Posted: 3/24/2003 12:27:53 PM EDT
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In CA a person must be 21+ years of age to purchase a pistol lawfully. I was wondering if it's legal for a person over the age of 18 but under the age of 21 to have access to a pistol. My assumption was that it would be illegal, but then I saw this in the DOJ FAQs. It doesnt make much sense to me if a young adult can have access to a pistol, yet cannot buy one. Q: Am I required by law to store my firearms where children cannot access them? A: Yes. In most cases, if you keep any loaded firearm within any premise which is under your custody or control and know or reasonably should know that a child (person under 18 years of age) is likely to gain access to the firearm, you may be guilty of a felony if a child gains access to that firearm and thereby causes death or injury to any person unless the firearm was in a secure locked container or locked with a locking device that rendered it inoperable. http://caag.state.ca.us/firearms/pubfaqs.htm |
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All depends on the state. Federally, even a child may possess a handgun, provided they've got a note from their parent or guardian authorizing them to have it, on their own property, or at a shooting range for practice or an organized competition, or travelling to or from a range for those lawful purposes. In Colorado, anyone 18 or over may possess, carry, and even carry concealed (with a valid permit) a handgun, although federal regulations will not permit a licensed dealer to sell a handgun to anyone under 21. |
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I wrote the CA DOJ on this one once, since I'm in the same situation. If you are between the ages of 18 and 21 and you want: POSSESSION of a handgun: An adult can theoretically lend you one (as long as it's for less than 30 days, you have a Handgun Safety Certificate, and you follow all other applicable laws), but you're going to have to have someone over 21 buy the ammo for you since you have to be 21 to buy "handgun ammo." Of course, if you go to Wal-mart and pick up some 9mm or some .45, if you tell them it's for a rifle they'll still sell it to you, which is the weird thing. TITLE of a handgun: The only way for a 18+ but under 21 person in CA to obtain title (legal ownership rights) to a handgun is for a parent or grandparent to first get a Handgun Safety Certificate and buy the handgun themselves, then for you to get a Handgun Safety Certificate yourself, and then finally they'd "transfer" it to you by sending in the form found here: [url=http://caag.state.ca.us/firearms/forms/pdf/oplaw.pdf]Operation of Law Form[/url] "Infrequent" handgun transfers from parent or grandparent to child are exempt from the dealer transfer requirement, so they can go ahead and give them to you. According to the guy at the DOJ that I called, "infrequent" means "less than six per year or else you'd have to get an FFL." Now, this sounds awfully close to meeting the definition of a straw purchase to me... anyone else got any comments? |
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It's not a straw purchase because of two reasons. 1 The person can legaly own the said firearm. 2 The firearm is intended as a gift. For example lets say Dad wants to son a Ruger MarkII for his 18th birthday. The dad knows his son isn't a criminal. The father then purchases the gun filling out all the proper federal and state forms if applicable. Then happy birthday. There is a letter from the BATF about this somewhere that says you can legititmitly say you are buying the gun for yourself if you intend to gift it to someone. |
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Quoted: It's not a straw purchase because of two reasons. 1 The person can legaly own the said firearm. 2 The firearm is intended as a gift. For example lets say Dad wants to son a Ruger MarkII for his 18th birthday. The dad knows his son isn't a criminal. The father then purchases the gun filling out all the proper federal and state forms if applicable. Then happy birthday. There is a letter from the BATF about this somewhere that says you can legititmitly say you are buying the gun for yourself if you intend to gift it to someone. The form does not ask if you are purchasing the firearm for yourself. It asks if you are the actual purchaser of the firearm. The instructions attached to the form tell you that it is ok to purchase the firearm for a gift as long as you are the one paying for it. |