By Burnam                                              H.B. No. 200
         76R733 JMC-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the prosecution of and the punishment for the offense
 1-3     of unlawful transfer of certain weapons.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Sections 46.06(a), (c), and (d), Penal Code, are
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7           (a)  A person commits an offense if the person:
 1-8                 (1)  sells, rents, leases, loans, or gives a firearm
 1-9     [handgun] to any person knowing that the person to whom the firearm
1-10     [handgun] is to be delivered intends to use it unlawfully or in the
1-11     commission of an unlawful act;
1-12                 (2)  intentionally or knowingly sells, rents, leases,
1-13     or gives or offers to sell, rent, lease, or give to any child
1-14     younger than 18 years any firearm, club, or illegal knife;
1-15                 (3)  intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly sells a
1-16     firearm or ammunition for a firearm to any person who is
1-17     intoxicated;
1-18                 (4)  knowingly sells a firearm or ammunition for a
1-19     firearm to any person who has been convicted of a felony before the
1-20     fifth anniversary of the later of the following dates:
1-21                       (A)  the person's release from confinement
1-22     following conviction of the felony; or
1-23                       (B)  the person's release from supervision under
1-24     community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision following
 2-1     conviction of the felony;
 2-2                 (5)  sells, rents, leases, loans, or gives a handgun to
 2-3     any person knowing that an active protective order is directed to
 2-4     the person to whom the handgun is to be delivered; or
 2-5                 (6)  knowingly purchases, rents, leases, or receives as
 2-6     a loan or gift from another a handgun while an active protective
 2-7     order is directed to the actor.
 2-8           (c)  It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under
 2-9     Subsection (a)(2) that the transfer, unless the transfer is by
2-10     sale, rent, or lease, was to a minor whose parent or the person
2-11     having legal custody of the minor had given [written permission for
2-12     the sale or, if the transfer was other than a sale, the parent or
2-13     person having legal custody had given] effective consent for the
2-14     transfer.
2-15           (d)  An offense under Subsection (a)(1) is a felony of the
2-16     third degree.  An offense under Subsection (a)(2) [this section] is
2-17     a Class A misdemeanor, except that the [an] offense [under
2-18     Subsection (a)(2)] is a [state jail] felony of the third degree if
2-19     the weapon that is the subject of the offense is a firearm
2-20     [handgun].  An offense under Subsection (a)(3), (4), (5), or (6) is
2-21     a Class A misdemeanor.
2-22           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
2-23     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
2-24     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
2-25     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
2-26     before that date.
2-27           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
 3-1     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
 3-2     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
 3-3           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 3-4           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-5     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-6     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-7     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-8     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.