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CA: License, Registration, etc.

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BerettaNut92

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Could someone please explain to me the difference between licensing, registration, and how it applies to long guns, handguns, and ammunition?

EVERYONE asks do I have to have a license to unzip my fly while I own a rifle, and am I allowed to clean my handgun without a license, and how many pushups do I have to do before I buy ammuntion and do I have to wear a tie, etc.

As I understand it, there is a NATIONAL background check, and the state registers long guns and handguns, but only handguns require a license to buy and transfer?
 
Semantics.

Some would say that the BFSC was not a license, but a 'safety certificate'. Same with the new HSC that started in 2003.

Also, California DOJ says that "There is no firearm registration requirement in California except for assault weapon owners and personal handgun importers." :scrutiny:

If not, why is there a record of gun purchases and serial numbers in California law enforcement databases, even though none of my firearms, or for that matter, I have been arrested, charged, acquitted, or convicted or any crime involving inanimate pieces of metal, wood and plastic? :fire: :cuss:
 
Semantics.

Some would say that the BFSC was not a license, but a 'safety certificate'. Same with the new HSC that started in 2003.

Also, California DOJ says that "There is no firearm registration requirement in California except for assault weapon owners and personal handgun importers."

If not, why is there a record of gun purchases and serial numbers in California law enforcement databases, even though none of my firearms, or for that matter, I have been arrested, charged, acquitted, or convicted or any crime involving inanimate pieces

Actually, when the DROS on a long gun purchase is sent to the DOJ, no description of the firearm is given other than, rifle or shotgun.
 
In my version of semantics, gun registration involves the following:
1. Notify authorities of every gun you have by make and serial number.
2. Tell them the address where you keep each gun.
3. Notify them if you sell or dispose of each gun.
4. (Maybe) pay a fee for this "service" - or call it a tax.

I believe they have this sort of thing in a few socialist utopias like New York City, etc.

In California, the only guns that receive this degree of attention are the deadly black assault rifles like AR-15's and the like. Handguns certainly don't have this sort of scrutiny, so I would say there is no handgun registration in California.

As for the BFSC, I would say that is more of a safety certificate that shows you know a few basic things about guns, and it is not tied to particular guns, but rather to handgun owners. So that isn't really registration by my definition above.

I do know that people who move into the state with guns have to send a list to the DOJ of what they bring. But that is a pretty new requirement, and there were a zillion guns brought into CA prior to that law without any record of their existence in the state. And I'll bet that there is a greater than 50% non-compliance with this law by newcomers to the state. I don't think this is a widely known law, especially among people of questionable intelligence who are actually moving INTO California, when wise people are moving out.
 
So is a DROS a contract btw buyer and seller, but kept on government letterhead?

What information is sent along w/ background check?
 
When you buy a gun in California everything about you and the gun is recorded in Sacramento.

12077. (a) The Department of Justice shall prescribe the form of the register and the record of electronic or telephonic transfer pursuant to Section 12074.

(b)(1) For handguns, information contained in the register or record of electronic or telephonic transfer shall be the date and time of sale, make of firearm, peace officer exemption status pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 12078 and the agency name, dealer waiting period exemption pursuant to subdivision (n) of Section 12078, dangerous weapons permitholder waiting period exemption pursuant to subdivision (r) of Section 12078, curio and relic waiting period exemption pursuant to subdivision (t) of Section 12078, California Firearms Dealer number issued pursuant to Section 12071, for transactions occurring prior to January 1, 2003, the purchaser's basic firearms safety certificate number issued pursuant to Sections 12805 and 12809, for transactions occurring on or after January 1, 2003, the purchaser's handgun safety certificate number issued pursuant to Article 8 (commencing with Section 12800), manufacturer's name if stamped on the firearm, model name or number, if stamped on the firearm, if applicable, serial number, other number (if more than one serial number is stamped on the firearm), any identification number or mark assigned to the firearm pursuant to Section 12092, caliber, type of firearm, if the firearm is new or used, barrel length, color of the firearm, full name of purchaser, purchaser's complete date of birth, purchaser's local address, if current address is temporary, complete permanent address of purchaser, identification of purchaser, purchaser's place of birth (state or country), purchaser's complete telephone number, purchaser's occupation, purchaser's sex, purchaser's physical description, all legal names and aliases ever used by the purchaser, yes or no answer to questions that prohibit purchase including, but not limited to, conviction of a felony as described in Section 12021 or an offense described in Section 12021.1, the purchaser's status as a person described in Section 8100 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, whether the purchaser is a person who has been adjudicated by a court to be a danger to others or found not guilty by reason of insanity, whether the purchaser is a person who has been found incompetent to stand trial or placed under conservatorship by a court pursuant to Section 8103 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, signature of purchaser, signature of salesperson (as a witness to the purchaser's signature), name and complete address of the dealer or firm selling the firearm as shown on the dealer's license, the establishment number, if assigned, the dealer's complete business telephone number, any information required by Section 12082, any information required to determine whether or not paragraph (6) of subdivision (c) of Section 12072 applies, and a statement of the penalties for any person signing a fictitious name or address or for knowingly furnishing any incorrect information or for knowingly omitting any information required to be provided for the register.
 
Found in the California Firearms Laws Handbook 2001:

"Carrying Unregistered Loaded Handguns

Any person who commits the crime of carying a concealed handgun and ammunition for that handgun on his/her person or in his/her vehicle may be guilty of a felony if the handgun is not on file (registered) in the Depsrtment of Justice's Automated Firearms System."

What the heck is the "Automated Firearms System"??? It seems that every gun sold since 1979 is in this thing somewhere. The term "registered" above is their word, not mine.
 
Found in the California Firearms Laws Handbook 2001:

"Carrying Unregistered Loaded Handguns

Any person who commits the crime of carying a concealed handgun and ammunition for that handgun on his/her person or in his/her vehicle may be guilty of a felony if the handgun is not on file (registered) in the Depsrtment of Justice's Automated Firearms System."

What the heck is the "Automated Firearms System"??? It seems that every gun sold since 1979 is in this thing somewhere. The term "registered" above is their word, not mine.
 
What the heck is the "Automated Firearms System"??? It seems that every gun sold since 1979 is in this thing somewhere. The term "registered" above is their word, not mine.

The Automated Firearms System (AFS) is the central database managed by the California DOJ. Its accessible to various state and municipal agencies. It includes the make/model of the gun, serial number, last known address, and all past owners.



My definition of 'registration'.

Registration is if the government has any computerized, paper, stone tablet, 'Rainman'/idiot-savant, or any other type of recording device that indicates to the government that I own/have in my possession a rifle/shotgun/pistol.

That is why small government is wonderful... things like this don't happen when they don't have resources to spend. Just saying in the law, that they cannot do a certain thing is no insurance that they won't... Case in point is the 6 month time period that the Janet Reno DOJ kept gun records for. Thank goodness that Ashcroft did away with this, but its still not enough.
 
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