9.2: Crimes Involving Guns

Commission of Street-Gang Crime While Armed

The crime of the commission of a Street-Gang Crime while armed is defined in section 12021.5 of the California Penal Code.

(a) Every person who carries a loaded or unloaded firearm on his or her person, or in a vehicle, during the commission or attempted commission of any street gang crimes described in subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 186.22, shall, upon conviction of the felony or attempted felony, be punished by an additional term of imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 for one, two, or three years in the court’s discretion. The court shall impose the middle term unless there are circumstances in aggravation or mitigation. The court shall state the reasons for its enhancement choice on the record at the time of sentence.

(b) Every person who carries a loaded or unloaded firearm together with a detachable shotgun magazine, a detachable pistol magazine, a detachable magazine, or a belt-feeding device on his or her person, or in a vehicle, during the commission or attempted commission of any street gang crimes described in subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 186.22, shall, upon conviction of the felony or attempted felony, be punished by an additional term of imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years in the court’s discretion. The court shall impose the middle term unless there are circumstances in aggravation or mitigation. The court shall state the reasons for its enhancement choice on the record at the time of sentence.

(c) As used in this section, the following definitions shall apply:

(1) “Detachable magazine” means a device that is designed or redesigned to do all of the following:

(A) To be attached to a rifle that is designed or redesigned to fire ammunition.

(B) To be attached to, and detached from, a rifle that is designed or redesigned to fire ammunition.

(C) To feed ammunition continuously and directly into the loading mechanism of a rifle that is designed or redesigned to fire ammunition.

(2) “Detachable pistol magazine” means a device that is designed or redesigned to do all of the following:

(A) To be attached to a semiautomatic firearm that is not a rifle or shotgun that is designed or redesigned to fire ammunition.

(B) To be attached to, and detached from, a firearm that is not a rifle or shotgun that is designed or redesigned to fire ammunition.

(C) To feed ammunition continuously and directly into the loading mechanism of a firearm that is not a rifle or a shotgun that is designed or redesigned to fire ammunition.

(3) “Detachable shotgun magazine” means a device that is designed or redesigned to do all of the following:

(A) To be attached to a firearm that is designed or redesigned to fire a fixed shotgun shell through a smooth or rifled bore.

(B) To be attached to, and detached from, a firearm that is designed or redesigned to fire a fixed shotgun shell through a smooth bore.

(C) To feed fixed shotgun shells continuously and directly into the loading mechanism of a firearm that is designed or redesigned to fire a fixed shotgun shell.

(4) “Belt-feeding device” means a device that is designed or redesigned to continuously feed ammunition into the loading mechanism of a machinegun or a semiautomatic firearm.

(5) “Rifle” shall have the same meaning as specified in Section 17090.

(6) “Shotgun” shall have the same meaning as specified in Section 17190.⁸⁵

Two Arrested for Killing Six in California

The two suspects – Angel Joseph Uriate, 35, and Noah David Beard, 25, – were taken into custody by sheriff’s deputies and federal agents after being under around-the-clock surveillance since Jan 23, Tulare County sheriff Mike Bordreaux said, Reuters reported.

Uriate was injured in a gun battle with agents of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) after he opened fire on officers as they approached him in Goshen, California, the town where the killings took place on Jan 16, Bordreaux said. He underwent surgery at a local hospital and was expected to survive, the sheriff said in a news conference announcing the arrests. Beard was captured in nearby Visalia without incident, Bordreaux said. Last month’s carnage raised the profile of rising gang violence and drug trafficking in some of California’s more rural, isolated areas, as a state known for some of the strictest gun laws in the country faced a spate of deadly mass shootings. The Goshen murders came one week before the first of two more highly publicized rampages by shooters in California that left a total of 18 victims dead in the Los Angeles suburb of Monterey Park and the San Francisco Bay-area coastal town of Half Moon Bay.

By comparison, authorities said, the violence in Goshen was more calculated and deliberate. “This was clearly not a random act of violence,” Bordreaux said. “This family was targeted by cold-blooded killers. “Many of the victims died of gunshots to the head.

The sheriff described both suspects as members of the Norteños, a primarily Mexican-American gang network affiliated with the prison-based criminal organization known as Nuestra Familia, Spanish for “our family.” Bordreaux said two members of the victims’ family were also “well known, validated” members of the Norteños gang.

“This case is very dark, it comes from a very dark place,” ATF special agent Joshua Jackson told reporters. A criminal complaint filed by county prosecutors yesterday charged each suspect with six counts of murder, as well as firearms felonies, in the shooting deaths. The attack, carried out on a residential property occupied by nine people, most of them family members, struck fear in a rural agricultural community of about 5,400 residents roughly midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Bordreaux said chilling video footage discovered by investigators showed one victim, a 16-yearold mother, running with her 10-month-old son clutched in her arms as she tried to escape the shootings. She hurriedly lifted the infant over a fence and placed the baby on the ground on the other side, then scaled the fence herself, before both the child and the mother were shot dead, according to the sheriff. The teen mother’s 72-year-old grandmother was also among the slain. Two women on the property survived by hiding in a trailer.

Bordreaux said the two suspects were identified and placed under 24-hour surveillance starting a week after the killings, and authorities kept close tabs on both men until investigators had gathered sufficient evidence to charge them. Bordreaux said the pair are suspected of being the sole perpetrators of the killings, and that the massacre is believed to have stemmed from organized gang activity, though a precise motive remained undetermined.

Authorities identified Beard as the suspect accused of physically shooting the 16-year-old girl and her infant son. The investigation, which involved searches and questioning of inmates in several state prisons, was continuing with assistance from various local law enforcement agencies, state police, the California corrections department, the FBI and ATF, officials said.⁷³

Committing a Felony While Armed

The crime of committing a felony while armed is defined in sections 12022 and 12022.5 of the California Penal Code.

12022 (a) (1) Except as provided in subdivisions (c) and (d), a person who is armed with a firearm in the commission of a felony or attempted felony shall be punished by an additional and consecutive term of imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 for one year, unless the arming is an element of that offense. This additional term shall apply to a person who is a principal in the commission of a felony or attempted felony if one or more of the principals is armed with a firearm, whether or not the person is personally armed with a firearm.

(b) (1) A person who personally uses a deadly or dangerous weapon in the commission of a felony or attempted felony shall be punished by an additional and consecutive term of imprisonment in the state prison for one year, unless use of a deadly or dangerous weapon is an element of that offense.

12022.5 (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), any person who personally uses a firearm in the commission of a felony or attempted felony shall be punished by an additional and consecutive term of imprisonment in the state prison for 3, 4, or 10 years, unless use of a firearm is an element of that offense.⁷⁴

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): A Car with Bullet Holes.^xiii

Drive by Shooting

The crime of committing a drive by shooting is defined in section 12022.55 of the California Penal Code.

Notwithstanding Section 12022.5, any person who, with the intent to inflict great bodily injury or death, inflicts great bodily injury, as defined in Section 12022.7, or causes the death of a person, other than an occupant of a motor vehicle, as a result of discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle in the commission of a felony or attempted felony, shall be punished by an additional and consecutive term of imprisonment in the state prison for 5, 6, or 10 years.

1 Dead, 5 Injured in Shooting after Leaving California House Party: Police

The mass shooting occurred in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Chico, about 90 miles north of Sacramento, Chico Police Lt. Terry Tupper told ABC News. Police responded to the scene around 3:30 a.m. and found several victims struck by gunfire, police said.

A shooter had opened fire from a vehicle into a group of people in the parking lot, Tupper said.

"The actual shooting was not random," Tupper said, adding that it is unclear whether any of the six shooting victims were specifically targeted. All six victims had recently left a house party in the apartment complex that had been cleared by police, Tupper said.

The surviving victims all suffered non-life-threatening injuries and included 18-, 19-, 20- and 21year-old men, as well as a 17-year-old female, police said. Police believe the shooting to be an "isolated incident" and there is no threat to the community, Chico Police Chief Billy Aldridge said during a press briefing Saturday. Investigators are "aggressively pursuing some substantial leads" in the search for a suspect in the shooting, Tupper said.

Chico police had responded to the party about 30 minutes prior to the shooting following reports of someone brandishing a firearm at the gathering, according to Aldridge. Responding officers located someone in possession of a firearm and took them into custody, Aldridge said.

That individual matched the description of a suspect from a separate incident that occurred several hours earlier at another house party in Chico, Aldridge said. Police responded to the scene around 12:30 a.m. following reports that several rounds had been discharged from a firearm, the chief said.

Responding officers learned a fight had broken out after an individual was asked to leave the party, during which one person was allegedly struck on the head with a firearm and another was allegedly hit over the head with a glass bottle, Aldridge said. Both victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were treated at an area hospital, police said. The individual later apprehended at the second party Chico police responded to was arrested for possession of a firearm and reckless discharge, Aldridge said.⁷⁵

Armor Piercing Ammo and Bulletproof Vests (12022.2 PC)

The crime of possessing armor piercing ammo and bulletproof vests is defined in section 12022.2 of the California Penal Code.

(a) Any person who, while armed with a firearm in the commission or attempted commission of any felony, has in his or her immediate possession ammunition for the firearm designed primarily to penetrate metal or armor, shall upon conviction of that felony or attempted felony, in addition and consecutive to the punishment prescribed for the felony or attempted felony, be punished by an additional term of 3, 4, or 10 years. The court shall order the middle term unless there are circumstances in aggravation or mitigation. The court shall state the reasons for its enhancement choice on the record at the time of the sentence.

(b) Any person who wears a body vest in the commission or attempted commission of a violent offense, as defined in Section 29905, shall, upon conviction of that felony or attempted felony, in addition and consecutive to the punishment prescribed for the felony or attempted felony of which he or she has been convicted, be punished by an additional term of one, two, or five years. The court shall order the middle term unless there are circumstances in aggravation or mitigation. The court shall state the reasons for its enhancement choice on the record at the time of the sentence.

(c) As used in this section, “body vest” means any bullet-resistant material intended to provide ballistic and trauma protection for the wearer.⁷⁶

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⁷³Tasnim News Agency (2023)

⁷⁴California Penal Code (2024)

⁷⁵Tasnim News Agency (2023)

⁷⁶California Penal Code (2024)