Can someone tell me if its legal or not to ship spare AR-15 parts (not the lower receiver or hi cap mags) to a resident of California?  I know their gun laws have become quite draconian and wanted to see if this is legal or not.  Any advice and legal references would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.
-NC_TarHeel

yes it is legal.

parts are just parts

some people add a not such as "replacment parts only" just to cover there ass course its legal so i dont c why they do

For a semi auto AR15 anything but the lower receiver itself (with or without internal parts) and complete hi cap mags is completely legal.

As Cyrax777 said "parts is parts".

Yes, they are correct. I go so far as to say it's up to the buyer to know the laws in his state. If you live in Montana and shipped a hi-cap to CaliBan country, under what law could CA-DOJ show up on your doorstep?

The Caliban can report the violation to the BATF who will get very very angry if the seller is an FFL holder.  (One condition of being a federally licensed gun dealer is to be aware of and comply with all state and local laws.)

Yes, any AR part other than a lower receiver or hi-cap mag can be shipped to you without grief or paperwork.  I would also add that the law about "replacement parts" hicap mag bodies is prob a bit murky and would stay away from that. Kalifornia may have differing opinion on what's a hicap mag and what's just a "part" than Feds.

I believe awhile back there was something *proposed* about banning some gun parts sales but nothing's come of it once they realized the receiver's already under rigid control.

[b]California_Kid[/b] is very right: it's often a Fed  offense to disobey state & local laws & regulations, esp where transfers, shipping, etc are concerned. That's one of the fine-print "they wantcha, they gotcha" clauses they can use to bust folks for Fed time on state crime.




Umm, quite easy: you're subject to California law! I've seen a lot of brain-dead misinformation about this; you just can't "hide out" over state borders in a cross-border transaction. You are indeed subject to Kalif. law when you engage in business with someone in Kalifornia. If you, in Montana, ship a hicap mag to someone in Kalif, you have broken Kalif law and a warrant can be issued for your arrest & prosecution. This doesn't mean it WILL happen, or that they're really checking the mail for these things, etc.: it just means you're in legal jeopardy.

Don't believe me? Kalif regularly busts out-of-state aftermarket auto parts mfgrs all the time for not selling the parts with appropriate warnings (that is, targeting the street and not race markets) about emission control laws.

Out-of-state power companies - even those with no offices in Kalif, but who sold Kalif electricity in 2001 - are being charged with violations of state energy market laws.  While these last two examples are usu focused at companines, not individuals, and usu involve civil, not criminal, penalties, the legal foundation is the same.

I'm not a lawyer. But this is pretty much what a lawyer would tell you. (Try asking Steve-in-VA - he's around on the legal forum.) This really has nothing to do with gun law but how state laws are dealt with in cross-state transactions.

And even supposing you were to be right in priniciple, do you wanna pay bail money, and min. $15K in lawyers fees just because some DOJ lulu wants to make an example out of "evil cross-border illegal gun-parts traders"?


Bill Wiese
San Mateo, CA