MrTuffPaws I would say most of what he said he correct in general. While I am pretty well versed on California firearm laws, what he said applies for the majority of people. Prior registration of "assault weapons" for a limited number of people that is not available to others anymore, and magazine types owned prior to 2000 which are no longer legal for others aside it is the law.
They placated current owners at the time with exemptions, and now with no new numbers joining the ranks of people with those legal allowances, and many new joining the ranks of other gun owners, as well as the antis, those with those items are a shrinking minority that will become less and less represented.
Incorrect. Register assault weapons are alive and well in CA. You can't own a new assualt rifle with a removable mag unless it doesn't have a pistol grip.
Those are not "assault weapons" then, a magical legal term that varies year to year and state to state.
You only think you know what an "assault weapon" is.
A tube fed semi auto centerfire rifle would be an "assault weapon" if its fixed magazine held over 10 rounds. Even if it 'looked' like it belonged in an old western movie.
While we have come to accept the pistol grip feature as the most important, it also includes a host of other features that while less of a hassle to do without also place the rifle with a detachable magazine into the bad category.
I wouldn't mind a bayonet on a semi-auto defensive rifle for example, but that would make it an "assault weapon". Even without the bayonet, a bayonet lug is a great extra attachment point, often built to withstand hard blows and therefore quite a durable point to attach other accessories.
Just a threaded barrel makes a handgun an "assault weapon", and there is a lot of nice accessories that you could use with threads besides "evil" silencers/suppressors. From custom sights, barrel extensions, or muzzle breaks, or various new things people invent that could make use of extra attachment points on a firearm.
In fire prone California they even banned "flash suppressors". Hunting in the dry brush? Don't install a "flash suppressor". A vehicle might require a "spark arrestor" to drive in the same area, but a firearm is prohibited from having a "flash suppressor".
Of course vehicles are also required to have a muffler by law, and those are prohibited on firearms as well. So there is consistency!
A "pistol grip" may be the biggest limiting pain to change, but is far from the only feature. You have just become so used to not having any of the others due to the law that it is all you notice now. But things like a bayonet lug were once a great point to build accessories to attach to.
Incorrect. High caps were grandfathered in along with AWs. You can also own all of the parts of the mag, but cannot assemble it unless it is limited to 10 rounds.
You are correct, but that is only part of the story. Non grandfathered "assault weapons" (technically non "assault weapons"), like current offlist ARs using a fixed magazine to not be an "assault weapon" are still limited to 10 rounds. It does not matter if you have a 30 round legal grandfathered magazine.
If you install your legal 30 round magazine on a "fixed magazine" new gun, one that is perfectly legal with a 10 round magazine, you just created an "assault weapon".
Firearms with fixed magazines that hold over 10 rounds are "assault weapons".
So any gun that gets around the "assault weapon" ban by having a fixed magazine cannot have a perfectly legal pre 2000 magazine installed without being in violation of the law.
You would be surprised how many people I have seen in felony violation of that law. Believing they can freely install thier legal grandfathered magazines on such firearms.
Unloaded open carry is allowed, but may be restricted by local ordinance. Check your local laws. There are other situations that allow for carrying, even loaded, but they are relatively limited.
Unloaded "open carry" is not open carry.
In reality it is just a "loophole" in what is allowed to transport a firearm which allows some people to use it to "open carry" while unloaded.
Open Carry was banned in response to the black panthers, and except under limited exemptions in limited circumstances is illegal in public.
Since it is only illegal to conceal a handgun (PC12025) or have a loaded firearm (PC12031), having a non-concealed and unloaded handgun is legal.
Which enables someone to transport thier gun from say the trunk to thier house without breaking the law outside of a locked container.
That it also allows someone to strap it on thier side unloaded if they so desire certainly does not qualify as "open carry".
Additionally California has its own state version of the Gun Free School Zone Act, known as the California Gun Free School Zone Act, requiring anyone with a firearm to keep a long distance (1,000 feet). A distance greater than the width of most streets.
So you could not really open carry unloaded, except at pre-planned destinations far from any school as some form of political demonstration. It is nearly impossible to travel through a medium size city without going within 1,000 feet of a school. Making it nearly impossible to "open carry" unloaded without violating the California law, even if the federal version of the law causes little trouble for people in other states.
I currently live in the liberal state of california where if some residents have it their way guns would be illegal. you can't own a "assualt rifle " unless it has a sealed 10 round magazine, nothing in california can have a round capicity of more than 10 rounds. 10 day waiting period on ALL guns. in some counties it is souly up the the discretion of the sheriff of who can get a ccw and guess what no one gets it. but they will tell you can apply for one and send in youre money and then they deny youre application. you can't carry a gun in plain sight unless in a rual area. they are now trying to pass a law where you would only be able to buy 50 rounds a month. What is this world comming to if these laws are passing is all i want to know. can't wait for the day I get out of here.
