Gun laws are the laws that govern the use, handling, selling and transferring of a gun owner. This has always been a hot topic of debate since gun laws vary per state and because of various shooting incidents that happened these past few years, that happened in the streets, schools and many more. Anything about gun laws is always a hot topic. And just when you thought that gun laws are already that hot, wait till you tackle the topic of transferring gun ownership.
There are various laws covering the transfer of gun ownership and in the state of California, it’s not that easy. In fact, in most cases its deemed impossible. If you transfer gun ownership it’s not just an understanding verbally, this isn’t the wild west. There are things that you need to know about gun ownership especially in states like California that will affect the transfer of ownership greatly and that is the classification of the guns that you own like the severely restricted firearms, less restricted firearms, and the Antiques, curios and relics.
Severely restricted firearms: Severely restricted firearms are not the most common ones that you will find in California and if you see one of then most likely its illegal. These are assault weapons like the ever-popular AK-47, .50-caliber BMG rifles, machine guns, sawed-off shotguns and all other guns listed in the California Penal Code Section 30510 with categories 1 and 2 and The National Firearms Act of 1934. If you possess one legally then most like your records are clean as a whistle. If a person that owns it dies, its been mandated by law that the people that are in possession of such guns either:
- Move it away from California
- Hand it over to law enforcement
- Sell it to a federally licensed firearms dealer
- Destroy it
Less restricted firearms: The common guns owned by gun owners belong to this category. These are shotguns, revolvers, hunting rifles, and semi-automatic pistols. Usually carried for personal use and for home protection. If these types of guns are being transferred, the safest way to do it is through a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL).
Antiques, curios, and relics: According to California and Federal law as firearms and ammunition, Antiques are the guns that were manufactured prior to 1899. Relics, on the other hand, are guns that have some value that a collector will be interested in. In order to be considered as one, the gun should be 50 years older. It should also be certified by the curator of a government-owned museum (any government-owned museum) as a “curios or relics of interest”, guns that are usually described as a novelty, rare, bizarre and so on. They can also be transferred through FFL.
A transfer gun ownership after death California is not that easy this is because California has one of the strictest law and process there is when it comes to that. Because of this, there had been cases where people are actually moving out (believe it). It’s not impossible but its tasking and very challenging and before you even try, you need to identify first what type of gun it is and go from there.
