Ca Laws Help Please

[azjogol]

Hi All,

I am an FFL/Manufacturer/Importer here in Az and need some info on Ca gun laws.

This past weekend I sent a couple of my guys to the Costa Mesa gun show to sell some of my Bulgarian AK74 kits, but there was mention of building AK style rifles not being legal. There were also some guys that mentioned that that particular caliber (5.45x39) is not legal as well. Also mentioned was the need to take out the full auto trigger group to keep from being a resident of Hotel Graybar.

Does it vary by county as to what is legal and what isn't? I know Ca has the "List" of approved guns and I probably should have checked there first, but my ADD doesn't allow for that.

So any qualified insight would be greatly appreciated, or even a minor scolding and point in the right direction as to where to find out the needed info would be appreciated as well.

Thank You,

John

[kemasa]

The CA DOJ website is:

http://caag.state.ca.us/firearms/index.html

The a-salt weapon guide is at:

http://caag.state.ca.us/firearms/awguide/awguide.php

There is a ban by name and a ban by feature, so you need to check out both. Call the CA DOJ if you have any questions, which is not say that you will get the correct answer, but they can point out the correct section of the CA Penal Code (www.leginfo.ca.gov). You will get many answers, most of which are wrong, from others. I heard a CA FFL say that a C&R SKS (Russian) is illegal.

There is a state preemption which is supposed to prevent counties from enacting laws regarding firearms which are more strict than the state, but that does not stop some counties.

I have not heard of the 5.45x39 as being illegal, but that does not mean much as I don't tend to deal in those firearms. I would think that the full auto trigger group would be a Federal issue, not a state issue.

The bottom line is that as an AZ dealer, all transfers have to go through a CA Dealer. That means that the CA Dealer is responsible for the transfer and is the one who is responsible for ensuring that it is legal to transfer to the customer.

[ojisan]

Parts Kits are legal to sell, they are not guns, they do not require FFL registration at time of sale unless you are also selling serial # receivers with them.
Yes, it is legal to build parts kits into complete guns.
5.45 x39 ammo is 100% legal, there are restrictions on using this ammo if it is steel cored or steel jacketed on public lands during fire season.
Always best to remove the FA parts from all parts kits to avoid any "confusion".

[Librarian]

Hi All,

I am an FFL/Manufacturer/Importer here in Az and need some info on Ca gun laws.

This past weekend I sent a couple of my guys to the Costa Mesa gun show to sell some of my Bulgarian AK74 kits, but there was mention of building AK style rifles not being legal.

There were also some guys that mentioned that that particular caliber (5.45x39) is not legal as well.

Also mentioned was the need to take out the full auto trigger group to keep from being a resident of Hotel Graybar.

Does it vary by county as to what is legal and what isn't? I know Ca has the "List" of approved guns and I probably should have checked there first, but my ADD doesn't allow for that.

You've already gotten some good advice; just adding a bit.

Counties/cities can't create all their own laws about guns, but what is pre-empted is fairly narrow. Some stuff is legal for them to change, and probably the show promoters would have a handle on that.

The "List" is the Roster of Handguns - since you mentioned only AK-74s, that's not relevant.

No caliber (smaller than .60, where it can become destructive device, IIRC) is specifically banned. AP handgun ammo is illegal. .50 BMG (other .50 is not restricted) rifles are treated as 'assault weapons' but there are no restrictions on the ammo.

As to AKs, part is simple, part is complicated. There are banned-by-name weapons - the list is in this .PDF , the CA AW ID Flowchart, which is linked at the top of the forum. If what you have is named EXACTLY on that list, it's banned for new sales in CA. That's the simple part.

The complicated part is taking a non-banned weapon and building it up into a legal configuration. If you're not selling complete weapons, that's really not your issue. Parts kits are not banned, and kits which can be used to build illegal configurations are not banned, because usually they can be used to build legal configurations as well.

Full auto isn't my area; I'd personally take a very cautious approach, but someone better-informed may have something more practical to say.

[azjogol]

Great stuff guys. I think the kids I sent to Ca. got a little confused by some of the people there giving them conflicting and uninformed interpretations. My fault was not doing my homework before hand.

I'm so used to dealing with the firearm and NFA laws here in Az, that anything out of the norm for the guys in another state got them to error on the side of caution, which is a good thing.

Anyway, thank you very much for the help. It is greatly appreciated.

John