I was excited to visit my hometown in Northern California to visit my family having just purchased a CMMG and Sig Sauer 556 in Sacramento.  When my brothers and I visited a couple of gun  shops in town I noticed there were no "assault" type rifles on the racks.  When I inquired as to why, the employees looked at me like I was an idiot and stated that they were illegal.  I quickly countered that I had just purchased a couple in Sacramento and they quickly backed off and stated that they were not selling them anymore because of the legal hassles involved with them.  Both shops I visited seemed to have their tails between there legs about "assault" style rifles and were running for cover to avoid future litigation.  Feeling like a criminal, when I got home I quickly went to the Calguns site and educated myself as to what the actual regs are here in liberal Californian.  Boy was I relieved after I boned up.  Aside from the named banned "assault" style rifles on one particular list, almost anything goes as long as the rifle is 30" long and has a non detachable 10 shot max clip.  Looking back at my experience at those gun shops, I think they are doing citizens a disfavor by adding to the hysteria surrounding these types of weapons and their legality issues.  i feel the gun shops as well as their customers need to be well informed as to what is and isn't legal in this state and not spread untruths hurting both parties.  Fortunately Calguns web site is fantastic in that it clearly debunks a lot of common myths here.

Mike, I haven't yet picked up the guns.  Got the 10 day wait out here.  I'll let you know.

Good to have you on board.
And yes, Calguns is a great resource for California enthusiasts of the AR-pattern rifle.
Post pics in the appropriate thread when you get the chance!

Don't be intimidated by gunshop know-it-alls. most of them wouldn't know current gun laws if you beat them over the head with the statutes.

Know your laws, and you can be confident. You did good.

Grats on your new scores.

The other major catergory that's also legal is non-detachable magazines that can be removed with a tool (a bullet is a tool).

P.S. - I want to get one of those CMMG/Denny's Guns lowers.  They look nice.  How do you like yours?

calguns is the ultimate resource for owning guns in california.

what you heard was FUD. for more details see calguns.

Whats even worse is trying to get someone to sell you something out of state. Theres a lot more red tape that has to be gone through and many people wont even try and go through the hassle. Funny thing is the ones that do are far out selling those who dont sell to california. I talked to a place up in washington and they love CA. They said that if it werent for us they would likely loose up to 20% percent in sales for some things of the things. I dont know of too many people actually getting a bunch of ten rounders that live in a state were hi caps are permissable. So to me it should be worth it for dealers to sell OLL and items of the like. We all know with the current situation with the economy what things could turn out being like. It is alarming to see how many dealers wont even get involved with trying to find out what can and cant be sold.

Which shops? I ran into the same crap. It's not just in the Bay area. One shop that I had FUD a plenty recently changed their tune and started selling AR rifles and OLL. They apologized for their years of ignorance. Now they are making more money and helping educate.
  Calguns is an excellent resource!

What's even better is the stores selling AR parts that don't understand the laws.  I had one guy try telling me, that when you have a non detachable mag you can only get 1 "evil" feature on the rifle.  He then pulled out that famous CalGuns flow chart for the AR's and proceeded to try to walk me through it, all the while still claiming he was right.  He did start to change his tune after I showed him the arrow for non detachable mags doesn't even go to the "evil" features list.  He then proceeded to look up and read the law word for word, in the end saying he wasn't sure.  At least he was somewhat willing to reconsider his previous assumptions.

Man when the shit goes down I bet everyone will come running to you for help!

Well I had to deal with the same kind of ignorance today down here. I went to register my weapon on base ( Camp Pendleton) and they would not let me register it until I had paperwork from the DOJ stating that it was ok for me to have it. I tried to explain to them about the OLL and no one wanted to listen to me. So in order for me to "Legally" have my rifle on base I have to file my paperwork with the DOJ. Good thing I had already planned on doing the Military Assault weapon permit, so the next time I take it in I will be able to have all the evilness when I go in to register it.

I gave up on these "gunshop know-it-alls" after they denied even the mere existence a intrafamlial handgun transfer.

I went into a shop and brought up the Intra-Familial Handgun Transfer pocess. They never heard of the process and denied that at anyone at my current age (20 years old), could have possession of a handgun. I pushed back with my findings and research and got a very condescending response saying that I know nothing becuase I am just a kid.

The man went on to say that I have no right to disregard what he says becuase he "works in a gun store and obviously knows his 'stuff'". I bit my tongue, swallowed my pride, shook my head in disbelief, and left.

I will never ask gun shop owners/employees for advice or legal info ever again.

These 'gunshop know-it-alls' dont know s***!

Same thing happened to me when trying to find a Saiga today.  The guy at the shop told me they were illegal because you can add a pistol grip.  I replied that they were selling mini 14s and lots of pistol grips kits are out there for them.  And that they should probably pull all their mini 14s from the shelves if that is the case.  The guy looked at me like I was crazy and said that is different.

Point is that there is a lot of miss information out there.  You need to educate yourself and not rely on those guys.