Moving To California-Is This Pistol Legal?

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PeteRR

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Ridgecrest, CA
Come January I'll be moving to Ridgecrest. I wanted Nevada, but the job opportunity is too great to pass up.

My question is this, I have a Para-Ordnance P-13 that I've owned since 1993. I have 6 hi-cap mags for this gun that I bought right before the national AWB drove up prices. Are my 13 round magazines legal to bring in to CA?
 
you best check, with the california department of justice, with that question.
 
NO!

it is a felony to import (so called) hi cap mags.

edited because Bill W and Ed A are right.
I owned a glock 40 sw and I bought a bunch of mags before I even bought the gun because I new I would buy that particular gun..now that I am a nevadian i don't worry no mo..
 
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Any pistol is perfectly legal... you can import whatever you like since you aren't doing it commercially...just send the money within 60 days and you'll be OK. In fact you might want to buy a few "off roster" guns and bring them with you. Once you are a CA resident you won't be able to get them. I won't suggest you could sell them at a profit because I don't think you could except by finding a buyer directly and doing a person-to-person transfer through an FFL, but you wouldn't lose much money if you needed to sell one.

Greater than 10rnd magazines are totally illegal for you to posess in the state no matter how you cut it. The "found in the closet" line doesn't work... it is illegal for you to import *or receive* a >10 rnd mag. That means you can't bring them in, can't buy them from someone who legally posesses them in the state, can't borrow one, can't be given one. It is illegal to posess them if you didn't posess them in this state before 2000. If you moved here in 2006 there is no way you can have posessed them here in 1999 no matter how you cut it, so don't even go down that road.
 
As previously mentioned there is a ten round limit on magazines in the entire state of California for pistol and rifle, no exceptions. The theory behind ten rounds being more dangerous than twelve or fiteen is beyond me but I have stopped trying to understand liberal logic (if there is such a thing). Just keep this in mind, there is no limit on the number of ten rounders you can have. CDNN sports wholesale magazine has been selling off their police trade in guns and all their ten round used mags for dirt cheap. You may want to take a look at what they have. The para is going to be more difficult to find mags for that aren't hi caps but I know they're out there. You can also try Cabelas and MecGar magazines. At worst you can always trade your hi caps to someone at a gun show and probably do a straight across swap.
 
What about travelling to California for a visit? Would Standard capicity magazines be considered imported in that case?
 
Thanks for the replies. A friend of mine has got a great big gun safe in Jersey that I can store them in. Circumstances may change down the road where I can reunite them with the P-13.
 
hoji said:
What about travelling to California for a visit? Would Standard capicity magazines be considered imported in that case?
Click to expand...

Yup. Simple answer: no one (with certain rare exceptions not relevant to general case) can bring in hicap mags. Only if you had them here and were here before 1/1/2000 can you have hicap mags. Some of us, in 1999, bought tons of hicap mags for guns we didn't even own yet!

DO NOT VISIT CA W/HICAP MAGS OR ASSAULT WEAPONS. Remember, an M1A or Mini14 with a flash hider is an assault weapon in CA, as are certain SKSes with detachable magazines.

Guns that accept hicap mags are fine: CA gunshops sell Glocks, Rugers, Sigs, etc. everyday.

Oh - if you're moving to California with handgun(s), as the original poster apparently is - you are a 'personal handgun importer' and must file reg papers with a $19-per-gun fee with Ca DOJ within 60 days. The paperwork is availble on CA DOJ Firearms Div website somewhere...


Bill Wiese
San Jose, CA
 
Nope not moving there{thank God} Just visiting a friend who is going to be there on R&R , but I will be driving. Thanks for the info.I know about locking the gun seperately from the ammo while traversing through the state, and not to carry in public while there.
 
Can a pre-2000 hi-cap mag owner sell them along with the pistol to a newer resident? Or just sell those mags to the newer owner?
 
You can sell them to anyone who can legally receive them. Nobody in the state (with the exception of a few law enforcement groups and related) can legally receive them. If you sell them to somone who can't receive them both you and the receiver have committed a crime. Outside the state is no problem... but you can't drive to a gun show in Nevada with them, not sell them, and bring them back... if they leave the state even for a moment they must stay out.

If you sell the pistol to someone who can't receive normal cap magazines, you can not include the mags. I once saw a gun store employee store ask someone to leave the store because they came in trying to sell or consign a pre-94 pistol complete with normal capacity magazines... the gun store didn't want the magazines in the store at all. Actually, they asked him to take the magazines back out to his car and not bring them in ever again, but you get the idea.

You cannot visit the state with normal capacity magazines. Federal law (FOPA '86) says you can pass through the state to another destination where the guns are legal... but California isn't really a state you need to pas through to get anywhere else...not normally anyway... so LEOs are unlikely to buy the "just passing through" argument. You might cut through a corner of norcal going to Oregon but "passing through" ain't gonna fly if you are stopped in Los Angeles... unless maybe you are heading for LAX with an airline ticket in hand.
 
massive civil disobedience in CA

I was very active in gun rights and general gunnyness in CA, no one knows or obeys the laws.
Some of my buisness owner friends routinely carried, laws be dammed.
I carried everywhere, unless I had to pass a metal detector, I could buy and sell "hi caps" anytime I wanted.

Make no mistake though, the fascist commies that run CA are really out to get you.
However, if you don't rub it in their face and do not attract LE attention , I doubt you will even be a blip on the radar.....
<homer simpson voice> stupid california:barf:
 
Kern County is pretty laid back. And I'm not planning on going over to LA anytime soon. I think I'll get settled in before I even consider bringing my firearms in.
 
Gunsmith, tell it how it is! I visit my friends in CA once a year, folks still shot unregistered AK's in the central valley, most don't know there is a law against them. I have brought a few guns with me from time to time, while I wouldn't bring a Calico, or anything with a beta mag, most LE agencies could care less about what is technically a serious violation in CA.

(just dont let Feinstein know)
 
Great... lets advocate some more illegal activity so Cali DOJ can come down even harder on those of us who live here.:banghead:

For those of you who are brain dead enough to tell someone its just fine to break the law I don't think the word filter will allow me to give a proper response. :cuss:

Its bad enough to deal with mindless liberals, but worse when you have to deal with mindless non-resident gunowners.

Mods ought to lock this down post haste.
 
Wait, tell me again why you are moving to California.
Click to expand...
Hot, dry climate and a $10/hour raise. :D Plus I get to keep doing a job I like and I don't have to travel anymore (I spent 250 nights on the road last year).
 
I was a resident CA gun owner for a long time.

A police officer friend of mine gave me some "hi caps"
and bought one of my guns privately! both illegal.

The NRA had a "massive civil disobedience in CA" magazine cover a few years back....I am not "advocating" breaking the law (well I edited it out anyway)
I am just reporting what all active gun owners know.. the CA DOJ can not even be bothered to tell it's workers the law.

Once I was going to work as a security guard and I was stopped by a very high ranking SFPD and told I could'nt carry my gun in it's holster on my way to work and to put it in the backpack I had with me, I said I would be glad too, if I could get a CCW, and that CA law said I can carry in uniform on my way to work.

His response was a shrug and admitting he really didn't know the law.
 
PeteRR,

This is slightly off topic, but hopefully helpful to you:

Kern county is a good place to be able to get a CCW permit if you meet the normal qualifications (not a felon, etc). However, you may want to put some thought into where you settle. If you move within the city limits of Ridgecrest, you will have to go thru their Police Dept to get your permit. I've heard they're less accomodating than Kern Co Sheriff's Dept.

If you need advice send me a message and I'll put you in touch with a good instructor.

highdesert
 
"laid back" or not, a high cap magazine is a felony. You may be lucky and be pulled over by a sympathetic Kern Co. cop who doesn't care and doesn't want to know about your hi-cap mags. Or you might be unlucky and get pulled over by State Highway Patrol. They most definitely WILL care and WILL make it their business to know and rack up another felony arrest on their career resume. After the felony arrest you can have NO GUNS AT ALL even if your sentence is commuted to time served or probation, as long as it is a felony conviction.

If you are bringing your handguns into the state AT ALL, I think you should do it when you move. Doing it later might be construed as "importing" them. You will have to register them, which requires some fees and paperwork. Any hi-cap mags will have to be left out of state.

The benefits of living in a "laid back" area like Kern Co. is that you have a good shot at CCW if you meet the requirements. But don't count on them overlooking something as significant as a felony arrest for posession of a hi-cap magazine. That's a risky business, friend.
 
high desert,

I was looking at land in Trona. Pioneer Point to be specific. Ridgecrest is nice, but it's got an attitude that worries me. It would be nice to live in town, but I don't mind driving.
 
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