Cal legal ak/ar question

[cyanide]

Ok so im still confused on this... so i understand that if you have a mag lock, and 10 round mags then its legal. but actually removing the mag, with the bullet button makes it illegal correct? so for like an AR your not legally allowed to remove the locked mag? i ask this question, because TBH if this is true i find no point in getting an ar/ak in california. you might as well just find a cheap sks or something, and save some money. thanks

[Backcountry]

wrong

[sao]

You're incorrect. Yes, to be legal your ar/AK needs a may lock and 10 round magazine. You can remove the magazine, but it must require a tool to remove said magazine. Ie you can't drop the magazine with your finger. You need a tool ( pen tip, bullet, etc) to drop the mag. Needing the tool doesn't make it a detachable magazine. The point of the mag lock to me are, it's a cheap mod to make the gun legal. So if I move or law's change I can bring my gun to stock configuration easily. Hope this helps.

[stix213]

Even when you remove your mag using a tool it is still not a detachable magazine because when you attach it again you will need your tool to remove it once more. Whoever told you that you can't remove the mags is a fool.

Also you could go featureless and not even need a bullet button at all. Just press the button and drop the mag like the rest of the country. The bullet button is just so you can have a flash hider, pistol grip, and a few other nice to have but not deal breaker features.

[cyanide]

OH ok, this is cool. glad to hear this, now getting an ak/ar in california seems a bit more reasonable :-)

[Bhobbs]

Or you can build a featureless rifle and have detachable mags.

[PsychGuy274]

Also keep in mind that even if you have legally owned hi-cap mags (over 10 rounds) you cannot use them in a BB'd firearm.

[bwiese]

1.) If you have a old-style non-latching Prince50 or Sporting Conversions, etc screw-down mag catch replacement, do NOT loosen it to remove/change the magazine.

In such a configuration, the gun has a "capacity to accept a detachable magazine" when loosened, and is a CA-defined assault weapon if the gun has other 'evil features' (pistol grip, flash hider, telestock/folder stock, etc.

Such a gun must be taken down and/or have sufficient evil features detached so that when this device is loosened/mag removed, the gun is NOT an assault weapon. This is one of the reasons people have been directed to move away from the old Prince50 or Sporting Conversions devices - because some as*hats have been misusing them and DAs may be unfavorably sensitized to them.

2.) If you have a BulletButton style mag catch - i.e, one of several designs that latches and requires a tool to operate to remove the mag - the mag is no longer detachable per formal regulatory definition.

Note also we have no 'constructive possession' for assault weapons in CA. (We do have it for other gun categories in both state and Fed law.) This means the gun must be examined and considered "as it stands", without regard for any prospective features changes, additions or deletions. "What the gun could be" pending any change is irrelevant, and only the gun's actual status as examined counts.

Also note that a magazine standing by itself is neither detachable nor detachable, as that status is not determined by the magazine itself, but rather by the *gun*.

Guns equipped with such latching maglocks do not have the "capacity to accept a detachable magazine" if a magazine is affixed in the gun, because that would require the existing magazine to be removed (with a tool). [This is also an action or change which simply can't take place in considering the gun's current status, given lack of constructive possession.]

Guns equipped with such latching maglocks as the BulletButton also don't have the "capacity to accept a detachable magazine" if *no* magazine is present. the freestanding magazine (neither detachable or fixed etc.) once inserted in the gun latches and cannot be removed without use of a tool. Thus it can't accept a detachable magazine since the mag becomes legally nondetachable (albeit removable w/tool use) once installed.