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Senate Bill 2225 |
Senate Author: Carona et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-09 |
House Sponsor: Corte |
Senate Bill 2225 amends provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure and Penal Code relating to the civil and criminal consequences of engaging in certain conduct involving the transporting or transferring of a firearm. The bill creates the third-degree felony offense of firearm smuggling for a person other than a peace officer engaged in the actual discharge of duty who knowingly engages in the business of transporting or transferring a firearm that the person knows was acquired in violation of the laws of any state or of the United States and enhances the penalty to a second-degree felony if it is shown at trial that the offense was committed with respect to three or more firearms in a single criminal episode. The bill expands the conduct that constitutes the offense of engaging in organized criminal activity to include the commission of or the conspiracy to commit certain offenses involving the unlawful transfer of a handgun or firearm smuggling and includes property that is used in relation to such an offense in the definition of "contraband," for purposes of forfeiture of contraband.