California Gun Laws Basics

California gun laws are at best slightly confusing and at worst intentionally misleading and today I kind of wanted to cover a breadth of topics as far as California gun laws just a general overview because while I have covered many of these topics in the past in very deep depth I wanted to have a single resource to show people that are maybe new to guns just want to get our general idea of what the gun laws are maybe you don't like guns but you're confused maybe this will help you get you on the same page I'm gonna do my best to keep my personal opinions out of this this is gonna be purely informative as best as I can some of these laws are confusing and if I act confused that's because there's not a good way to describe them or the ways that I need to describe them might not make sense to you so I'm gonna do my best to make this easy to understand for the average person that's may be interested in getting a gun doesn't know what the laws are or not interested in getting a gun but still wants to know what the laws actually are in the state of California because if you're gonna advocate that things need to be regulated you better at least know what's going on just a real quick list of the topics that I'm going to cover today I'm going to talk about how to buy guns tenday weights purchase limits self-made firearms inter familiar transfer or loaning firearms assault weapons ban magazine laws transportation laws safe storage laws moving here with guns self-defense laws which I won't cover briefly and then I'm going to link you to a specific video that I think does a much better job of explaining it I'm also going to talk about CCW laws and carrying a gun laws and that should give you a general idea of what's going on in this state so when it comes to buying guns if you're 18 to 20 years old you can buy any shotgun and any rifle that is not a semi-auto centerfire rifle if you have a hunting license first you're gonna have to get that hunting license before you can actually buy a gun and it can specifically only be a shotgun or any rifle that does not semi-auto and centerfire if you're 21 and older you can buy any gun that isn't illegal in the state of California meaning handguns stripped frames of a gun shotguns rifles of any kind any gun that is legal within the state as a 21 year old you are eligible to buy the actual process of buying a gun is fairly simple but complex and difficult for a lot of people because there's a lot of documentation that you're going to need to you need proofs of residency x' you need a california ID if you don't have a California ID and you're a resident of another state but are in the military stationed here you can bring in documents for that you do not need to be an actual citizen of the United States you just need to be a permanent legal documented resident so a green card or a permanent visa if you bring those in you can actually buy guns even if you're not a citizen of the United States which is pretty cool you're also gonna need to take a test what this test is is called a firearm safety certificate test what this certificate allows you to do is begin a background check on a gun it is not a license to concealed carry it is not a permit to buy all it does is start a background check on your ability to buy a gun once you take that test you can miss eight I believe and still pass when you take that test they're gonna give you a little card that's good for five years you bring that in with all your other documents and information when you actually do the background check you fill out a federal form in a state form that form then initiates the 10-day waiting period the 10-day waiting period is actually not the background check the background check is instant it goes through the National instant check system however the actual cooldown period in the state of California is a 10 day 240 hours to the exact second to actually wait before you can get the gun there is no exemption unless you are a law enforcement officer buying this gun for your specific roles as a cop and you have a letter from your police chief but there is no exemption I know a lot of people now are new to guns they're panic buying guns and they want to be able to get something fast unfortunately the laws that many people voted for prevent you from doing that so maybe in the future think about telling your representatives what to and to not support because 10-day weights have been proven to be ineffective to stop crime but it's something we still have to do so currently when it comes to purchase limits there is only the purchase limit of one handgun every 30 days meaning that you buy a gun you do your 10-day wait 20 days after that 10 day wait so on the 30th day you could buy another handgun starting July 1st of 2021 it's gonna be handguns or semi-auto centerfire rifles only one of these per 30 days meaning you cannot bite both of these at the same time you would be able to buy that handgun 30 days later by that semi-auto centerfire rifle so you got to make your choices many people are gonna be asking what about guns that you build yourself can you build a firearm for your own self from an 80-percent receiver or from a jig can you self make a firearm in California now the answer is yes but before you even do that you have to first go to the Department of Justice and apply for a serial number and they're gonna run a background check on you once they do that and once they give you that serial number you then have to get that serial number and make model information put on the unfinished frame finish it out once you complete it you have to then take photos of it of all four sides send that to the DOJ and say hey here's the gun that I have completed assembly of then at that point that gun is registered to you self made firearms are not something that you can actually sell once you have it so you could not go and do a private party transfer through a dealer once you make it that gun is yours forever so when it comes to actually loaning a firearm I'll talk about intra-familial transfers in a second but when it comes to actually loaning a firearm let's say you want to give your gun temporarily to your sister your brother your parents your grandparents your kids that are over 18 you want to give that gun to them for a period of up to 30 days and an infrequent amount of time because those are the limitations before you can actually even give that gun to them and give them possession without you being there so you can let people shoot your guns you can let your family shoot your guns while you're there but if you want to leave and leave that gun with them their first gonna have to get a firearm safety certificate meaning that they're gonna have to go down to the gun store or any place that does this take the test get that card at that point you can then hand your family member that gun they can take that gun home for a period of up to 30 days and the lending cannot be frequent the definition of infrequent and frequent is kind of vague but basically you can't just give a gun to someone indefinitely it has to be a short period of time and not all the time every 30 days you just take it back for a day and give it back because that would be a frequent lending of the gun at that point you would have to officially transfer the ownership of it so we talked about loaning a gun now let's talk about intra-familial transfers and what those are now when I talked about loaning a gun I mentioned brothers and sisters however intra-familial transfers of a firearm must only be done between parents grandparents kids and grandkids meaning a direct up-and-down family lineage not left or right like uncles cousins sisters brothers only up and down now before you can actually transfer that firearm to your family member you're first gonna have to have that family member that's receiving the gun get a firearm safety certificate and I talked more about how to get that earlier in this video and in my how to buy guns in California video so if you need information on that feel free to check those out once they get their firearm safety certificate they'll actually be able to receive the gun from you go on to the CFR's california firearms and records system i think that's what it's called fill out the paperwork fill out it online send it off with a check for 20 bucks at that point the state will register that gun to them and it is legally their gun they can actually have possession of that gun the second they fill it out and send it off and then at that point the state will get back to them and say hey congratulations this gun is now legally registered to you so that's what an intro familial transfer is normally a private party transfer between two people would have to be facilitated by a gun store the intra-familial transfer form does not which is a definite benefit so we've talked about buying guns making guns lending guns and transferring guns to family members now we're going to talk about some different laws like assault weapon laws so what is an assault weapon and assault weapon is a fairly simple somewhat complex topic to talk about I made a video that talks about that much more in-depth here but basically the California assault weapon ban it looks at features so for example this gun here is an ar-10 it's a semi-auto centerfire rifle with a fixed magazine that has these evil features like a telescoping or collapsible stock a pistol grip this could have a flash hider or a vertical foregrip on it now this gun I can put a magazine in it but I actually can't take it out until I disassemble the firearm action like so at that point I could take it out put it back in close it up cycle the action again this gun is what's considered a featureless rifle meaning that it is a semi-auto centerfire rifle with detachable magazines however it doesn't have any of the evil features this looks like a typical rifle now this gun here is also an ar-15 this is chambered in 556 it's a semi-auto centerfire detachable magazine however this is not an assault weapon because it does not have the evil features this gun fully avoids the firearms assault weapon lock because of the fixed stock non pistol grip no vertical foregrip it's got a muzzle break not a flash hider now this gun is legal this gun here which I'm showing you a photo of would not be legal in the state of California and if that doesn't make sense to you well that's because these laws don't make sense these laws are written in a way that are vague unspecific and easy to work around they don't do anything when it comes to stopping violent crime they don't do anything with actually making guns illegal they've been proven to be ineffective by the Department of Justice after the 1994 to 2004 federal assault weapon ban the DOJ did an internal review on the efficacy of the ban they found that there was no difference in the violent crime decrease that has been steady for the last 40 to 50 years so if you're looking at these kinds of guns and thinking man we need to ban those well that'll be a topic for a different day but if you want to learn more about what the assault weapon ban is I made a video that's a very unbiased and purely informational that I think will be very helpful for you so feel free to check that out above though it seems like every time someone's running for a political position and they want to talk about gun control we talk about one of two things they talk about assault weapons which I've talked about and they talk about high-capacity magazines now you're probably wondering Green oh you live in California how do you have a 30 round mag and a 60 round drone and that's because while this ten round mag is legal for me to purchase today there was a period of time in California back in April of 2019 that many people refer to as freedom week which I will leave my link to the video of here now what the what freedom week is is a period of time where California the ban on magazines was ruled unconstitutional for a period of a week meaning that people could legally at that point buy sell import manufacturer or keep for sale any capacity magazine so during that period of time I like many others bought a lot of mags I bought drums for guns that I don't own you I bought magazines for guns I don't own yet I bought about $700 worth of magazines for guns that I do own because I knew that there might not be another chance for a long time for me to acquire these so at this point you're probably asking yourself Reno can I go out today and buy some standard capacity magazines that hold more than 11 rounds or rounds or more the answer to that question is no not legally however if you watch this video you might understand more about why the laws are currently very hard to enforce and why these freedom week is still affecting the California guns sphere today now the only unfortunate thing about the magazine law is the assault weapon ban actually says that in a fixed magazine gun like this if I were to put a 11 or 11 or more round magazine in it I would actually be making an assault weapon in and of itself even though this gun with a 10 round mag is this gun with an 11 round mag would be illegal and an assault weapon in the state of California which I know makes a ton of sense but it is what it is so now that you've learned about what guns you can and can't have how to actually get them the various ways you can acquire firearms or build them for yourself we're going to talk about transportation and storage laws now when it comes to transportation the simple answer is this I would always recommend that every firearm that you have that you're transporting in the vehicle be unloaded in a locked container or in the trunk of the vehicle unloaded that is locked so when it comes to actually transporting a gun like this handgun or like a rifle or a shotgun the simple answer to how to easily and legally transport them would be to always transport them unloaded in a locked container this could be your trunk it cannot be your center console or glove box so you put these guns unloaded in your trunk totally fine the ammo does not need to be separate the ammo can just not be in a magazine that is in the gun or a round in the chamber so for example this gun loaded this gun is still loaded because there was a round in the chamber at this point this gun is unloaded if I were to take this empty magazine and put the get that in the gun this gun is still unloaded if I were to put this loaded magazine and this unloaded gun in the same case and lock them that would still be an unloaded firearm unloaded firearm loaded firearm loaded firearm loaded firearm loaded firearm unloaded firearm if that makes any sense now the reason that I say that you should probably always transport them unload it in the locked container is because while a gun like a rifle or a shotgun can be transported simply unloaded if you're within a school zone so if you're within a thousand feet of school grounds you're actually gonna have to have this gun unloaded in a locked container and not just unloaded like it could normally be being that California seems to have a school every 50 feet you're gonna have a hard time driving through an area that is not a school zone so my personal recommendation is to always have them unloaded in a locked container so at this point you have successfully acquired a firearm by buying one from a gun store making one from yourself or receiving one from an intra famila to transfer this gun is legal is not an assault weapon and you have mags that are legal to use and have in this gun you successfully transported at home now how do you actually store it what are the storage laws well I made a video talking about that here in much more depth but the basics are as such if you live in a household or if you're in an area where there are no children and no prohibited persons like a felon or other drug user or something like that you actually can have this gun on your person at all times and then can just set it on the table and that's totally fine you could walk away totally legal however if a child is reasonably able to access it or if a felon or prohibited person is reasonably able to access it you would be breaking the law so what do you do about that well when you're at home you can at all times carry that gun but then let's say you're going to bed what do you do well if your room is able to be accessed by that child or other prohibited person you're gonna have to need to make sure that the door is locked so they cannot get in or you put this in a safe and lock it in a way that they do not have immediate access to it so you're interested in concealed carrying a firearm well the CCW laws in California are fairly complex basically what it is is you're gonna have to actually do a background check do 16 hours of training you're gonna have to prove good moral character you're gonna have to potentially do a psych evaluation you're gonna have to pay up to five hundred bucks at least to get all the paperwork done you're gonna have to have a gun that's registered to your name and hardest of all in some counties because the County Sheriff has the ultimate jurisdiction on whether you prove that you have good cause to carry a I'm concealed on your person outside of your home depending on what sheriff you have will make this either very easy to get or very hard to get I know that for me in Sonoma County it's fairly easy to get good cause and have the sheriff issue a concealed carry permit in many other counties like LA or San Francisco you're not going to get a concealed carry permit simply because the sheriff does not believe in your right to carry a firearm outside of the home so when it comes to that I've made a video talking about good cause for CCW in California I also talked about Sonoma County and specifically so if you're interested in that feel free to check that out there that will talk about how to actually prove the good cause and learning how to determine what County I live in what is my good cause based on that County now concealed carrying a firearm can get you in trouble if you do not have a permit if you do not have a permit to do so you can get in trouble so keep that in mind whether or not you choose to live your life however you choose to live it I will not tell you what to do and what decisions to make because you are a grown adult and that is your legal right to choose to how to live your own life so if you have any questions feel free to let me know that should explain some things and basic I really hope this video was helpful obviously there's a whole lot more information and I definitely recommend that you check out my playlist for California gun laws because it does do a much better job of talking about each individual topic but for the basics of this video I just wanted to have a general place where people can look at and say okay that's a general idea of what the laws are in California so that people can have a better understanding of what they're talking about and maybe get their themselves in the right footing so that they can continue to become gun owners or continue to learn more about gun laws in California as always I hope you have fun be safe stay dangerous peace

Channel: Reno May

Views: 329,875

Rating: 4.9255161 out of 5

Keywords: California, gun laws, ca gun laws, assault weapons ban, second amendment, gun control, firearms laws, california gun laws

Id: T8nkQKm2_TI

Length: 17min 12sec (1032 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 23 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Spartan265]

Keep it up. Hopefully new gun owners will see this and understand how crazy it is here. Plus it doesn't hurt that you probably don't look like what they assume typical gun owners looks like. Might shatter there previous biases and make them think for once.

[u/diktikkles]

It’s crazy what we have to do to own the most common rifles here. I talk to or have met many people that live out of CA that have the perception that CA wants us to have ugly, funky, PITA to operate rifles. What they don’t understand is that CA wanted to/or would ban all of these firearms if they could. They can’t get a outright ban ( they tried) so this is the best they can get for now. Let’s not kid ourselves they don’t want us to have mag-locked ARs or featureless ones, they don’t want us to have them at all!

[u/Egonz_photo]

I always show people a featureless and a fixed mag featured and tell them this mag is legal in this gun (featureless) and the same magazine is a felony in this gun (fixed mag)

[u/Anal_Threat]

Good information, but when it comes down to it, fuck these assholes. No registration of a firearm means no confiscation later.

[u/[deleted]]

Thx, i need a recent video because all the laws seem to be changing

[u/pittmastiff]

Something regarding CCW: based on how the law it written, you are entitled to go through the process (interview included) BEFORE spending any money. You do not have to take the required classes or pay any fees before getting your interview with the sheriff's office.

[u/opechee]

Can any lower be registered as an “other/title 1” if I let the LGS know what my intentions are?

[u/uscmarine]

I appraise the Franklin armory and the others for this effort but take a look at the current politics. Governor Noobsome is trying to limit how many guns we can buy per month! This loophole thing is poorly timed and will be banned in matter of time. Why can’t you guys wait for the better timing?

[u/nechronius]

Probably could have done a bit to say one or two sentences about how intrafamilial transfers still prohibit transfer of "assault weapons" or 10+ mags but understandably there was a crap ton to cover in a short summary video without going down too many rabbit holes. Keep up the good work.