SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Friday released the 2018 Armed and Prohibited Persons program annual report, which tracks state residents who unlawfully own firearms.

California is the first and only state in the nation to have established an automated system for tracking firearm owners who fall into a prohibited status.

The APPS database works to identify individuals who previously procured firearms but later became prohibited from legally owning them because they were convicted of a felony or a violent misdemeanor, placed under a domestic violence or other restraining order, or suffer from serious mental illness.

Mandated by Senate Bill 140 in 2013, the annual report provides a comprehensive analysis of the APPS database. In order to capture and better display the number of individuals coming into the system, leaving the system, and the current case load, this year’s report also provides a comprehensive assessment of the APPS system, data, and the California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Firearms (CA DOJ) enforcement activities.

“California will continue to set an example for the rest of the nation when it comes removing illegal firearms from our neighborhoods,” Becerra said. “This is smart and efficient law enforcement. I am proud of our agents, who put themselves in dangerous situations on a daily basis in order to protect our families. My office remains committed to our mission: taking firearms away from dangerous and violent individuals. We look forward to working with our Governor and legislature and our local partners to fulfill this mission.”

This report for 2018 analyzes historical information such as APPS caseload and workflow since July 2013, including an examination of the total number of persons in APPS over time, paired with examinations of the removal of individuals.

Some of the key highlights from the report include:

* The task of addressing the original backlog of 20,721 cases neared completion. The remaining 538 active cases are under investigation.
* In 2018, we set an annual record of 10,681 individuals were removed from the APPS list.
* Agents seized a total of 2,290 firearms in APPS enforcement actions.
* We averaged 50 filled agent positions working in six teams dedicated to the search and seizure of firearms from prohibited persons spanning California’s 58 counties.

In just over 10 years, the number of known firearm owners in California has more than doubled, going from 927,686 in 2008 to 2,516,836 as of Jan. 1, 2019. Since 2013, more than 56,000 armed and prohibited persons have been added to APPS, while more than 53,000 armed and prohibited persons have been removed.

Every day, California DOJ agents face numerous APPS challenges, such as a growing caseload, seizing firearms from uncooperative individuals, locating current addresses, obtaining search warrants, and locating the particular firearm registered in the database.

In 2018, CA DOJ agents made approximately 22,119 contacts with individuals in their efforts to remove firearms from the hands of prohibited persons.

A copy of the report can be found here.

* * * * *

Republican Assembly Leader Marie Waldron (Escondido) issued the following statement Friday on the doubling of the number of illegal gun owners on the California DOJ’s Armed Prohibited Persons List:

“Republicans have demanded oversight and accountability in the APPS program, but Democrats have rejected our requests at every opportunity. This failure is the result. Maybe the Attorney General should focus a little less on fights with the federal government and a lot more on his job as California’s top law enforcement officer.

“Contrary to what the Department of Justice claims, it’s clear that the APPS backlog is growing, not falling. There are more illegal gun owners in the system now than in 2013, when the Legislature provided $24 million to eliminate the backlog. This is unacceptable and it puts Californians in danger.”

In 2018, Assembly Republicans requested an additional $25 million to allow the Department of Justice to retrieve firearms from people on the APPS list, conditioned on a meaningful reduction in the backlog of prohibited gun owners.

Last spring, Senate Republicans called for an oversight hearing to determine the reason for the backlog.

Democrats refused to act on either request.

Waldron represents California’s 75^th Assembly District, which includes the communities of Bonsall, Escondido, Fallbrook, Hidden Meadows, Rainbow, San Marcos, Temecula, Valley Center and Vista.