Anyone Know the History of Gun Control in California?

[DHC]

It seems the likeliest possibility is that any new federal gun control legislation will be patterned after California's laws. Is anyone well-versed in the recent history of CA's gun control laws?

[merl]

I was curious as well. Wikipedia has a decent writeup.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_California
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberti-Roos_Assault_Weapons_Control_Act_of_1989

only question I was left with was "how did the initial registration of grandfathered guns work in detail?"

[UncleDave]

You had 30 days to register them out get them out of the state. After that if you were caught with it you lost the gun and it was a class b felony if i remember right.

[merl]

You had 30 days to register them out get them out of the state. After that if you were caught with it you lost the gun and it was a class b felony if i remember right.

remember any more details on the process? submit a picture? serial number & written description? NFA level paperwork and background check? Was there a per gun fee?

Kinda figured they would set a date and say after the day they are contraband (but only enforced months later because of paperwork backlog) but the details are unclear.

[UncleDave]

You had to take it into the police dept. and they would register the serial numbers etc. I don't recall a picture or prints being required, just a picture I.D.

[wctriumph]

I lived there then and the state kept changing the parameters of what was a assault weapon and it was confusing. There was I believe a year to register your previously owned firearm and you were fine for the most part. Only place you could shoot it was a legal range. Going out to the desert (BLM land) was a no no. Eventually they added what I owned to the list (SKS w/Bayonet) and I did not register it. A friend did register two of his (Colt AR15A2 & SPAS 12) and even after a domestic dispute where the police confiscated his guns he was able to just go down and pick them up for the cop shop as no charges were ever filed by his wife.

However, after the truly dismal response from the firearm owners in the state to registering their guns a state officail extended the registration deadline for another year and citizens were encouraged to register their firearms and some did so to be good law abiding citizens. After this grace period ended a state attorny was able to get a judge to declare the registration extension as invalid because there was no provision for it in the assault weapons ban and the police throughout the state of CA went to everyone that registered their guns during that period and in most cases confiscated them without compensation.

Registration led to confiscation from the government and it always has, always will.

[omegalopez]

I'm so glad I left California. I was there for a Year and half. But the way things look now I guess it was a good idea that I save all my 10 round mags and AR Bullet Buttons. I sure hope it does not come to this. What really sucked was every thing that had a threaded barrel was not worth taking with me to many hoops to go through.