SACRAMENTO - Assembly Member Mark DeSaulnier, the California Chapters of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, and the Legal Community Against Violence celebrated the passage of DeSaulnier’s Assembly Bill 2235 from the Assembly Public Safety Committee today.

AB 2235, which passed out of Assembly Public Safety on a party-line vote, would require all newly manufactured or imported handguns in California to be owner-authorized, or personalized in a way that would allow them to be fired only by authorized persons. This requirement will take effect eighteen months following the release of a report by the California Attorney General that owner-authorized handguns are available for retail sale.

Biometric technology provides a method for uniquely recognizing persons based upon one or more intrinsic physical traits. Biometric technologies, such as fingerprint or grip recognition, are already widely used in other applications and consumer products, including computers, cell phones, credit cards and door locks. The state of New Jersey has a related handgun personalization law.

AB 2235 would require that this personalization technology be a permanent programmable biometric feature that is part of the gun’s original design and manufacture and cannot be readily deactivated.

Assembly Bill 2235 will be heard by the Assembly Appropriations Committee prior to the May 23, 2008 deadline for fiscal hearing.