Concealed carry a form of gun registration

Gun Registration

How it Works in California

Highlights

​ How California Gun Registration Works

Long guns
AB 809, signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2011, required all long-guns (rifles and shotguns) to be registered in the same manner as handgun owners when purchased, beginning January 1, 2014. Long-guns owned prior to 2014 by a California resident do not have to be registered.

Does the state know about my old guns?
If you bought a handgun before 1998 or a long gun before 2014, they may not have a record of it. Handguns bought after 1990 may be registered. For firearms bought a very long time ago or outside of the mentioned time frames, there is a good chance they are “unregistered” and unknown to the state.

Briefly, a digital federal firearms registry is illegal. The ATF Form 4473s are kept essentially forever, so if the ATF searches through them by hand, they can identify gun owners. In the Cold War film Red Dawn, Cuban and Soviet troops did just this to round up gun owners. This is why private sales were so popular; if a gun changes hands anonymously, the owner can’t be identified.

This is why California is so hot about banning private sales; if all sales/transfers go through a dealer, they can be registered by simply digitally logging the particulars of the gun and the owner’s information at the point of sale. No separate registration form needs to be filled out, which would be blatant gun registration and enrage a lot of people. DROS is an insidious way to register guns.

Your unregistered guns are unknown to the state, especially if they were purchased decades ago. Family firearms that pre-date 1968 are as good as non-existent.

Do I have to register my old guns?
Not at this time. You may report your guns, but why voluntarily register your guns? Registration will eventually lead to confiscation in California in time. At some point in the future, expect California to require all owned firearms, if they are not registered, to be retroactively registered in order to remain legal. That kind of thing has occurred in many totalitarian regimes as a pretext for confiscation. At that time, you will have personal choice to make.

Should I register my guns?
What does it gain you? Registering one firearm via a voluntary registration form might be a good idea if you care about gaining an AFS record to qualify for the standard eligibility check to buy ammo, but at that point, why not buy a new gun? You may receive a lesser sentence if you are illegally carrying a handgun registered to you.

Will I get arrested for having an unregistered gun?
No, unless you are doing something criminal, like carrying it illegally. Those old guns that have been in the safe for decades don’t need to be retroactively registered. If you have a gun you built yourself (80%; “ghost gun”), you legally bring it into the state, or some other contingency, you may be required to register it.

If you carry an concealed unregistered firearm illegally, you may get a sentence enhancement to the basic carrying a concealed weapon violation (25400(c)(6)(B)). This would not apply if you are innocently transporting a gun, for legitimate purposes (see carry exemptions), that was never required to be registered. That section is meant for criminals carrying stolen/black market guns.

How do I know if my guns are registered?
Fill out the Automated Firearms System (AFS) Request for Firearm Records (BOF 053) form and you will receive a list by mail with what firearms the state has registered to you. The cost is free.

My relative gave me this gun; how do I register it in my name?
See the Buying Guns section and see the Intra-Familial Firearm Transfer.

Do visitors to California have to register their guns?
No. Only if you move to California do you become a “personal firearms importer” who is regulated under law.

Voluntary Registration
We don’t know why you would want to register a firearm, as there is no obligation to, but you can if you want to. The only possible benefit is gaining an AFS record to make buying ammo cheaper, but why not buy a new gun instead?

Registering a firearm will cost you $19. You can report electronically though the California Firearms Application Reporting System (CFARS) at https://cfars.doj.ca.gov. If you prefer mail, you can download the form (BOF 4542A) here.

Again, is voluntary. No law currently requires existing Californians to register guns that aren’t already registered.

Moving to California with Guns
Per 17000 , you become a “personal firearm importer” when you move to California with firearms. Not visit, but become a resident of California.

This does not apply if you bought the handgun beginning 1998 in California or the long gun beginning 2014, as there will be a record of that sale still. This doesn’t mean if you bought one, all will be registered; whatever you bought in California during those timeframes will be registered. Anything you bought out of state must be registered when you bring it back.

If you bought a handgun pre-1998 or a long gun pre-2014 in California, those firearms would have to be registered if you bring them back into the state because there is no registration record of them.

You cannot import “assault weapons,” .50 BMG rifles, or National Firearms Act (NFA) items into California. There is no way to legally possess a California-illegal weapon if you move to California. Some semi-automatics can be modified

When you take up residency in California
Within 60 days of moving back to California with firearms, and you intend to keep it, you must report to the DOJ "information concerning [yourself] and a description of the firearm in question," ( 27560 ).

Per the DOJ, specifically you must complete and submit a New Resident Report of Firearm Ownership (BOF 4010A) form, along with $19, payable to to the California Department of Justice, Bureau of Firearms. You must include a copy of your California driver license or identification card. If it states “federal limits apply,” see the section in Buying Guns regarding alternative forms of identification.

For each firearm you report, you must give: the serial number, make, model, caliber, country of origin (where it was made), and the barrel length. This is gun registration; of course you have to report this information. If you don’t like it, don’t register your gun.

Should I register my guns?
Of course because it’s the law [heavy sarcasm]. The editor cannot in good conscience recommend registering all your weapons because at some point California will confiscate them. Should a retroactive registration requirement be passed into law, a personal decision must be made at that time. However, one must carefully consider this fact as California is going down the path of many totalitarian regimes and it is easily within imagination that a full registration scheme will be part and parcel of gun confiscation and official repression.

It would be a prudent idea to register any firearms you plan to use as self-defense weapons (i.e. your home defense shotgun, a pistol), anything you want to list on a license to carry (actually mandatory), and any weapons you might use frequently at the range. Registering one firearm via a voluntary registration form might be a good idea if you care about gaining an AFS record to qualify for the standard eligibility check to buy ammo.

I moved out of California; can I un-register my guns?
No. Only in limited cases does California require you to report your guns were removed from the state, which don’t apply here. California will not “un-register” your guns. The records are permanent, but will not be reported to the ATF or your new state.

Also, when you move, do not continue to vote for California-like policies or Democrats. Though we hate to say it, the only way to preserve our rights is voting for Republicans because the Democratic party has abandoned all pretenses of supporting our traditional American freedoms. If you continue to act and vote like you are in California, you only have yourself to blame when the rest of the country embodies everything about California that you hate.