The List of CA public-friendly NFA dealers/manufacturers

Here is the list of SOTs (Special Occupational Taxpayers) in CA that I am aware of that are willing to deal in "Class III" firearms to the public.


SoCal

EBR Works
07FFL/02SOT
Newbury Park, CA
(877) 905-2673
info@ebrworks.com


O.C. Armory
01FFL/03SOT
23012 Del Lago Dr Suite B
Laguna Hills, CA 92653
(949) 768-5189 
info@ocarmory.com




Central Cal

Ten Percent firearms
01FFL/03SOT
1277 Kern St.
Taft, CA 93268
(661) 765-6899
guns@tenpercentfirearms.com


Tier One Arms
01FFL/03SOT
5060 California Ave Suite 1150
Bakersfield CA 93309
(661) 292-0945




NorCal

Tracy Rifle and Pistol 
01FFL/03SOT
2726 Naglee Rd
Tracy Ca 95304
209 833-9100
Mike@tracyrifleandpistol.com


Valkyrie Arms
07FFL/02SOT
1751 Houret ct.
Milpitas CA, 95035
(408) 957-0600
Info@valkyriearms.com


If you are aware of an SOT that will transfer AOWs to the public that I missed, let me know and I will add them to the list.

TM-22 receivers

I received this the other day from Tactical Machining, their new TM-22 80% receiver.  They will be offering them in 80% and 100% levels in the near future.

CA Rifle Legality Flowchart

Here is a flowchart that Redhorse designed to help determine the legality of a rifle in CA.  It was a group effort to design and I am proud that I was able to help massage it to improve it from just covering some rifle designs, and now it basically covers ALL rifle types in CA.

To see the rest of the flowchart, please click on the link,
http://www.calguns.net/caawid/flowchart.pdf

CA Shotgun Legality Flowchart

Here is another flowchart I helped create with obeygiant.

Usage of the flowchart will help you determine whether or not the handgun in question is legal or not.

To see the rest of the flowchart, please click on the link,
http://www.calguns.net/caawid/sgflowchart.pdf

CA Handgun legality Flowchart

Here is a flowchart I helped create with obeygiant.

Usage of the flowchart will help you determine whether or not the handgun in question is legal or not.

To see the rest of the flowchart, please click on the link, http://www.calguns.net/caawid/hgflowchart.pdf

NRA and The CRPA Foundation File Lawsuit Challenging Firearm Sales "Fees"

Sweet

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On August 26, attorneys for the National Rifle Association (NRA), California Rifle & Pistol Association Foundation (CRPA Foundation), Herb Bauer’s Sporting Goods, and individual Fresno residents and firearm owners have filed a lawsuit challenging the "fees” the California Department of Justice ("DOJ”) imposes on firearm purchasers. The lawsuit, Bauer v. Harris, filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California (Fresno), alleges that the excessive "fees” being charged by DOJ to purchase a gun create an unconstitutional infringement on the exercise of rights protected under the Second Amendment. A copy of the Complaint is available HERE. 

Over the years the fees imposed on firearms purchasers have gone up dramatically, despite the fact that technological advances have caused the cost of doing background checks on gun purchasers to go down. A multi-million dollar surplus has built up. But rather than reduce the fees, the state has instead sought to continually expand the programs that the money can be used for. The lawsuit alleges that the DOJ illegally uses the revenues from the mandatory "fees” for general law enforcement activities that are completely unrelated to the valid regulation of lawful firearm purchases, and that DOJ is illegally overcharging gun buyers. In doing so, DOJ places an unconstitutional precondition on the exercise of fundamental Second Amendment rights in California. Essentially, the state is unconstitutionally funding general police work unrelated to lawful firearm purchases off the backs of law abiding gun owners. 

The lawsuit also alleges that DOJ’s imposition of the fees are not really "fees” at all under California law, but are actually disguised taxes that are invalid and unenforceable since they were not adopted by the Legislature by a two-thirds vote. Plaintiffs are asking that the statutes authorizing the "taxes” be declared void.

CA-legal Taurus Judges are now available

OC armory has a CA-legal Taurus Judge for those that really need one.    Its configured as an AOW to make it exempt from CA's SBS laws.

click here for more info

DPMS has CA legal rifles now!!

I saw this a while ago in a DPMS newsletter,

and they are now shipping CA-legal AR rifles for us in CA now.

Its the DPMS Oracle.  It seems they dropped the "Panther" markings so they could get in CA, Thank you DPMS.

Do you want an AOW or C&R SBS/SBR in CA?

Do you want an AOW or C&R SBS/SBR in CA?
Well, if you look at the CA penal code, there are a couple exemptions to the AOW/SBS/SBR prohibitions in 12020. A couple of the 12020 exemptions do not require CA DOJ permission to acquire an AOW/SBS/SBR, just Federal NFA permission. If we follow the pertinent code (cleaned up to remove non-relevant code) regarding short barrel shotguns and rifles, we see the following:

12001.5. Except as expressly provided in Section 12020, and solely in accordance with Section 12020, no person may manufacture, import into this state, keep for sale, offer for sale, give, lend, or possess any short-barreled shotgun or short-barreled rifle, as defined in Section 12020, and nothing else in this chapter shall be construed as authorizing the manufacture, importation into this state, keeping for sale, offering for sale, or giving, lending, or possession of any short-barreled shotgun or short-barreled rifle, as defined in Section 12020.

12001.5 basically state that SBS/SBR are illegal unless allowed per 12020.

12020. (a) Any person in this state who does any of the following is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year or in the state prison:
(1) Manufactures or causes to be manufactured, imports into the state, keeps for sale, or offers or exposes for sale, or who gives, lends, or possesses ..... any cane gun or wallet gun, … any firearm which is not immediately recognizable as a firearm, any camouflaging firearm container,… any short-barreled shotgun, any short-barreled rifle ..... any unconventional pistol

12020(a) basically reiterates that AOW/SBS/SBR are illegal with the following exemptions.

(b) Subdivision (a) does not apply to any of the following:
(2) The manufacture, possession, transportation or sale of short-barreled shotguns or short-barreled rifles when authorized by the Department of Justice pursuant to Article 6 (commencing with Section 12095) of this chapter and not in violation of federal law.
(7) Any firearm or ammunition that is a curio or relic as defined in Section 478.11 of Title 27 of the Code of Federal Regulations and which is in the possession of a person permitted to possess the items pursuant to Chapter 44 (commencing with Section 921) of Title 18 of the United States Code and the regulations issued pursuant thereto.
(8) Any other weapon as defined in subsection (e) of Section 5845 of Title 26 of the United States Code and which is in the possession of a person permitted to possess the weapons pursuant to the federal Gun Control Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-618), as amended, and the regulations issued pursuant thereto. …. The exemption provided in this subdivision does not apply to pen guns.

12020(b) lists exemptions to the prohibitions in 12001.5 and 12020(a).

12020(b)(2) allows possession if you get a permit from the CA DOJ per 12095.
12020(b)(7) allows possession if the firearm is a C&R SBS/SBR as defined by the NFA and is properly registered per the NFA.
12020(b)(8) allows possession if the firearm is an AOW (with the exception of pen guns) as defined by the NFA and is properly registered per the NFA.

ARTICLE 6. PERMITS
12095. (a) If it finds that it does not endanger the public safety, the Department of Justice may issue permits initially valid for a period of one year, and renewable annually thereafter, for the manufacture, possession, transportation, or sale of short-barreled shotguns or short-barreled rifles upon a showing that good cause exists for the issuance thereof to the applicant for the permit. No permit shall be issued to a person who is under 18 years of age.
(b) Good cause, for the purposes of this section, shall be limited to only the following:
(1) The permit is sought for the manufacture, possession, or use with blank cartridges, of a short-barreled rifle or short-barreled shotgun, solely as props for a motion picture, television, or video production or entertainment event.
(2) The permit is sought for the manufacture of, exposing for sale, keeping for sale, sale of, importation or lending of short-barreled rifles or short-barreled shotguns to the entities listed in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 12020 by persons who are licensed as dealers or manufacturers under the provisions of Chapter 53 (commencing with Section 5801) of Title 26 of the United States Code, as amended, and the regulations issued pursuant thereto.

This is the code pertaining to DOJ-issued permits, which, as long as we comply with 12020(b)(7)/(8), we are exempted from. So, if we are exempt ourselves from 12095 by complying with 12020(b)(7)/(8),  we still need comply with the NFA. We do that by submitting in duplicate, 2 sets of the NFA Form 1 or Form 4 along with 2 sets of fingerprints and photos. You will also need to pay the transfer fee for the tax stamp. The stamp costs $200 for any Form 1 (application to make an NFA weapon such as an AOW, SBS, or SBR) or a Form 4 (application to transfer an existing C&R SBS or SBR). An AOW on a Form 4 transfers for $5 instead of $200.

Part of the process is to get your CLEO to sign-off on your application. The CLEO is the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of your area, usually your Sheriff or Chief of Police. Other people are also acceptable to do signoffs per the ATF, such as the District Attorney or Judges. If the CLEO is unwilling to sign-off, which they can refuse to do for any reason, there are other ways to get an approved Form 1/4 without a CLEO sign-off.

Those ways would include submitting the Form1/4 using a Corporation or Trust. As a legal entity, they are not required to get a CLEO sign-off or submit fingerprints or photos. When you submit your Form 1/4 application, you will need to submit your Corp/Trust documents to prove that it is a legal entity.

The ATF will do a background check on you and if you pass, which if you can buy a regular gun, you should, they will mark the Form 1/4 approved, retain one of the Forms in the ATF's files, and attach a cancelled tax stamp to the other Form. That Form with the cancelled tax stamp will be returned to you as your "permission slip" from the ATF showing that you are legal.

There may be a couple minor points I missed along the way, but the overall procedure is laid out.

Now that we have the legal requirements laid out, we can get into the fun stuff. What can we do with this info? Well, once we know what we want, we either build our own 12020(b)(7)/(8), -exempt NFA firearm on a Form 1, or find a local Class 3 dealer that is willing to work with us to transfer the 12020(b)(7)/(8), -exempt firearm on a Form 4 to us.

Under 12020(b)(8), we can build/buy an AOW, which are weapons that don’t really fall into the pistol, rifle, or shotgun mold. The most common example would be the short-barrel shotgun-type weapons that don't have a shoulder-stock and have never had a shoulder-stock. An Example would be the Serbu Super-Shorty. Some Combo guns with a shotgun and rifle barrels less than 18" are AOW.
Pen guns fall are AOW, but they don't fall under the 12020(b)(8) exemption. They are specifically excluded from the 12020(b)(8) exemption. But other types of gadget guns like cane/crutch/flashlight guns should be exempt.

Under 12020(b)(7), if we want a SBS or SBR, it needs to be a curio & relic as defined by the ATF. A C&R is defined as:
To be recognized by ATF as a C&R firearm, a firearm must fall into at least one of the following three categories:

1. Firearms which were manufactured at least 50 years prior to the current date, but not including replicas thereof;
2. Firearms which are certified by the curator of a municipal, State, or Federal museum which exhibits firearms to be curios or relics of museum interest;
3. Any other firearms which derive a substantial part of their monetary value from the fact that they are novel, rare, bizarre, or because of their association with some historical figure, period, or event. Proof of qualification of a particular firearm under this category may be established by evidence of present value and evidence that like firearms are not available except as collector's items, or that the value of like firearms available in ordinary commercial channels is substantially less.

If you find an existing C&R SBS/SBR, you can transfer it on a Form4.

For CA and Michigan (has a similar law requiring C&R SBS/SBR), The ATF has approved the making of an SBS/SBR on a Form 1 out of existing C&R firearms.seems that this method is no longer acceptable to ATF.

These exemptions only apply to AOWs and C&R SBS/SBR. There are no C&R exemptions for Machineguns, DDs, or AWs. There is a C&R exemption for 50BMG rifles. CA’s DD rules start at .60”, so if you wanted a DD between .51” and .60”, you would only need to get ATF approval, not CA DOJ.

The ATF will not approve any transfer that would violate state law.

AOW-legal hosts include Mossberg Cruiser PG-only shotguns or Remington 870 model 24823. Don't know of other modern shotguns sold with PG-only. New AOW option is a fixed-mag pistol build like a AK, AR, or HK51 with a Vertical Forward Grip. With a fixed-mag, it is not an AW and you can get an AOW Form 1 to put a VFG on it.


NFA trust attorney doing trusts in CA
possible ATF change on C&R SBS./SBR Form 1
List of CA NFA dealers willing to sell to the public