This document includes House Floor Amendments incorporated into the bill on Tue, Jan 24, 2023 at 2:11 PM by pflowers.
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7 LONG TITLE
8 Committee Note:
9 The Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee recommended this bill.
10 Legislative Vote: 14 voting for 0 voting against 3 absent
11 General Description:
12 This bill amends provisions relating to the possession of a weapon.
13 Highlighted Provisions:
14 This bill:
15 ▸ amends the definition of a restricted person in possession of a dangerous weapon
16 and a controlled substance; and
17 ▸ reduces the penalty, in certain circumstances, for a restricted person in possession of
18 marijuana.
19 Money Appropriated in this Bill:
20 None
21 Other Special Clauses:
22 None
23 Utah Code Sections Affected:
24 AMENDS:
25 76-10-503, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2021, Chapter 262
26
27 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
28 Section 1. Section 76-10-503 is amended to read:
29 76-10-503. Restrictions on possession, purchase, transfer, and ownership of
30 dangerous weapons by certain persons -- Exceptions.
31 (1) For purposes of this section:
32 (a) A Category I restricted person is a person who:
33 (i) has been convicted of any violent felony as defined in Section 76-3-203.5;
34 (ii) is on probation or parole for any felony;
35 (iii) is on parole from secure care, as defined in Section 80-1-102;
36 (iv) within the last 10 years has been adjudicated under Section 80-6-701 for an offense
37 which if committed by an adult would have been a violent felony as defined in Section
38 76-3-203.5;
39 (v) is an alien who is illegally or unlawfully in the United States; or
40 (vi) is on probation for a conviction of possessing:
41 (A) a substance classified in Section 58-37-4 as a Schedule I or II controlled substance;
42 (B) a controlled substance analog; or
43 (C) a substance listed in Section 58-37-4.2.
44 (b) A Category II restricted person is a person who:
45 (i) has been convicted of any felony;
46 (ii) within the last seven years has been adjudicated delinquent for an offense which if
47 committed by an adult would have been a felony;
48 (iii) is an unlawful user of a controlled substance as defined in Section 58-37-2;
49 (iv) [
50 (A) possesses a dangerous weapon; and
51 (B) [
52 Schedule I or II controlled substance as defined in Section 58-37-2;
53 (v) has been found not guilty by reason of insanity for a felony offense;
54 (vi) has been found mentally incompetent to stand trial for a felony offense;
55 (vii) has been adjudicated as mentally defective as provided in the Brady Handgun
56 Violence Prevention Act, Pub. L. No. 103-159, 107 Stat. 1536 (1993), or has been committed
57 to a mental institution;
58 (viii) has been dishonorably discharged from the armed forces;
59 (ix) has renounced the individual's citizenship after having been a citizen of the United
60 States;
61 (x) is a respondent or defendant subject to a protective order or child protective order
62 that is issued after a hearing for which the respondent or defendant received actual notice and at
63 which the respondent or defendant has an opportunity to participate, that restrains the
64 respondent or defendant from harassing, stalking, threatening, or engaging in other conduct that
65 would place an intimate partner, as defined in 18 U.S.C. Sec. 921, or a child of the intimate
66 partner, in reasonable fear of bodily injury to the intimate partner or child of the intimate
67 partner, and that:
68 (A) includes a finding that the respondent or defendant represents a credible threat to
69 the physical safety of an individual who meets the definition of an intimate partner in 18 U.S.C.
70 Sec. 921 or the child of the individual; or
71 (B) explicitly prohibits the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force that
72 would reasonably be expected to cause bodily harm against an intimate partner or the child of
73 an intimate partner; or
74 (xi) has been convicted of the commission or attempted commission of assault under
75 Section 76-5-102 or aggravated assault under Section 76-5-103 against a current or former
76 spouse, parent, guardian, individual with whom the restricted person shares a child in common,
77 individual who is cohabitating or has cohabitated with the restricted person as a spouse, parent,
78 or guardian, or against an individual similarly situated to a spouse, parent, or guardian of the
79 restricted person.
80 (c) As used in this section, a conviction of a felony or adjudication of delinquency for
81 an offense which would be a felony if committed by an adult does not include:
82 (i) a conviction or an adjudication under Section 80-6-701 for an offense pertaining to
83 antitrust violations, unfair trade practices, restraint of trade, or other similar offenses relating to
84 the regulation of business practices not involving theft or fraud; or
85 (ii) a conviction or an adjudication under Section 80-6-701 which, according to the law
86 of the jurisdiction in which it occurred, has been expunged, set aside, reduced to a
87 misdemeanor by court order, pardoned or regarding which the person's civil rights have been
88 restored unless the pardon, reduction, expungement, or restoration of civil rights expressly
89 provides that the person may not ship, transport, possess, or receive firearms.
90 (d) It is the burden of the defendant in a criminal case to provide evidence that a
91 conviction or an adjudication under Section 80-6-701 is subject to an exception provided in
92 Subsection (1)(c), after which it is the burden of the state to prove beyond a reasonable doubt
93 that the conviction or the adjudication is not subject to that exception.
94 (2) A Category I restricted person who intentionally or knowingly agrees, consents,
95 offers, or arranges to purchase, transfer, possess, use, or have under the person's custody or
96 control, or who intentionally or knowingly purchases, transfers, possesses, uses, or has under
97 the person's custody or control:
98 (a) any firearm is guilty of a second degree felony; or
99 (b) any dangerous weapon other than a firearm is guilty of a third degree felony.
100 (3) A Category II restricted person who intentionally or knowingly purchases, transfers,
101 possesses, uses, or has under the person's custody or control any firearm, is guilty of:
102 (a) [
103 (b) a class A misdemeanor if:
104 (i) the person is a Category II restricted person solely due to Subsection (1)(b)(iv);
105 (ii) the only controlled substance unlawfully in the restricted person's possession is
106 marijuana;
106a Ĥ→ (iii) the restricted person holds a medical cannabis patient card under Section 26-61a-201,
106b including a conditional medical cannabis card; ←Ĥ
107 Ĥ→ [
107a intent to
108 produce, manufacture, or dispense the marijuana; and
109 Ĥ→ [
109a the
110 restricted person's body, except 11-nor-9-carboxy-tetrahydrocannabinol.
111 [
112 transfers, possesses, uses, or has under the person's custody or control any dangerous weapon
113 other than a firearm is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.
114 [
115 [
116 section for one who purchases, transfers, possesses, uses, or has under this custody or control
117 any dangerous weapon, the penalties of that section control.
118 [
119 (1)(b)(iv) that the person was:
120 (a) in possession of a controlled substance pursuant to a lawful order of a practitioner
121 for use of a member of the person's household or for administration to an animal owned by the
122 person or a member of the person's household; or
123 (b) otherwise authorized by law to possess the substance.
124 [
125 weapon by a person restricted under Subsection (2) or (3) that the firearm or dangerous
126 weapon:
127 (i) was possessed by the person or was under the person's custody or control before the
128 person became a restricted person;
129 (ii) was not used in or possessed during the commission of a crime or subject to
130 disposition under Section 24-3-103;
131 (iii) is not being held as evidence by a court or law enforcement agency;
132 (iv) was transferred to a person not legally prohibited from possessing the weapon; and
133 (v) unless a different time is ordered by the court, was transferred within 10 days of the
134 person becoming a restricted person.
135 (b) Subsection [
136 person of a firearm or other dangerous weapon by a restricted person.
137 [
138 dangerous weapon to any person, knowing that the recipient is a person described in
139 Subsection (1)(a) or (b).
140 (b) A person who violates Subsection [
141 (i) a person described in Subsection (1)(a) and the transaction involves a firearm, is
142 guilty of a second degree felony;
143 (ii) a person described in Subsection (1)(a) and the transaction involves any dangerous
144 weapon other than a firearm, and the transferor has knowledge that the recipient intends to use
145 the weapon for any unlawful purpose, is guilty of a third degree felony;
146 (iii) a person described in Subsection (1)(b) and the transaction involves a firearm, is
147 guilty of a third degree felony; or
148 (iv) a person described in Subsection (1)(b) and the transaction involves any dangerous
149 weapon other than a firearm, and the transferor has knowledge that the recipient intends to use
150 the weapon for any unlawful purpose, is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.
151 [
152 dealer or other person to sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of a firearm or dangerous weapon
153 under circumstances which the person knows would be a violation of the law.
154 (b) A person may not provide to a dealer or other person any information that the
155 person knows to be materially false information with intent to deceive the dealer or other
156 person about the legality of a sale, transfer or other disposition of a firearm or dangerous
157 weapon.
158 (c) "Materially false information" means information that portrays an illegal transaction
159 as legal or a legal transaction as illegal.
160 (d) A person who violates this Subsection [
161 (i) a third degree felony if the transaction involved a firearm; or
162 (ii) a class A misdemeanor if the transaction involved a dangerous weapon other than a
163 firearm.