and a $25 renewal fee for every subsequent year
This is wrong, renewal is free if you mail it back on time, if you're late it's $25, if you are about to deploy you can renew it early for a year, but you can only renew it for a year at a time. The DOJ is actually very out going for US Service Personel from out of state.
You could spend the $100 on an off-the-list lower and support our industries rather than the CA DOJ.
When you register the Assult Rifle with the DOJ, you don't have to be "CA Legal"... we can have; our detachable 30 round mags or even beta mags, pistol grips, collapsable butt stocks, 16" barrels and flash suppresors, even bayonet lugs are cool.
If you buy an off list lower you have to play by the "CA Legal Rule Book", my M4-gery looks exactly like my Issued M16M4, less a PEQ-2 and a lugged compensator for a twist on silecer.
The only stipulation is that you have to own these weapons already and can't register any new weapons once you get the permit
This is up for debate... I've been told that if I'm going to buy an AK-47 for "training purposes" they'll add it, we have AK-47's in our Armory for "training", I'm actually thinking of buying one from the same manufacture, just in a semi-auto only configuration. Also if you buy an assult rifle from a CA indivudual that was "grandfathered in" you can add that to your permit.
There's no difference in the $78 fee, vs. the ATF's $200 tax stamp on NFA.
CA DOJ Firearms Division phone number is 917-227-3274, usally I talk to a woman, can't remember her name.