POSSESSION OF HIGH CAP MAGS NOT ILLEGAL IN CA!!! referrence included
 

Fellow Kommifornians, this blew my damn mind. The high cap law has a few loopholes, as many of us know, but this is a huge one. I just learned that while possession for the purpose of sale, import, and manufacture of high capacity magazines is banned, simple POSSESSION is perfectly legal. Now, of course, the ban on sales applies to FFLs and private citizens, and the ban on import and manufacture of hi-cap mags prevents us from getting them out of state or making them, but if you FIND a high cap magazine, there is absolutely no law against keeping and using it. Of course the odds of this happening are.... well, absurd, but there you have it. The way I interpret this ( INTERPRET is key here, I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice!) if one were, for instance, to be the beneficiary of an estate that included hi-cap mags, they would then be perfectly legal. For what its worth!

CA Penal code
12020 thru 12040 Unlawful Carrying and Possession - Dangerous Weapons Control Laws - Dangerous Weapons Control Laws - Bureau of Firearms - California Dept. of Justice - Office of the Attorney General

I'm no lawyer either and FTF disclaims any leagl advice given here but I believe that you are correct. Unlike NJ where there was no grandfathering for "existing" high cap mags CA permits the continued possession of any magazine that existed "in state" at the time of the ban.

What really surprised me was not the "grandfathering" of pre ban mags, but the legality of any hi cap mag that enters the state by any number of legal means. *yes, I am thinking tricky loopholes*

If you own them before the ban they are not illegal. You just can't buy them now unless you're LE or have a hi cap permit.

As far as your reference to getting them through an inheritance or some other way is not correct. Possession is not illegal, but lending, giving or selling them is illegal as well as obtaining them after the ban. In otherwords, if you already own them your okay but you cannot obtain them any other way even if it's a family member who gave them to you. If you are *thinking* loopholes, it's probably not the best idea to post it on the internet. A 12020 arrest is a felony and in CA if you are convicted of a felony you lose your right to own firearms for the rest of your life. Is it really worth it so your gun can go bang a couple more times?

just my .02

Are the existing, grandfathered ones registered?:confused:

In other words, if you possessed one befored the ban, is there a paper trail on it?

As far as I know, and I researched this in the 1990's when the ban occured here, there was and is no registeration required for pre ban "grandfathered in" magazines.

I believe this is due to the fact that I've, at least, never seen a serial number stamped on detachable magazines.

but once they start investigating you and find you havent lived there that long or owned a waepon that long, well they obviously werent grandfathered so you are toast.

It's one of the most messed up laws I've ever seen. Can't sell them or import or manufacture, but buying is legal and owning and use are legal, no matter how they were acquired.

If you're the proprietor of an armored car company, you can buy and sell and import all the high cap mags you like. I've often wondered why someone hasn't started up an armored car company and dispatched a fleet of armored vehicles filled to the gills with large cap mags like ice cream trucks into CA. I'd do it but I'm busy running a business making CA-legal pistol grip replacements. Turns out if you have a rifle with none of the evil features on it, you can shoot high caps all day long and drop them with your finger.

I believe this would be true. Luckly, when it comes to pre ban "grandfathered in" magazine laws, I have lived in and kept my prime residence in California all 54 years of my life. I'm more than fairly confident that anyone who moved here, post ban, would be in violation of the Cali. laws if they brought in post ban magazines.

Let me clarify
 

A lot of people seem to be missing my point. Of course, mags owned pre-ban are exempt, but my point is that possession of any kind is not prohibited. The law does not state that possession before the ban is exempt, it is exempt by way of omission, as are any other form of possession that did not originate from manufacture or import. Even if you did not own them before the ban, if you acquired them through means other than those expressly prohibited, you should be covered under the same principle of omission. If, for instance, you are an LEO and you retire or quit, you acquired them legally after the ban, and possession is not prohibited, so though you are no longer an LEO, there is no law against you keeping your hi-cap mags. Yes, violating the ban IS a serious felony, but the law DOES NOT prohibit possession or receipt of any kind! Only manufacture, import, and distribution. If you acquire them through a means not expressly prohibited, and you do not attempt to sell them or give them away, there shouldn't be any problem.