Sponsor Statement for SB 70

"Unlawful Discharges of Firearms"

Senate Bill 70 provides strong new deterrents to individuals who unlawfully discharge firearms at buildings .

Last year an Anchorage family was awoken in the middle of the night to a barrage of gunfire. The next day, the Anchorage Police Department found five bullets lodged in various locations of the family's home. Juneau has witnessed seven separate accounts of shootings at dwellings in the last year alone. Under current state law, the unlawful discharge of a firearm at a building is only a misdemeanor.

SB 70 creates a new felony offense for the unlawful discharge of firearms at or in the direction of a building. The legislation also creates a stiffer penalty for those individuals charged with discharging a firearm in the direction of a building with reckless disregard for a risk that the building is occupied. Senate Bill 70 also adds the "unlawful discharge of a firearm in the first or second degree" to the list of possible automatic waiver crimes for certain juveniles. Minors, at least 16 years of age at the time of offenses, would be charged, prosecuted and sentenced in superior court in the same manner as an adult.

SB 70 adds the crime of an unlawful discharge of a firearm in the first degree to the statutory definition of "most serious felony". Under this provision the crime of an unlawful discharge of a firearm would be on the same level as first degree offenses of arson and promoting prostitution.

SB 70 also denies individuals a concealed gun handgun permit if that person has been found guilty of an unlawful discharge of a firearm in the fourth degree within the last five years. Unlawful discharges of a firearm in the first, second and third degree already disqualifies individuals from obtaining a conceal carry weapons permit.

Finally SB 70 to make the statutes easier to understand by grouping all offenses dealing with the unlawful discharge of firearms into one separate section of law.

Senate Bill 70 addresses the problem of random reckless discharges of firearms by instituting tough new penalties on those individuals who not only endanger property but innocent lives as well.

DD/jja