Moving from Texas to California?

[Frog48]

My dad is considering a job offer from a company based in San Francisco. Obviously my parents would have to move to California... luckily, I havent lived with them for years, it wouldnt affect me. So I'm asking on behalf of my dad.

The question is... my dad has a handgun (Ruger GP100). What, if any, hoops would he have to jump through to bring it with him to California? Does Cali have firearm importation laws? Does Cali have handgun registration? Would it require a mountain of paperwork?

Ideally nothing of the sort is required, but after hearing stories about crazy laws in CA, I doubt its that easy.

My dad doesnt carry, he just has it for home defense. He says that if its too much of a hassle to legally bring it with him to Cali, he'll just give it to me. While that would be nice, I'd feel kinda guilty knowing my parents home is unarmed.

Advice would be appreciated.

 

[Condition Plaid]

He can fill out a form from the California DOJ to register the GP100 when he moves here. Costs $19 I believe.

 

[Prince Yamato]

No Mags over 10 rounds either.

 

[MudCamper]

Most of what you need to know is here:

http://ag.ca.gov/firearms/pubfaqs.htm

SF may have additional reqs. I don't know.

 

[treelogger]

What you don't find on the DoJ website: Only handguns on the CA DoJ "roster" can usually enter the state. But when a resident of another state moves to CA, they can bring any handguns, whether off- or on-roster. Obviously no magazines over 10 rounds, obviously no threaded barrels. But off-roster handguns are highly sought after in CA, and fetch high prices.

Once a new resident is in CA, and has registered his newly brought in handguns (form is mentioned above), he can sell them to other CA residents, roster or not. This is how the few and valuable off-roster handguns enter California.

If I were in another state and moving to CA, I would stock up on off-roster handguns, then later sell them in CA. Don't do so much of it that you are "dealing firearms without a license". Don't leave obvious paper trails (like taking orders, or having people put down deposits). Go read at www.calguns.net in the handgun section for many discussion about which handguns are most desirable (typical examples include H&K Mark23 with the threads removed from the barrel, Sig P210, older S&W revolvers, STI/SVI and Caspian 1911 frames, and so on).