Is this Legal?

Status
Not open for further replies.
W

Werewolf

Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2003
Messages
4,192
Location
Oklahoma
A friend in CA just acquired a couple of CA legal pistols. He can't buy mags with a capacity over 10 rounds for them. He's asked me to pick up some 17 rounders and send them to him.

Told him I would if it was legal. I have my doubts that it is and don't want to run afoul of CA law over this.

So would it be legal to buy mags and ship them to him?

Calling the Batmen wouldn't do any good they're federal. Would calling the CA AG work or would that anti-gun fatherless son of a female dog just say it's illegal even if it it wasn't.
 
Well many websites and catalogs sell these and they specify that they wont ship them to certain states so I would say that it is NOT legal for you to do it either .

Now as to what could happen to you I have no ideas as you aren't a business that can lose a license and I don't understand how a California law enforcement officer could come to your state and arrest you .

I quess it would make an interesting test case in court LOL .

If you have deep pockets to defend against the possable criminal charges give it a whirl and see what happens .
 
I live in CA and it is illegal. Don't do it. Tell your friend if he wants mags with more than 10 rounds to take a drive to vegas and import them himself. It's still illegal but you'd be out of the loop.

I have a friend with pre ban 20 & 30 round Mags that we shoot with all the time. They are NOT date marked so...If your friend did have them and was at a range nothing would probably happen to him and I don't know how ANY LEO or court could determine you didn't have them in posession prior to the ban. Eg. If you replaced parts with new parts they would be legal. I read on another thread that it would come into effect if say he comitted a crime and was caught the mags the courts could give an extended sentance for posession.
 
BigO01,

If I'm not mistaken, Tommy Chong did two years for a similar transaction.(prohibited items interstate, not gun related items)
 
When people are allowed to traffic in glass pipeware across interstate lines, the terrorists have clearly won.

For the original poster:

Shipping your buddy magazines that are illegal in CA isn't a good idea.

As I understand the law, in California you cannot possess magazines that weren't already in-state before the ban was passed.
 
Don't do it. It is illegal to import 'high-capacity magazines" into California. Like g5reality said, tell your friend he can drive to Vegas (or Reno, depending which is closer) and buy them himself if he really wants them so bad. Let him risk his own hide doing it.

Oh, and tell him NOT to buy them at a gun show in NV, the CA DOJ has been known to do sting operations at NV gun shows, watching for CA license plates and following them back across the state border.

Non-date stamped mags are of course best. The burden of proof is on the CA DOJ to prove you did not own the mags before the ban. With some guns though it's easy for them to proove (like if the gun was released for sale after the CAliban took effect in 2000 so no pre-ban hi-cap mags exist).

I am not making any suggestions. You didn't get any ideas from me :neener:
 
Your friend will go to jail if you send them.
Click to expand...

It would truly suck if someone were to mail CA-illegal magazines to prominent antis. Worse, if the boxes contained legitimate-looking receipts and the containers themselves were doctored to make them look "suspicious" and thus inviting Post Office scrutiny.
 
Illegal. He can travel outside of CA and purchase them himself legaly, but if he brings them back across state lines he has broken the law. I don't know if they legaly have jurisdiction over exporters, but they sure do over importers, and they could probably twist it to include you under the 'conspiracy' clause in CA which makes thinking or taking steps to commit any crime punishable the same as actualy doing the crime, even if no crime has been commited.

Example: Local thug observed loitering outside store with fellow thugs. Police arrive and seperate thugs and one admits that another one was planning to rob store with a BB gun that is otherwise legal. Entire group is now guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery, and likely firearm laws which are valid because they apply whenever someone is made to believe it is a real firearm. No crime was ever commited but based on intent they are guilty and punishable the same as if they had actualy commited the crime they are guilty of conspiring to commit, even members of the thug group not planning to participate are guilty by association and presumed knowledge of conspiracy. I use this specific example because I remember just such a case were a group of inner city black youths were arrested and given Youth Authority/state prison sentences for that exact crime. It interested me because it struck me as a borderline thought police action so I followed the story.

So are you already guilty of conspiring to commit a CA felony by conspiring to import illegal magazines? Maybe an enhancement of conspiring to use the Postal Service to commit a felony as well?

Now as to what could happen to you I have no ideas as you aren't a business that can lose a license and I don't understand how a California law enforcement officer could come to your state and arrest you .
Click to expand...

It is called extradition, rendition. CA requests him for commiting a felony in the state of CA, and he has an extradition procedure which he can proceed with or waive it and be shipped directly to CA. As far as I know all states in the US have extradition agreements. If you break the law of one state they can ask for you to be shipped over under US law. The days of crossing state borders and being safe ended long ago. Well breaking the law of one state while in another would be a grey area that would require a lot of financing to figure out, but I can see it easily going in favor of the law which was actualy physicly broken in CA territory when the items arrived, as opposed to him being immune from CA law being outside of CA. Physicly the crime would have been commited in CA.
 
It would truly suck if someone were to mail CA-illegal magazines to prominent antis. Worse, if the boxes contained legitimate-looking receipts and the containers themselves were doctored to make them look "suspicious" and thus inviting Post Office scrutiny.
Click to expand...

Like send a care package of 10 "LE/Military Only" marked mags to Feinstein? :evil:
 
There's a gun shop, That won't be named, in vegas just down the block from the tropicana.
Click to expand...

Better wear comfortable shoes -- it's actually about 3 - 4 miles "down the block" from the Tropicana Hotel ;)
 
Gentlemen

Let us not lead our friend into temptation.

Please.

[snip]

The problem with the OP is that "just acquired" sounds new. With a pistol of recent design, there's little likelihood that there would be any "older" compatible mags around.

This looks like a losing scenario.

Recommendation: Eject.
 
Last edited:
Apparently your friend doesn't know that California actively and aggressively enforces the 10 round mag law. Not only at the state but also at the local level. And with undercover LEO's no less.

It's a stupid move, IMO.
 
Do not explain how to avoid the law. Do not explain how others have avoided the law. Do not advocate "getting around" some law.

Yes, some laws are useless, and promulgated by irrational people. That's beside the point.

THR does not condone any law-breaking of any sort. In print.

Art
 
I am confused.

There's no question that the friend should comply with California's laws: he is a California resident. But why would the original poster in this thread be bound by California law if he is not a California resident nor within the borders of California?

Not trying to be difficult. I just don't understand.
 
Robert, think, "Conspiracy." Think, "Aiding and abetting in the commission of a crime." The "commission of a crime" would be the acquisition of an illegal item by a California citizen.

The state of residence of the person providing the illegal-in-California magazine to the Californian doesn't matter.

Art
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

A
  • Locked
Moving from New Mexico to CA...need help
Replies
11
Views
395
kevin davis
K
S
  • Locked
Legality of using magazine blocks to reduce capacity
Replies
13
Views
3K
smalls
S
K
  • Locked
SAIGAs in California?
Replies
9
Views
560
lanternlad1
L
M
  • Locked
California interstate long gun transfer
Replies
23
Views
2K
freakshow10mm
F
M
  • Locked
Legally selling on Gunbroker.com
Replies
15
Views
1K
Marvinash
M
Back
Top