Honorable Bryan Hughes, Chair, Senate Committee on State Affairs
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB1596 by Hagenbuch (Relating to the prohibition of short-barrel firearms.), As Introduced
The bill would exclude short-barrel firearms from the applicability of the felony offense of intentionally or knowingly possessing, manufacturing, transporting, repairing, or selling a prohibited weapon.
Reducing the applicability of an existing criminal offense may result in a decrease in demands upon state and local correctional resources due to a possible decrease in the number of individuals placed under supervision in the community or sentenced to a term of confinement.
In fiscal year 2024, there were 732 arrests, 42 referrals, 118 placements onto adult community supervision, 94 admissions to an adult state correctional institution, and no individuals admitted to a juvenile state correctional institution for the offense of intentionally or knowingly possessing, manufacturing, transporting, repairing, or selling a prohibited weapon. It is unknown how many of these offenses involved a short-barrel firearm.
It is assumed that any impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources would not be significant.