on possession is not a regulation related to registration or licensing. Concerning Penal Code section 12026, the City and County points to the introductory words--"'Section 12025 shall not be construed'"--and argues that section 12026 is intended merely to give advice concerning the construction of section 12025, not to create a right to possess a firearm or to preclude local governments from regulating possession. The City and County asserts that section 12026 merely prescribes a limitation upon the scope of the state's regulation of possession in the home or place of business.
The Olsen court noted that numerous state statutes dealt with firearms, but concluded: "Despite the wide coverage by the state on the subject of firearms, it does not follow that the state wished to exclude regulations by a municipality which considered more stringent regulation necessary in its particular community.
We agree with the City and County's assessment that these decisions suggest that the Legislature has not prevented local governmental bodies from regulating all aspects of the possession of firearms. However, the more troubling question is whether the San Francisco Handgun Ordinance merely regulates possession or instead constitutes a licensing ordinance in violation of the express preemption of Government Code section 53071.
The San Francisco ordinance does not mention the word "license" or "permit" and it does not establish a licensing procedure of any kind (unlike the ordinance struck in Sippel v. Nelder (1972) 24 Cal. App. 3d 173 [101 Cal. Rptr. 89]. However, it exempts from the general ban on possession any person authorized to carry a handgun pursuant to Penal [136 Cal. App. 3d 517] Code section 12050. Thus, its effect is to create a new class of persons who will be required to obtain licenses in order to possess handguns. Persons presently possessing handguns in their homes who are not licensed to carry their weapons must obtain licenses or relinquish their handguns. Persons who could have purchased handguns for home possession under prior law are required under the San Francisco ordinance to enter the permit system.
In order to read Penal Code section 12026 so as not to conflict with the San Francisco Handgun Ordinance, we would be required to alter the final portion of the statute to provide: "and no State permit or license ... shall be required of him." The plain wording of the statute is broader. "No permit or license" means "no permit or license." It would torture the plain words of the statute to apply the meaning sought by San Francisco. fn. 2 As explained above, the San Francisco Handgun Ordinance does create a license requirement for one seeking to possess a handgun at home, and therefore conflicts with Penal Code section 12026.
If we were to find in the San Francisco Handgun Ordinance no "licensing" requirement within the express wording of Government Code section 53071 and Penal Code section 12026, we would still reach the conclusion that state law preempts the San Francisco ordinance under the theory of implied preemption. It is at least arguable that the state Legislature's adoption of numerous gun regulations has not impliedly preempted all areas of gun regulation. (SeeGalvan, supra, 70 Cal.2d at p. 860.) However, we infer from Penal Code section 12026 that the Legislature intended to occupy the field of residential handgun possession to the exclusion of local governmental entities. A restriction on requiring permits and licenses necessarily implies that possession is lawful without a permit or license. It strains reason to suggest that the state Legislature would prohibit licenses and permits but allow a ban on possession.
Let a peremptory writ of mandate issue directing respondents to refrain from enforcing the San Francisco Handgun Ordinance and to provide suitable notice to the residents of San Francisco that the ordinance will not be enforced. Petitioners' requests for attorney's fees are denied.
Feinberg, J., and Barry-Deal, J., concurred.
FN 1. We note that Commons and Jenkins were decided before adoption of Government Code section 53071 and that in Olsen, the court did not state that the area of "possession" was not preempted, only that the area of "use" was not expressly preempted. Thus none of the three courts considered the relationship between a ban on possession and the licensing requirement it implicitly creates if it exempts licensed persons from the ban.
FN 2. The City and County cites Gluck v. County of Los Angeles (1979) 93 Cal. App. 3d 121, 132 [155 Cal. Rptr. 435], for the principle that we should indulge a presumption in favor of the validity of the local ordinance. However, as we read Gluck, it applies to implied preemption, not to express preemption or conflict between state and local law. Even were we to indulge a presumption in favor of the local ordinance, we would find it expressly preempted, in direct conflict with state law, and impliedly preempted.

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