(a) A PPO may be the registered owner of a firearm if the PPO is registered with the department pursuant to procedures established by the department.

(b) The department shall modify the department’s Dealers’ Record of Sale (DROS) form to allow a PPO to be listed as the purchaser and registered owner of a firearm. The form shall also require the PPO to identify its type of business formation and to include any tax identification number or other identifying number of the PPO that may be required by the department.

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(c) (1) The department shall modify the department’s DROS form to require the PPO to designate a “firearms custodian” for the firearm owned by the PPO that is listed in the DROS. A firearms custodian shall possess a valid firearms qualification permit issued by the bureau. A firearms custodian is responsible for the tracking, safekeeping, and inventory of those firearms of the PPO for which the custodian is designated, and shall serve as a point of contact for the department regarding the firearms for which the custodian is designated.

(2) If a firearms custodian is no longer employed by the PPO in that capacity, or otherwise becomes ineligible to be the firearms custodian, the PPO shall notify the department of that fact within seven days in a manner prescribed by the department, and the PPO shall notify the department of the designated replacement firearms custodian within 20 days of the original notice.

(d) A security guard shall possess a valid firearm qualification permit issued by the bureau prior to receiving a firearm from a PPO pursuant to a Certificate of Assignment (COA). A firearm shall be assigned by a PPO to a security guard who is employed to work for the PPO only when that employment requires the security guard to be armed.

(e) (1) (A) The department shall prescribe a “Certificate of Assignment” or “COA.” The COA may include fields that are in the DROS form, and shall be used to identify the employee of the PPO who has been assigned a PPO-owned firearm by the PPO pursuant to this chapter.

(B) The COA shall also be used to identify an employee of the PPO who will use his or her own firearm in the course of his or her duties as a security guard. The COA shall not require specific information regarding an employee-owned firearm.

(2) A PPO shall register a PPO-owned firearm acquired prior to July 1, 2016, as a PPO-owned firearm in a manner prescribed by the department prior to filing a COA for that firearm.

(3) Upon the PPO assigning a firearm to an employee who is a security guard, the PPO shall complete the COA and file it with the department in a timely manner as prescribed by the department.

(f) The department shall cause the information contained on the COA to be entered into the Automated Firearms System in a timely manner. Upon termination of the employment assignment that requires the security guard to be armed and the transfer of the firearm from the security guard back to the PPO, the PPO shall complete a COA indicating that the firearm is no longer assigned to the employee and that the firearm is in the possession of the PPO and shall file the COA with the department in a timely manner, as prescribed.

(g) If a security guard becomes listed on the Prohibited Armed Persons File, the department shall immediately notify the bureau of the listing by secured electronic delivery. Upon that notification, the bureau shall take appropriate action regarding the security guard. In addition, the department shall notify the PPO, in the manner the department deems appropriate, that the PPO employee is prohibited from being armed. This chapter does not prohibit the department from also notifying the bureau if a security guard has been arrested and charged with an offense that, upon conviction, would constitute a basis for revocation of a firearms qualification permit or security guard registration.

(Added by Stats. 2014, Ch. 423, Sec. 6. (AB 2220) Effective January 1, 2015. Section operative July 1, 2016, pursuant to Section 28024.)