(a) Section 27545 does not apply to the transfer of a firearm if all of the following conditions are satisfied:

(1) The firearm is voluntarily and temporarily transferred to another person who is 18 years of age or older for safekeeping to prevent it from being accessed or used to attempt suicide by the transferor or another person that may gain access to it in the transferor’s household.

(2) The transferee does not use the firearm for any purpose and, except when transporting the firearm to the transferee’s residence or when returning it to the transferor, keeps the firearm unloaded and secured in the transferee’s residence in one of the following ways:

(A) Secured in a locked container.

(B) Disabled by a firearm safety device.

(C) Secured within a locked gun safe.

(D) Locked with a locking device as described in Section 16860 that has rendered the firearm inoperable.

(3) The duration of the loan is limited to that amount of time reasonably necessary to prevent the harm described in paragraph (1).

(b) (1) If a firearm that has been transferred pursuant to this section cannot be returned to the owner because the owner is prohibited from possessing a firearm, the person in possession of the firearm shall deliver the firearm to a law enforcement agency without delay.

(2) Section 27545 does not apply to the transfer of a firearm to a law enforcement agency pursuant to this subdivision. This section does not authorize the possession of a firearm by any person prohibited from possessing a firearm pursuant to any other law.

(Added by Stats. 2019, Ch. 840, Sec. 11. (SB 172) Effective January 1, 2020.)