Assault Weapon and Large Capacity Magazine Regulation Information

December 5, 2000 Update

The regulations for Assault Weapons and Large Capacity Magazines were approved by the Office of Adminstrative Law and have been filed with the Secretary of State's Office. The regulations are effective December 1, 2000. The following rulemaking documents are available on this website:

• Final Regulations (December 1, 2000), pdf
• Final Statement of Reasons (includes comments and responses - December 1, 2000), pdf
• Notice and Revised Proposed Text of Regulations (July 12, 2000), pdf
• Notice of Addition of Information to Rulemaking File (July 12, 2000), pdf
• Notice and Revised Proposed Text of Regulations (May 10, 2000), pdf
• Proposed Text of Regulations, pdf
• Initial Statement of Reasons, pdf
• Notice of Rulemaking Action, pdf

November 21, 2000 Update

The registration deadline for assault weapons as defined by Penal Code section 12276(e) (AK and AR-15 series assault weapons) has been extended to January 23, 2001. This extension is due to formalities in the statutory and filing requirements. The list of DOJ-identified series weapons, pdf is available on this website in pdf format.

Please note that this extension only applies to assault weapons as defined above. The registration deadline for assault weapons as defined by characteristics is still December 31, 2000.

October 31, 2000 Update

The public comment period for the revised proposed regulations has ended. All comments received by the department have been summarized and responded to in a document titled "Final Statement of Reasons." On October 27, 2000, this document, along with the final regulations, was submitted to the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) for review. The OAL review period takes up to 30 working days.

The 1989 Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Control Act has been augmented by SB 23 to define assault weapons by their functionality and characteristics, rather than by make and model alone.

Effective January 1, 2000, SB 23 generally prohibits, the manufacture, import, sale, giving or lending of  large capacity magazines (defined as any ammunition feeding device with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds, but does not include .22 caliber tube ammunition feeding devices).

Enforcement relative to the illegal possession of SB 23 assault weapons went into effect January 1, 2001, following the one-year registration period.

Persons who lawfully possessed assault weapons as defined by SB 23 prior to January 1, 2000 were required to either
1) register them with the Department of Justice between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2000, 2) render them permanently inoperable,
3) remove them from California,
4) relinquish them to a police or sheriff's department, or
5) prior to December 31, 2000, sell them to a California licensed firearms dealer who possesses a valid assault weapon dealer permit.  The Bureau of Firearms has made available a list of the SB 23 characteristics that define assault weapons.  You may also visit the California Legislature website at www.leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html for a full text version of SB 23, or telephone the Legislative Bill Room at (916) 445-2323 to request a copy of the bill.  After reviewing the law, if you are still uncertain as to whether your firearm is an assault weapon under Penal Code section 12276.1 (SB 23), you should seek advice from either a firearms expert or an attorney.