Oh Boy!
BB Regs

FPC has confirmed that the California Department of Justice has filed with the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) new proposed regulations on
“Bullet-Button Assault Weapons”.
According to OAL, the proposed regulations would alter Title 11 of the California Code of Regulations by adding sections 5470, 5471, 5472,
5474, 5474.1, 5474.2, 5475, 5476, 5477, 5478, and by amending existing
sections 5469 and 5473.
Bookmark this page (BulletButtonBan.com)! We will continue to update THIS page with new information as it becomes available.

Update 5 – 12/30/16 – Photos will be required for AW registrations through CFARS: “Clear digital photos of firearms listed on the
application. One photo shall depict the bullet-button style magazine
release installed on the firearm. One photo shall depict the
firearm from the end of the barrel to the end of the stock if it is a
long-gun or the point furthest from the end of the barrel if it is a
pistol. The other two photos shall show the left side of the
receiver/frame and right side of the receiver/frame. These locations are
typically where firearms are marked when manufacturing is complete. At
the discretion of the Department the last two photos shall be
substituted for photos of identification markings at some
other locations on the firearm.”

Update 4 – 12/30/16 – According to the document, “Assault Weapon registrations must be filed electronically using the Department’s
California Firearms Application Reporting System (CFARS), at the
following website: https://cfars.doj.ca.gov/login.do“. Also, “The Department will not register a firearm as an assault weapon
unless the firearm is fully assembled and fully functional.”

Update 3 – 12/30/16 – The proposed regulations filed with OAL for “Bullet Button Assault Weapons” and AB 857 serial numbering of firearms
can be viewed at this link.

Update 2 – 12/30/16 – Sources say that the new “assault weapon” registration will be through the DOJ’s California Reporting Information
System (CRIS). According to DOJ, the “Benefits of Using CRIS” include that users can
“report your firearms through an online application form using the
internet which will eliminate the need to mail the application to DOJ
and save time,” pay by “Visa, Master Card, American Express and
Discover,” and upload attachments like “Firearm receipts, pictures of
the firearm, police reports, or other documents that may be helpful for
DOJ staff to process your application.”

Update 1 – 12/30/16 – DOJ has informed us that the regulations are being reviewed at OAL.

Fuck these mother fucking "just-us" fucks.  Digital photos on file.  Bullet button compliant assault weapons category, so no chance of un-neutering rifles.  Cant register a stripped receiver.  These fucking fuck-tards need to take a long walk off a short pier.

It's harder to exercise a constitutional right, then it is to vote, sell a house, or start a business.

STFU you dirty icky Gun owning subject or you'll get what's coming to you. (Subject to ever changing laws that only your overlords can understand as they determine)

In all seriousness, I will not comply.  

I was born a free man and will die a free man.

a~ Except as provided in section 5472, an assault weapon that does not have a fixed
magazine, as defined by Penal Code section 30515, must be registered with the
Department before January 1, 2018.

Yeah I just read through their submission.  I've said from day one there was no way they would allow fully "featured" guns legal status registered or not.  

Anyone with a lick of objectivity and common sense could see that the object was to lock these guns into a registry forever and not allow any change in status except removal from the state or turn in for destruction.

They learned a little bit from scouring the gun boards and are starting to anticipate ways to prevent loopholes and side-stepping.  The digital photo from multiple angles was a nice touch I thought.

Except they state this earlier which would meet the definition below:

"The Department will not register a firearm that was required to be registered under prior assault weapon registration laws in effect before January1 2017 These weapons also include
firearms known as"named assault weapons" and are listed in Penal Code section 30510 and sections 5495 and 5499 of Chapter 40"

So anyone thinking "cool I'll take my bullet button off and register it un-neutered" based on the below could be in for a nasty surprise.  That configuration should technically already be in the registry.

Careful here folks.  Be cautious and wait and see how all this gets clarified.

I predicted they wouldnt let us take the BBs off after registration, so im not surprised.

They didnt require photos and allowed incomplete rifles to be registered in year 2000.
Who is going to review all these photos? Or are they just sitting on them till someone is arrested and they are used as evidence of noncompliance?

They are making sure that no one registers, then they will make rule changes, and make us all felons overnight.

When they ban all semi auto mag fed rifles, in the next 1-3 years, and there is no legal work around.
Will it be better to register as a BB gun, or a featureless gun ?

I eventually got tired of arguing with all of the people so blinded by the idea of restoring the factory magazine release that they didn't seem to care that they were registering "assault weapons" with the DOJ.



The technology in use at the state in that time frame wouldn't have made it feasible.  Still it's a way to add another onerous and inconvenient (not to mention degrading) hoop for law-abiding citizens to jump through just to be allowed to keep their property and not go to jail for it.



Good point.  My guess is that the answers are "no one, it's just for record keeping/photo evidence of compliance" and "very probably so".



They certainly are making it more tempting for people to skip registration and they WILL become felons overnight.  It's a win-win from that perspective.

These sections sure look like a fishing expedition don't they? Those attempting to register meeting the criteria win the grand prize. A go to jail free card. . -CB

So confused.  And I think that this is my breaking point.  Pictures. lol.  Eat a bag of dicks.  Done jumping through hoops.

So featureless is still GTG?  I have RAWs from pre 2000 that are registered, looks like the rest of my stuff will be featureless or removed from the state. To hell with it.  I'm done.

It certainly does set the stage nicely for it doesn't it?

It's going to be a replay of 1999/2000 with a large number of people opting not to register and thereby becoming insta-felons who can never leave the house with those rifles without risking a criminal record or worse.  

But then, I suspect that's a circumstance that the lawmakers expect and are more than happy to live with since rifles that don't leave their storage spaces and owners who can't use them without fear constitute what is effectively a successful ban.

The pistol "safety" roster and microstamping law, the upcoming ammo restrictions, this new rifle ban, and soon the standard capacity magazine ban (it'll be back, make no mistake about it) are effectively a near total ban on sales and possession that simply require a few years to take full effect.

In 2 generations civilian gun ownership beyond U.K. Levels of restriction will be dead unless people start to wake up and wonder why their elected representatives are targeting THEM while the criminals are free to continue ignoring the law and are still shooting each other and innocents.  Maybe then things will begin to swing back.

California gun owners will become the "whipping boys" for the liberal, socialist, communist, anarchistic leftists in a State where their rule is unchecked.  What they have done and will do here will become an example to the rest of the Nation as to their agenda.

We need Federal protection against unconstitutional anti-gun laws.

This is what it will come to if there's to be any hope of getting any of this nonsense set right.  

It's also a perfect illustration of why elections matter.

If Clinton had won and put a justice or three on the SCOTUS.  We might just as well have all said good night to the 2A as it is presently known.

They want me to take a chunk of my personal time to photograph my legal property, pay a fee out of my pocket and take more of my time to fill out their bullshit online? Lol.

We can only hope and pray that these regulations get withdrawn with the same haste as the emergency magazine restrictions. I will not be registering anything. I am going straight pull bolt action on all my ARs, under



Gas tubeless, full featured rifles are legal (of course they have been since the original ban, but now it is in writing that the simple removal of a gas tube IS enough to make the rifle exempt.)

I registered one AW the first time around. No more, I refuse to follow all this new bullshit. We should have fought this when the bullet button thing came about, instead we all became complaisant. Now it's evolved to this nonsense.

Has anyone considered willingly being the test case and talking to NOLO beforehand?

I want to hear more breakdown of if they are going to try to tie a single upper to each lower.  Nobody seems to know what will happen if you swap uppers and calibers.  Will they reject a registration if you put multi down as a caliber?   What if every angle pic has a different upper on it?

If they enforce 1 upper to lower pairing, what if you swapped 2 registered AW uppers with each other?  Is the result still covered by their original registration?

If for some reason they start comparing pics to a seized rifle vs its registration pics and the upper is different, what will happen?

I have to assume eventually (some point down the road) any pics would even be available for a patrol officer to pull up in his squad car.

Also have heard questions about shotguns not falling under the new regs.  Saigas seem to be a grey area.

If you register multiple rifles and one is rejected, do they all have to be resubmitted?

How long will they take to rule on submissions?

I know that these answers are not out there yet, but info like this would be interesting to have as it becomes available.

The magazine regulations have to comply with the APA (administrative procedures act), meaning either get submitted as emergency regulations (and have a really good explanation why it's an emergency), or go through the whole public comment / stakeholder meeting / Brown act drama.  They were probably withdrawn because the DoJ didn't do their homework: in the last few years, under Cameltoe Harris, the firearms division has gone back to its trademark incompetence; under AG Jerry Brown it was actually strangely well run.  They knew that the OAL (the agency that decides whether a regulation is "emergency" or not) would slap them down, and decided to withdraw and regroup.

The assault weapons (a.k.a. bullet button) regulation are explicitly exempt from the APA, and the version posted a few days ago is the final and operative version.  It would take a miracle for them to get withdrawn.

So can I use the same upper in all the lowers? For the pics?

Here is my idea of civil disobedience --

1) mail your bullet button to CalDOJ or Gov Brown, with a little note attached saying something like ..."HELL NO!"
A few thousand bullet buttons showing up on their door step might raise an eye brow.

2)Troll the DOJ AW registration website (out of state people can help) ...registrant name: john doe, various random pictures uploaded
Over load the system with fake accounts.

Love it.

I don't know.  Iin theory, registration is to demonstrate that the gun (a) meets the legal definition of assault weapon, and (b) was legal to own until 2016.  If the rifle has a pistol grip and a bullet button, that's all it takes, with any centerfire semi-auto upper.  If the feature that triggers assault weapon is on the upper (like a flash hider), different story.

However, the DoJ says: one has to disclose caliber, barrel length, and so on, which are clearly attributes of the upper.  And you have to show pictures of the complete rifle.

My suggestion: Try it, but try it *early* in the year.  All the AG can do is to reject your registration; then you have plenty of time to arrange for different uppers.  The law doesn't say that you have to own the upper, so you can borrow a few.  Or modify them (different hand guards? quick spray with krylon?).

By the way, the opposite problem also exists.  Imagine a person who owns only one lower, but many uppers.  He can only register one rifle, with a picture of one upper.  Having completed the registration, he now goes to the range in 2018, but with a different upper.  Could someone claim that this configuration has not been registered, and is therefore an unregistered and illegal assault weapon, leading to a felony conviction?  I don't know.  This is the same question as: How much can you change the configuration of the rifle after registration?  We know that removing the bullet button is out (and there is a solid legal arguments: without it the rifle is not registrable).  I have not seen solid legal arguments yet (and I haven't looked carefully) about what else one can change, for example the whole upper.

Don't even bother asking on CalGuns; most answers you get there are bunk, unless they come from FabioGetsGoosed.  The others live in a dream world, where they confuse their wishes for reality.

For those of us who have never owned a BB, what can we mail in?

I'm thinking a condom with a serial number on the side

DDos.      

The format of that site has gotten more difficult to navigate but your post also explains some things I've been wondering about.

It would be nice of the NRA/CRPA would collect all the thousands of bullet buttons and dump them on the floor of the state senate or the governors desk.

This "Unlicensed Subject" will not be registering.

Well, unfortunately we still need them, because they have to stay on the rifles.  Matter-of-fact, I'm looking to buy a few extras: One of my rifles still has an early predecessor of the bullet button, and I want to have spares (after all, they're made out of plastic).

And not registering something that legally needs to be registered just sets one up for a felony prosecution, if the guns catch the attention of the police.  Example: happily driving along, when the car is rear-ended and the driver (Mr. law-abiding but unregistered Gunnie) is injured and has to be taken to the hospital for minor injuries.  The police have the car towed, and as part of that, they have to do a complete inventory of what is in it.  They find an unregistered assault weapon.  Big oops.

And remember what happened when people dumped a lot of broccoli on President Bush's lawn (the first Pres. Bush)?  It didn't change a thing for or against broccoli.  Forms of protest like mailing condoms, sending angry letters to Governor Brown, dumping heaps of hardware, or using oneself in a bright red mankini accomplish exactly nothing.  Matter-of-fact, they're counter productive, as they waste time that could have been used to work for gun rights.

(By the way, I want to see a picture of Bill Wiese in a mankini ... I actually like and respect the guy, but he's completely the wrong body shape for a mankini).

If you decide to not register a weapon, you probably need to decide just what circumstances you are going to take it out,and what needs to be done to not bring it to official attention.

There's supposedly 10's of thousands of guys that didn't register the last time and the number of otherwise innocent and/or smart guys that inadvertantly got caught with an unregistered weapon is probably below a hundred.  Or the media and gun circles were able to prevent publicity.

The vast vast majority of guys that clanged the magic clanger were involved in other criminal activities that got them in trouble, or a few well publicized cases where people who should have known better, or stayed sober, opened their yaps in a situation that brought them to the attention of the authorities.  OPSEC, INFOSEC - Nobody but NOBODY knows you have them, not your kids, especially one that might feel inclined to say, "My Dad has machine guns."  to the wrong people.  wives or significant others who might end up hating your guts and spilling theirs.

If you decide to commit a felony in anticipation that Trump and SCOTUS will be riding to the rescue, you then need to get smart adjust your attitude and avoid being the poster child for the new AG.

Under the posted regulations, if the upper and lower is separated, it is not a semiauto firearm under the law. Separate the upper and lower and leave it in your safe OR go featureless OR install new BBR OR go straight pull bolt action, don't register and go on with life until shit gets fixed, you move or the zombies rise.

But regulations don't have the force of law: lots of people on the web claim that these regulations are wrong, section 5477 in particular, that's the one that says the bullet button has to stay on.  Some of the people criticizing other aspects of the regulations are experienced lawyers.  An over-eager DA could also decide to ignore them, and charge someone with possession of an AW even if upper and lower are separated.  The regulations would improve their chances to defend themselves in court, but a felony criminal defense is not something where one should take chances.


To me there is no point of owning a rifle if never functions (because I can't assemble upper and lower), and has to be hidden in the safe.  Others might see that differently, for example collectors.


Exactly.  I'll have a mix of registered rifles and featureless rifles.  Personally, I don't like the BBR (got tired of pulling pins in early 2006, when either dripless or fixed magazine were the only options), but to each his own.

I'm out of state and more than willing to help.  post a link of where to go and I'm in.  the internet is full of pictures of evil things I can register.

there is a company that for about $10 will mail a bag of gummy dicks to anyone you want anonymously, so mail them a bag of dicks to chomp on.

I typed something else up but deleted it.

Look at the facts. They didn't like guns so they banned the scary ones. People registered, the scary guns stopped being sold, and they were content. So content in fact that anti-gun laws were remarkably few and far between for many years. Then Off List Lowers became a thing and anti-gun laws ramped up drastically. They finally got a law through and it's quite clear it's intent - they want to know EVERY detail of what is out there. Not just who has them, or how many, or even the model; they want to know the color, the barrel length, what optics it has, etc. It's their FEAR of not knowing that they are trying to dispel.

Their regulations and requirements, legal or not, are all to get gun ownership on THEIR terms.

Do you REALLY want to put a stick in their craw? Don't register. On top of that, go buy more. If you want to push someone's buttons, you find something that irks them slightly and you keep pushing until it becomes torturous. The best way to get back at the politicians is to buy more. On top of that, it won't be any asshole's "legacy". They can claim they stopped bad evil ARs from coming into the state, but they won't want to make that claim if it can be pointed out that sales actually double whenever they enact new regulations and they are actually the cause of more ARs coming in.

The best protest is to keep on keeping on and with greater fervor. I won't register - I'll just go featureless. And I'm already building more. And when all semi-autos are banned it will be pump, lever, and bolt actions. And then it will be single shots. And when all firearms are banned it will be air guns, and then archery equipment, and then sling shots, and then rocks, ad infinitum.

Resist - legally. Let them suffer and squirm in their fear. Shit, maybe even start a campaign of mailing a thank you letter and accompanying picture to your favorite politician with your new gun every time you buy one.

There may well be some elderly people without a computer or digital camera who would have an issue registering the way they want it done.

I also know a couple of people who can't provide the documents for proof of residency, since they are not accepting your ID or DL as such.  Heck, I only have one of them.  If I didn't own a car, I wouldn't have anything besides my DL and other government IDs not on the list.

Ironically, unless you took the pictures before the start of the year and there is data on them or some other means of proving when they were taken, the pictures actually prove nothing relevant to the statute, which is that your weapon was in a configuration legal to possess from the last AWB to the end of 2016 that is not legal from 2017 onwards during that aforementioned period, which is what makes such a weapon eligible to be registered (not how it is configured presently).

The regulations are garbage and the DOJ has greatly exceeded what is allowed by the statute.  Starting January 1st, a weapon with a bullet button device of whatever type and one with a standard release, which have one or more prohibited features, are by statute identical.  The regulations say otherwise.  The statute does not create a separate class of AW; the DOJ regulations do.  The statute says nothing about post-registration configuration; the DOJ is saying you have to keep the bullet buttons in place.  The legislature in its reasoning for the statutes said that bullet buttons are functionally the same as none at all, which is why weapons fitted with those must be banned; the DOJ is saying that they are not the same and thus the bullet buttons need to stay on.  The statute says that the configuration through 12-31-2016 is what matters; the DOJ is saying that present configuration also matters.  

And what, exactly, would you be charged with after registering for taking the bullet button off?  The regulations and the statute have no provisions for revocation of registration.  There is nothing in the Penal Code addressing the matter in any way, as by statute the gun is the same with or without the bullet button.  Manufacturing an assault weapon?  It's already an assault weapon and registered to boot.  Possession of an unregistered assault weapon?  It's registered.  There may well be a reason why the DOJ doesn't spell out punishments for violation of the regulations post-registration.

Also messed up is their decision to alter the way overall length is measured.  The statute gave them no mandate to do that, but they did it anyways, and it turns a bunch of previously legal firearms into assault weapons, some of which will not be eligible for registration and which are not covered by the grace period.  Even worse is that the change was made with pretty much no time for people to get into compliance before it took effect.  

Also, IIRC, the DOJ is applying the regulations to shotguns even though the statute does not (such as bullet button Saigas).

The only good thing coming out of these regulations is how liberal they are with respect to what makes a semi-auto no longer a semi-auto or complete firearm and thus not an assault weapon, and the clarity with which one can see the lack of constructive possession.

And AFAIK there is still is no guidance with respect to anything beyond simple possession on your property of a now-illegal weapon during the grace period.  Can bullet button rifles during the period be used before they are registered or otherwise made compliant?  Will owners be arrested and charged?  That stuff isn't clear.

I expect that there will be challenges to all of this in court in the next month or two.  I truly hope that such is the case and that such efforts are met with success.  The track record in court has been abysmal, but sometimes there are wins when regulatory agencies exceed their statutory mandates.

From what I saw in the thread on CalGuns on the topic, FGG and few other posters are basically making circular arguments.  Certainly, the DOJ sees things the way they do, but the reality of it is different.  Whether or not a court will see it one way or the other is anyone's guess.

I wonder what our elections would look like if it had these kinds of restrictions.

CRPA and NRA are hosting a live webinar on the new assault weapon regulations.  Let's see if this will paste in.

CRPA, NRA, and Michel & Associates to Host Webinar on New "Assault Weapon" Regulations 
On December 30, 2016, the California Department of Justice (DOJ) filed new regulations for bullet-button "assault weapons."

Would you like to know more about these new regulations and how they may affect you? 

Join us on Tuesday, January 10, 2017 at 12:00 pm (PT) for a live webinar on the DOJ's new "assault weapon" regulations.
 
In this webinar, we will discuss the new regulations and explain:

• New definitions of terms contained in the "assault weapon" regulations, including the definitions for
  "disassembly of the firearm action" and "permanently attached to";

• Requirements for registering an "assault weapon" under the new regulations; 

• Impact of the proposed regulations on newly designed magazine release systems marketed as compliant with the new law;

• Impact of the proposed regulations on shotguns and other firearms not classified as “rifles” or “pistols;”

• Requirements for jointly registering a newly classified “assault weapon” with a spouse or other family member;

• Impact of the proposed regulations on firearms manufactured from 80% receivers or otherwise lacking a serial number;

• Whether a gun owner can remove a bullet button from their firearm after it has been registered as an "assault weapon" 

                       
                   
               
           

           
           
       
   
   
       
           
       
   

Register Now!

   
       
           
               
       
           
               
                   

                       

                           Featured Speakers:

     C.D. Michel | Senior Counsel; Michel & Associates 

     Joseph Silvoso | Attorney; Michel & Associates 

Online pre-registration is required to participate in the live webinar. Space is limited. After the live presentation, the webinar will be viewable at www.crpa.org/webinars.

Classic - scheduling it for a weekday/workday.  Just terrific!

A recording of this webinar along with their previous ones will be/are available to watch on the CRPA website...

Nope.

Just finished the webinar.  Holy fuck.  So frustrating.

eta Just over 2 hours long, covers a lot of info.  Recording not yet available online.

got any highlights ?
any recommended course of action, register or featureless, for gun owners ?

They cover quite a bit of material.  Older RAWs do not need additional registration.  You're already on the list citizen.

Your choices are register your BB or go featureless.

Registered BB rifles cannot remove the BB ever (except for maintenance and repairs).  The registration process DOES involve a background check.  You send in your electronic reg application and they run a BG check.  So if you are a prohibited person or ineligible to own a firearm, register at your own risk.  They said to expect a knock on your door.  Their interpretation of the required pictures is that it does not mean that you can't make changes to the rifle.  It's just to verify that it is a complete weapon and not in an illegal configuration.

Featureless is as expected.  No evil features = no registration requirement.  Before you get too excited see 80% info below.

80% is where it gets bad.  If you built an 80% and use a BB you have to get a DOJ issued serial number engraved even if you already have your own unique serial number.  If you do a featureless 80% then you don't have to register BUT you still have to get a DOJ issued serial number as per the DeLeon "Ghost Gun" law.  So, lol.  They really don't like 80% receivers.  Or freedom.

They seemed to gloss over the new overall length rules.  Almost as if they didn't understand the change even existed.  I tried to bring it to their attention with no reply.  Prior to 2017 overall length was measured with the stock fully collapsed to the end of the muzzle device.  As of 1/1/2017 any removable muzzle devices have to be removed.  This makes quite a few rifles, mainly bullpups, suddenly illegal AWs such as Tavors, Steyr Augs, Berettas, Para FALs, etc.  Until this is specifically addressed I'm assuming that the choices are register as a BB AW or permanently affix the muzzle device and go featureless.

Flash hiders, flash suppressors, muzzle brakes...if the manufacturer says it has flash hiding capabilities then you are on the edge.  If the manufacturer lists it as a muzzle brake then you have a better chance.   You may beat the rap but maybe not the hassle ride. 

There's plenty more on the webinar.

eta If anyone has any corrections or additional info, feel free to let us know.

I signed up for it, submitted a few emails with questions to hopefully have addressed and than didn't attend it. I was out of the office on an impromptu bidness trip but will watch the recording. A coworker attended though. I look forward to watching it and thank the CRPA & Michel & Assc for this and the other information filled webinars...

Regarding 80% receiver builds.  After issuing you a serial number for a rifle, is the Cal DOJ allowed to retain these serial numbers?

Are there rules for affixing the serial number to the receiver, scribe method, depth, character width?

What if you already put a serial number on the receiver, can that number be used?

I didn't know where to put this one, and we probably need a compliant post to go over options. This device locks the mag into the receiver. 

FC