Confused about Mags in CA

[furfam4]

I understand we cannot have mags that hold a capacity of more than 10 rounds, but why do I see 20, 30 round rebuild kits and stuff in the firearms sales forum here. I'm confused to the stuff I've seen here about mags here, which makes me think there may be some way around the law. Can someone explain. How can you have Hi cap mags in CA?

[Baconator]

There is no law against owning greater than 10 round magazines. Go over to the center fire forum and librarian has typed up a nice long sticky about magazines.


ETA: It's in the pistol forum http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...d.php?t=387409

[CSACANNONEER]

Yep, you are confused. There is no law preventing me from owning or using my legally aquired +10 round mags. In the event that they should wear out, I can still buy rebuild kits and use the parts to repair my legally owned mags. This is not getting around the law. It is simply repairing what one already legally owns. To legally own +10 round mags, you need to aquire them in a legal fashion. For most of us, that means aquiring them prior to 1-1-2000. For others. they can still buy them due to their job (mainly LEOs) or if they have a large capacity mag permit (mainly FFLs but, I do remember a non-FFL having one).

[E Pluribus Unum]

I understand we cannot have mags that hold a capacity of more than 10 rounds, but why do I see 20, 30 round rebuild kits and stuff in the firearms sales forum here. I'm confused to the stuff I've seen here about mags here, which makes me think there may be some way around the law. Can someone explain. How can you have Hi cap mags in CA?

Possession is always legal, even if the acquisition was in violation of state law.

For those that have high capacity magazines, replacement parts can be legally purchased to replace parts that have gone bad over time. This means that over time, it may be purely possible that none of the original parts of the magazine still exist.

So... if you possessed 10 high capacity magazines before the ban, it's now been 10 years, so maybe your old mags are worn out. Maybe it's time to order 10 mag rebuild kits to replace all of the old defective parts. So you order 10 magazine rebuild kits, replace one part at a time as needed on the old mags, and destroy the replaced part, and eventually you will have 10 brand new mags that replace the tired old ones.

If at any time you assemble a mag rebuild kit into a fully functional magazine without having replaced something on a previously-possessed magazine, then you have illegally manufactured a high capacity feeding device and committed a misdemeanor under California law; it's still legal to use said magazine though.

It's basically on the honor system. There's no way to prove when the magazine was assembled, or if it replaced a previously-possessed magazine; if you admit to building one from scratch, they can nail you. If not....


P.S.

Yep, you are confused. There is no law preventing me from owning or using my legally aquired +10 round mags.

Neither is there a law which prohibits one from using or possessing his illegally acquired +10 round mags.