what is required to buy a gun in california
Photos and graphics by Cassandra Stephenson
In the wake of the Parkland shooting, gun laws in the Usa are coming under serious argue.
Just restrictions vary widely by state, with some requiring but an instant groundwork bank check to purchase a weapon. Others, such as California, have some of the strictest gun laws in the nation.
California has 108 firearms-related laws on the books, the most of any state. Purchasing a gun in California requires a multi-step process, which fifty-fifty California residents looking to buy guns may not be familiar with, co-ordinate to Martin Remmen, general manager and chief financial officer of Shooter's Paradise of Oxnard, Inc.
Remmen has worked at the Shooter'southward Paradise gun range and shop for about a decade. He said customers come in, almost daily, with no thought most what they take to do to purchase a gun.
"Well-nigh, they're kickoff-time buyers," Remmen said. "When they come in they don't really know what'due south expected of them, unless they possibly called on the phone and asked the same question prior to [coming in]."
Selecting a Weapon
It is illegal to purchase or gift assault rifles — including the ArmaLite xv, the weapon used in the Parkland shooting — in California. This includes assault rifles with "bullet buttons," which require shooters to apply a special tool to modify magazines, according to legislation that went into outcome Jan. 1, 2017.
In California, an assault weapon is by and large classified every bit "a semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and any i of the following: a pistol grip that protrudes clearly beneath the action of the weapon, a thumbhole stock, a folding or telescoping stock, a grenade launcher or flare launcher, a flash suppressor [and] a forward pistol grip," according to Senate Nib 23.
Assault weapons also take a fixed mag with the capacity to take more than 10 rounds. More specifications for assault rifles, pistols and shotguns are available on the Department of Justice's website.
Notwithstanding, the official Assault Weapons Identification Guide on the DOJ website is marked as "currently under revision."
Those who ain assault weapons can keep them, but must either annals the weapons with the DOJ past June 30, or modify their weapons so they no longer meet assault weapon characteristics.
Once registered, owners must behave their registration with them and cannot give the weapon to anyone else — information technology is theirs, and simply theirs, for life.
Those looking to purchase handguns not accounted assail weapons in California must choose their gun from the DOJ's official roster of handguns certified for sale in the state, according to the DOJ's 2016 California Firearms Laws Summary.
The pre-canonical list includes 791 handgun models that have passed firing, safety and driblet tests. There are some exemptions, including private political party and intrafamilial transfers and pawn or consignment returns.
Who is eligible?
Gun buyers in California must be a California resident with a valid driver's license or identification card issued by the California Section of Motor Vehicles and laissez passer a background check to take domicile a weapon.
Remmen said he and his team run into an event with a customer failing to pass about once every two to 3 months.
"It's nowhere near a loftier per centum," Remmen said. "It's usually because people come up in and they're not familiar with what prohibits them, and then they come in and they're unknowing and [they] showtime the process."
Once their ineligibility is discovered, the process stops.
"That's what the whole background check is for," Remmen said.
Any person convicted of a felony, violent use of a firearm and/or publicly brandishing a weapon or firearm is prohibited from possessing a firearm for life in California, according to land law.
Sex offenders with mental disorders and anyone ruled incompetent to stand up trial cannot buy a gun. People bedevilled of ane of a lengthy listing of misdemeanors, including gun-related crimes, assault and threatening an officeholder, cannot buy a gun for x years.
Those who take been taken into custody for fear of hurting themselves or others and admitted to a mental health facility cannot own a firearm for five years.
Other miscellaneous prohibitions can exist institute listed in the DOJ'south California Firearms Laws Summary.
In his experience, those who do non pass the background check might have temporary holds, Remmen said. These holds, which might include unpaid fees, tickets, or other issues with a California Driver's License or Identification Menu, can usually be sorted out with the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
Those with denied applications receive a letter from the DOJ Bureau of Firearms inside ii weeks explaining the denial and the appeal process, according to the DOJ'south website. Those who are unsure of their eligibility tin request a Personal Firearms Eligibility Check online for a $20 fee, which takes up to 60 days to process.
A Multi-Pace Procedure
If a person is eligible and has selected an approved gun to purchase, their adjacent step is to visit a licensed California firearms dealer that possesses a valid Certificate of Eligibility. A person must be 18 to purchase a long gun and 21 to buy a handgun. Handgun purchases also require proof of residence.
From here, it volition take a minimum of 10 days earlier they can leave the store with their weapon.
All gun purchases require purchasers to possess a Firearm Safety Certificate. To become one, a client must pass a 30-question written test administered past DOJ Certified Instructors (unremarkably at a firearms dealer) and pass with a score of 75 percent or college. The test requires a $25 fee.
Unremarkably, customers pass, Remmen said. "If you know the material, you've done some pre-written report … you might breeze correct through information technology in say — I'd say the average [is] almost one-half an hour."
The DOJ offers a 50-page study guide for the test on its website. The examination covers gun safety, firearm operation, gun laws and gun ownership, amongst other things.
Remmen said he and his team tell those who fail on their first try to come up dorsum the side by side day and try again after studying.
Once they obtain a Firearm Prophylactic Certificate, they consummate the required Dealer Record of Sale paperwork with the firearms dealer. Remmen says this is washed electronically and is digitally timestamped. Once the DROS is in, the buyer has to expect x days — to the minute — before they can come back to the shop to option upwards the weapon.
During this time, the DOJ processes their background check, and the purchaser must perform a safe handling demonstration with the firearm being purchased with a DOJ Certified Instructor (commonly at the firearms dealership).
Once the ten twenty-four hours waiting period has passed, the buyer tin pick up their weapon from the dealership — after they prove they have an approved firearm safe device or a DOJ-approved lock box or gun condom for their new weapon.
Remmen said virtually manufacturers supply a compliant lock with weapon purchases. Placing the weapon — which must be unloaded — in the torso of a vehicle also constitutes as a "locked box" for transportation purposes, Remmen said.
"Basically, your law departments and the Section of Justice don't desire you to be able to … leave with a gun in your car that's functional," he said.
Effectiveness
These steps and stipulations are aimed at increasing safety, simply effectiveness is some other issue.
A CNBC review of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Boston University Country Firearm Law Database found a correlation betwixt higher number of gun laws in each land and reduced firearm-related deaths, simply stipulated that this does not equate to causation.
California's firearm death charge per unit is among the lowest in the nation, according to CDC data from 2016. But its 3,184 recorded firearm-related deaths were second only to Texas that year.
Remain said he finds the gun laws in California to be too restrictive, but that he also sees their claim.
"Many of them are with good purpose, and work efficiently," Remmen said. "We don't want people not in their correct mind, we don't desire people that accept by criminal records or are proven to be harmful to others and/or themselves to go these kind of weapons. We accept laws in place that prohibit that. And in my opinion, it works very well."
Logan Hall contributed to this report.
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Follow Cassandra Stephenson on Twitter: @CassieKay27
Source: https://pepperdine-graphic.com/bearing-arms-what-it-takes-to-buy-a-gun-in-california/
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