Opinion ID: 2595475
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Number of Expected Prosecutions

Text: As previously discussed here and in Kasler, supra, 23 Cal.4th 472, 97 Cal. Rptr.2d 334, the Legislature enacted the AWCA in response to what it viewed as a statewide problem of increasing gravity, the rapidly growing use of assault weapons in incidents of criminal violence. Attacking what it perceived to be a widespread threat, the Legislature presumably anticipated a significant number of prosecutions would ensue under the law. Again, our construction should not impose a scienter requirement that would unduly impede the ability to prosecute substantial numbers of violators. Conclusion Although the AWCA can be characterized as a remedial law aimed at protecting public welfare, its text, history and surrounding statutory context provide no compelling evidence of legislative intent to exclude all scienter from the offense defined in section 12280(b). Section 20's generally applicable presumption that a penal law requires criminal intent or negligence, the severity of the felony punishment imposed for violation of section 12280(b), and the significant possibility innocent possessors would become subject to that weighty sanction were the statute construed as dispensing entirely with mens rea, convince us section 12280(b) was not intended to be a strict liability offense. The gravity of the public safety threat addressed in the AWCA, however, together with the substantial number of prosecutions to be expected under it and the potential difficulty of routinely proving actual knowledge on the part of defendants, convince us section 12280(b) was not intended to contain such an actual knowledge element. Consequently, we construe section 12280(b) as requiring knowledge of, or negligence in regard to, the facts making possession criminal. In a prosecution under section 12280(b), that is to say, the People bear the burden of proving the defendant knew or reasonably should have known the firearm possessed the characteristics bringing it within the AWCA. [11] The question of the defendant's knowledge or negligence is, of course, for the trier of fact to determine, and depends heavily on the individual facts establishing possession in each case. Nevertheless, we may say that in this context the Legislature presumably did not intend the possessor of an assault weapon to be exempt from the AWCA's strictures merely because the possessor did not trouble to acquaint himself or herself with the gun's salient characteristics. Generally speaking, a person who has had substantial and unhindered possession of a semiautomatic firearm reasonably would be expected to know whether or not it is of a make or model listed in section 12276 or has the clearly discernable features described in section 12276.1. At the same time, any duty of reasonable inquiry must be measured by the circumstances of possession; one who was in possession for only a short time, or whose possession was merely constructive, and only secondary to that of other joint possessors, may have a viable argument for reasonable doubt as to whether he or she either knew or reasonably should have known the firearm's characteristics. We further conclude the evidence here was sufficient to show, at least, negligence as to the salient characteristics. The juvenile court, examining the rifle, stated that Russia SKS5 was printed or engraved on a metal part near its center, forward of the stock. The police officer who found the weapon testified that the gun's magazine, though attached at the time, was detachable. The evidence the minor possessed the gun, though in conflict, was legally sufficient, as the Court of Appeal held and the minor does not now dispute. The police and probation officers' testimony was to the effect that the assault weapon was found resting on a cabinet a few feet from the bed the minor said was his. The juvenile court was entitled to accept that evidence and reject the contrary testimony from the minor and family members that only the minor's brother slept in the bunk bed. Viewed in a light favorable to the trial court's judgment ( People v. Johnson (1980) 26 Cal.3d 557, 578, 162 Cal.Rptr. 431, 606 P.2d 738), the evidence was sufficient for a reasonable trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt that the minor's possession of the rifle, whether sole or joint, was such that he knew or should have known it was an SKS with detachable magazine (§ 12276, subd. (a)(11).