By Shaun Rundle, Legislative & Region Affairs Representative. Two bills that were part of a gun control legislation package sent to Governor Brown last summer are ready to take effect on January 1st, 2017. They are AB 1135 and SB 880 relating to assault weapon definitions and registration requirements. Essentially the bills redefine what constitutes an assault weapon in order to close the bullet button loophole. Also, the bills require registration by 2018 of weapons (which were previously not prohibited) which now fall under the new definition.
AB 1135 (Levine) would revise the definition of “assault weapon” to mean a semiautomatic centerfire rifle or a semiautomatic pistol that does not have a fixed magazine but has any one of those specified attributes. The bill would also define “fixed magazine” to mean an ammunition feeding device contained in, or permanently attached to, a firearm in such a manner that the device cannot be removed without disassembly of the firearm action.
The bill was passed in conjunction with SB 880 (Hall), SB 880 and the two plainly identify a fixed magazine as something that can’t be removed without disassembly; because bullet buttons do not require a disassembly action, rifles with a bullet button are now classified as assault weapons. Per SB 880, any person who, from January 1, 2001, to December 31, 2016, lawfully possessed an assault weapon that does not have a fixed magazine, as defined, register the firearm with the Department of Justice (DOJ) before January 1, 2018.
With the passage of these laws, guns such as AR’s with any of the features mentioned above will no longer be available for purchase after January 1st, 2017. If weapons currently fit those definitions, you are required to register any gun containing those features with the CA DOJ by January 1st, 2018 or potentially be subject to a felony violation.