CA certified list

Do NOT break the law!!!

Only way to purchase a handgun that's not on the list, is to be in law enforcement.

Join the Force or live in TX.

If someone who has legally purchased the firearm moves into the state with it and wants to sell it, you can do a transfer through an FFL. The problem is finding that person…

well, you can do what I did. Got the hell out of that place

A non-Rostered handgun can be transferred between two CA residents.
So if someone in CA already had one he could sell it to you.
Cops can buy nonRostered handguns and can then transfer them to you too.

A non-Rostered handgun can also be transferred to you from a lineal family member (grandparent/parent/child/granchild) or be inherited/willed without concern from Rostering. Some CA FFLs don't know this is legal but it is per 12078PC (paragraph c or d, can't remember.) Uncles, cousins, brothers, etc. don't count. If you had a grampa in Texas he could buy you a nice Christmas gift and send it to your local FFL (ideally with a gift letter that can be copied for FFL's files): the FFL enters an override in the DROS system saying something like "12078PC Roster-exempt intrafamily gift".

Some non-Rostered pistols can be modified into single-shot pistols or single-action revolvers that are (if dimensionally compliant) Roster-exempt per 12133PC.

I expect the safe handgun list to come down in the near future due to a variety of reasons - one of the biggest is that gives LEOs the right to buy nonRostered handguns for personal use.



Bill Wiese
San Jose CA

I expect the safe handgun list to come down in the near future due to a variety of reasons - one of the biggest is that gives LEOs the right to buy nonRostered handguns for personal use.

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Really? Why would you expect that?

The California "assault weapons" laws allow cops to buy a personal AR and a stack of 30-round magazines, and I don't see that these laws have gone anywhere.

CountGlocula wrote:

Do NOT break the law!!!

Only way to purchase a handgun that's not on the list, is to be in law enforcement.

Join the Force or live in TX.

Click to expand...

Sir, I must point out that you are incorrect.

There are 3 ways to purchase non-rostered handguns in CA:

1. Buy it from someone who is already a CA resident who owns it (this MAY be someone who owned it prior to moving to CA, which is fully legal).

2. Be an LEO who has qualified for the non-rostered handgun.

3. Accept it as an interfamilial gift from a parent or a child (Father-son, Mother-daughter) who lives out of state.

Many CA FFL's do not know about #3 and will not want to bother with it - (separate form I believe) but it is 100% legal. Sadly it does not extend to other family like siblings or nephews or cousins - only parent to child or vice versa.

Say someone were to give it to CA resident as an interfamilial gift, then the recipient were to sell it to another CA resident...

Doesn't seem there's any reason that's illegal.

Of course, by the time that's all said and done, why not just get a CZ 97?

A non-Rostered handgun can be transferred between two CA residents.
So if someone in CA already had one he could sell it to you.
Cops can buy nonRostered handguns and can then transfer them to you too.

A non-Rostered handgun can also be transferred to you from a lineal family member (grandparent/parent/child/granchild) or be inherited/willed without concern from Rostering. Some CA FFLs don't know this is legal but it is per 12078PC (paragraph c or d, can't remember.) Uncles, cousins, brothers, etc. don't count. If you had a grampa in Texas he could buy you a nice Christmas gift and send it to your local FFL (ideally with a gift letter that can be copied for FFL's files): the FFL enters an override in the DROS system saying something like "12078PC Roster-exempt intrafamily gift".

Some non-Rostered pistols can be modified into single-shot pistols or single-action revolvers that are (if dimensionally compliant) Roster-exempt per 12133PC.

I expect the safe handgun list to come down in the near future due to a variety of reasons - one of the biggest is that gives LEOs the right to buy nonRostered handguns for personal use.

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Everything that Bwise said.

billwiese: I expect the safe handgun list to come down in the near future due to a variety of reasons - one of the biggest is that gives LEOs the right to buy nonRostered handguns for personal use.

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Wasn’t there a similar issue with LEO/personal use and ‘assault weapons’? Wasn’t that resolved by the courts nullifying the LEO/personal use provision while leaving the rest of the law intact? Why wouldn’t the same thing happen with the ‘Safe Gun’ list- nullification of the LEO/personal use provision while leaving the law otherwise intact?

Wasn’t that resolved by the courts nullifying the LEO/personal use provision while leaving the rest of the law intact?

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Why do I see cops perusing the California shops that have "assault weapons licenses" and buying the things, then? Has this changed in the last few weeks?

Actually, now that I think about it, it was the provision allowing LEOs to keep ‘assault weapons’ after they retired that was struck. My apologies. But I think it still applies to the ‘Safe Gun’ issue- a court can simply strike the LEO/personal use provision and leave the law intact.

Billwiese wrote:
I expect the safe handgun list to come down in the near future due to a variety of reasons - one of the biggest is that gives LEOs the right to buy nonRostered handguns for personal use.

Click to expand...

ArmedBear wrote:
Really? Why would you expect that?

The California "assault weapons" laws allow cops to buy a personal AR and a stack of 30-round magazines, and I don't see that these laws have gone anywhere.

Click to expand...

There are several reasons the CA AW laws can be taken down now (aside from a variation of the above for safe gun Roster).

But everything's in orbit until Norkdyke incorporation, which I'm confident we'll get.

Various gun law on the books also do not have 'severability', meaning that if one element of the law is found unconstitutional, the whole thing goes. However some judges don't like to do that at a lower level and will just strike the offending segment, and you have to take the rest down in appeal.

There are a variety of reasons to take down CAs AW laws but pre-Heller, pre-incorporation, they'd just come back up again if stricken.


Bill Wiese
San Jose CA

ArmedBear wrote:
Why do I see cops perusing the California shops that have "assault weapons licenses" and buying the things, then? Has this changed in the last few weeks?

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If they are not buying for departmental purposes their chief has given them a sign-off to buy AWs for personal use; they have acquired AW *registration*, not a permit.