Moving To California - .50BMG

[franklyfresh]

Can I move to California with my 50BMG rifle or does it have to be sold before I move? All my search results say no, I cannot bring it with me but I am not sure if laws have changed. I am still hoping I can... but I think I already know the answer...

[Full Clip]

Nope, that ship has sailed.

[kelvin232]

Not necessarily...

If it's a bolt AR upper, you can possibly own the upper and just never assemble it to a lower in the state.

If the lower is registered BMG, then no-go.

Complete rifle (not an AR upper) and you're a no-go.

Ammo is ok.

Re-chamber to DTC is sometimes an option...


What you got?

[franklyfresh]

Not necessarily...

If it's a bolt AR upper, you can possibly own the upper and just never assemble it to a lower in the state.

If the lower is registered BMG, then no-go.

Complete rifle (not an AR upper) and you're a no-go.

Ammo is ok.

Re-chamber to DTC is sometimes an option...


What you got?

Oh wow, that is great to hear! I dont need to have the complete rifle, just would be bummed if I had to sell since I'd probably take a lost on the gun. The lower wouldn't be registered as BMG, I bought the upper and lower separately.

Its a tactilite T1 50bmg

[Oceanbob]

Yeah, re barrel it...

Only money......

We can thank that RINO Arnold Schwarzenegger who banned the .50

We're the only State to ban the .50

Legal everywhere else.....

[mrkubota]

Oh wow, that is great to hear! I dont need to have the complete rifle, just would be bummed if I had to sell since I'd probably take a lost on the gun. The lower wouldn't be registered as BMG, I bought the upper and lower separately.

Its a tactilite T1 50bmg

Another option is to convert it to a non-rifle by replacing the buttstock with spade grips.

http://www.knsprecisioninc.com/gun-parts-and-accessories/tripods/ar-15-m-16-spade-grip-accessory.html

[CSACANNONEER]

You can always get a second barrel made for it chambered in .510DTC to use in CA. While I have a Registered 50BMG AR15 lower for my 50BMG uppers, I've been considering rebarreling one of my uppers in DTC just to be able to legally allow those under 18 to fire it in CA.

[MCorwin@michellawyers.com]

Bringing a .50 BMG upper into CA, where the only likely use for it is multiple felonies (manufacture/possession of AW) is a Really Bad Idea. Especially after Nguyen.

[CSACANNONEER]

Bringing a .50 BMG upper into CA, where the only likely use for it is multiple felonies (manufacture/possession of AW) is a Really Bad Idea. Especially after Nguyen.

Mrkobota already covered one simple way that it could be legally used. Another would be on a friend's registered lower.

[MCorwin@michellawyers.com]

Mrkobota already covered one simple way that it could be legally used. Another would be on a friend's registered lower.

Unless you actually have those parts or that friend, I don't think that is likely to be a viable defense.

[CALI-gula]

Unless you actually have those parts or that friend, I don't think that is likely to be a viable defense.

I know what you are saying is technically cautious, maybe even out of duty to do so. And I know what you went through in your own right, but all things considered, irrational caution is not always necessary. I think this is one of those times.

Unless the OP draws attention to himself in some other manner that he may be under irrational scrutiny for other things, that this might get rolled up in the snowball of other more serious infractions, worrying overtly about this one thing only merely existing is biting nails for no reason. Especially when legal.

Take out the bolt, don't store it with the lower, done. Put it up in your attic or away in a box from somewhere separate from the lower. As an upper, it's not an illegal item to own and if you use common logic, and aren't prone to having police visit you on a regular basis for drugs, domestic violence, child-porn, outward threats, or family members that also do any of the latter, you have little to worry about.

The facts are that it's not illegal to own. It's not going to get up at night and go turn itself into the police station announcing that it thinks it has committed a gray area crime, but is not sure, and asking those police to check with it's owner to see if it has.

.

[CSACANNONEER]

Unless you actually have those parts or that friend, I don't think that is likely to be a viable defense.

Or, you simply do not have a receiver with a stock which it could be mounted to. If I didn't own other ARs, I'd bring the upper to CA and give the stripped lower to a friend (as long as that is a legal transfer in the state I was moving from).

[TKM]

[MCorwin@michellawyers.com]

I strongly recommend that some of the posters in this thread read PEOPLE v. NGUYEN 212 Cal.App.4th 1311 (2013). Some of the positions being taken here seem similar to those taken (unsuccessfully) by the defendant in that case.

Specifically note this holding by the court:

As is readily apparent, section 12276.1, subdivision (a)(1) did not expressly state whether a semiautomatic centerfire rifle must be fully assembled and operational in order to be characterized as an assault weapon. Defendant thinks the answer is obvious and claims the ability to fire is an essential feature of an "assault weapon" as defined in section 12276.1, subdivision (a)(1). He says the word "semiautomatic" necessarily connotes an ability to fire....

Rather, we conclude that, given the intent of the AWCA as expressed in section 12275.2, subdivision (a), to protect the health, safety, and security of the citizens in the state from the danger of assault weapons, it would be absurd to construe the AWCA as authorizing the possession of an AK-47 kit such that sections 12276.1 and 12280 would bar conviction for attempted possession or manufacture of an assault weapon based upon possession of such a kit.... If possession of only a receiver constitutes the possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, why should possession of all of the parts of an AK-47 not constitute the possession of an assault weapon?

[RickD427]

Cool, a noob lawyer. He's gonna be fun.

Meanwhile, the 50 bmg rifle is the only thing banned. Not uppers, not 50bmg weapons, not constructive possession.

The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the proliferation and use of .50 BMG rifles…poses a clear and present terrorist threat to the health, safety, and security of all residents of, and visitors to, this state, based upon findings that those firearms have such a high capacity for long distance and highly destructive firepower that they pose an unacceptable risk to the death and serious injury of human beings, destruction or serious damage of vital public and private buildings, civilian, police and military vehicles, power generation and transmission facilities, petrochemical production and storage facilities, and transportation infrastructure.

Except for all of mine because my checks cleared. What a bunch of assclowns.

TKM,

You're right, and you also make a very key distinction that only .50 BMG Rifles are banned and that the ban language does not include "Constructive Possession" provisions.

But Matt makes a very good point about People v Nguyen.

Let's also remember that the Assault Weapon statute also does not contain "Constructive Possession" language either.

But yet Mr. Nguyen was convicted, and went to prison, for what was basically the "Constructive Possession" of an Assault Weapon, even though all of the parts that he had in his possession were completely legal (Nguyen was felon. He would be committing another felony had he assembled the parts, but that point wasn't relevant to the conviction)

The case is really worth reading. What the prosecutor technically did was to win the conviction for the "Attempted Possession (PC 664/30605) of an Assault Weapon." The theory was Mr. Nguyen possessed the parts to make and illegal assault weapon, and had intended to do so, but had not yet assembled the illegal weapon.

It's not hard to see the same argument being made where one possesses the parts to make an illegal .50 BMG rifle, but has not yet done so.

Postscript - Matt beat me to the point. He posted while I was typing.