New California Gun Laws coming in 2017
There’s another Assault Weapons Ban coming for California Residents in the form of New Gun Laws signed by Governor Brown. These go into effect on January 1, 2017.
These new laws expand the States definition of “Assault Weapons” and will prohibit the sale of firearms with a Non-Fixed Magazine and Military Style Features such as a pistol grip, folding or telescoping stock and a flash suppressor. This expanded definition of an “assault weapon” will also include all semi-automatic rifles having a pistol grip and a button to release a magazine. This has officially by passed the bullet button fix that came about in 2000. The new law will also require “assault weapons” to be registered prior to January 1st, 2018, or be forced to turn them into local law enforcement for destruction or removal from the State. Once registered as an “assault weapon” it can’t be passed on to your children in California or be legally transferred to anyone else in the State.
As of January 1st, 2017 the new law will restrict how you are able to lend firearms to anyone, except family members, encompassing grandparent to grandchild. The “borrower” is required to have a State Firearms Safety Certificate and the loan can’t exceed a 30 day period.
Another aspect of the new law that takes effect January 1st, 2017 is if you falsely report a firearm stolen and get caught, you will be banned from purchasing any firearms for 10 years.
The definition of a firearm was even changed to include “an unfinished frame or receiver that can be readily converted to the functional condition of a finished frame or receiver.” They are going after 80 percent lowers here because the next part of legislation requires all homemade weapons currently in the state that we’re made after 1968 to have a serial number on file or face a $1,000 fine and six months in jail.
Those who own magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds , even if they are “pre-ban” magazines or grandfathered in under past bans; they will all be illegal after July 1st, 2017. The State requires Citizens to remove the magazine from the State, sell it to a licensed firearms dealer, or turn it over to the Police. 1st offense will result in a $100 fine, 2nd offense $250 fine and 3rd offense $500 fine.
Any person or business selling more than 500 rounds of ammo per month without a license would be a misdemeanor crime. Internet sales will be illegal unless they use a local vendor as a middleman. The new law requires that ammunition sales will only be made “face-to-face” through a State licensed Ammunition Seller. If you do buy online it’s required to have it shipped to a State Licensed Ammunition Seller that can charge a maximum of $10 for the online ammo transfer.
Gun owners that want to purchase ammo will be required to get a four-year permit that requires a background check and a $50 fee.
ID’s and background checks will be required for ammunition purchases and each purchase will be logged into a state-wide database that will be monitored by the California Department of Justice. This law goes into effect in 2019 due the complex logistic nature of accomplishing this anytime soon. This will really put a strain on the small gun shop owners in terms of costs, training and time required to run back ground checks for a $10 box of 22LR. Small gun shops may choose to not sell ammo.
To get an idea of how strict the California Opposition to Gun Ownership is just read Sec. 2 of Proposition 63 and listen to the heap of nonsense they are using to get the non-gun owning population to have a complete knee jerk reaction and ban everything that goes bang.
Here is Proposition 63: http://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2016/general/en/pdf/text-proposed-laws.pdf#prop63
Unfortunately Proposition 63 passed in the general election back in November. Voters approved it 63-37. That’s a scary majority of people asking the State Government to take more of their 2nd Amendment rights away to better protect them from guns and criminals. Better yet who is there to stand in the way of Tyranny, if we disarm all the good guys and if a well regulated militia is necessary to the security of a free state? The right of the people to keep and bears arms are certainly being restricted and there’s no denying that. How many hoops can one really jump through and how long can this sort of thing really go one before it’s evident that the right to bears arms is slowly being chipped away to nothing.
Tax payers will most certainly pick up the tab for the new technology required to monitor and enforce these laws, new court processes and regulatory costs.
Ultimately, where there is a will there is a way. I think California Gun Owners will get creative and come up with a work around just like they did in 1990 with the “Off List Lowers” and more recently the “Bullet Button” in 2000.
According to the New California Law a firearm that has a fixed magazine that cannot be removed without opening the action, in is not an assault weapon. That's why the mag release locks are so important. Take a look at the exact legislation that controls this, Senate Bill 880, which added section 30515(a) to the Penal Code. The new section is 35015(a)(1) that adds a new definition of an assault weapon.
The most disturbing thing to consider here is that this is happening in the United States of America. How long before more States adopt such extreme laws that infringe on the 2nd Amendment right of the people.