The Safe Handgun List
From Calguns Wiki
Contents |
History
The California Roster of Handguns Certified for Sale is sometimes called the "Safe Handgun List", because the establishing legislation, SB15 in 1998 referred to unsafe handguns.
Penal Code 12125. (a) Commencing January 1, 2001, any person in this state who manufactures or causes to be manufactured, imports into the state for sale, keeps for sale, offers or exposes for sale, gives, or lends any unsafe handgun shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year.
Penal Code 12131. (a) On and after January 1, 2001, the Department of Justice shall compile, publish, and thereafter maintain a roster listing all of the pistols, revolvers, and other firearms capable of being concealed upon the person that have been tested by a certified testing laboratory, have been determined not to be unsafe handguns, and may be sold in this state pursuant to this title. The roster shall list, for each firearm, the manufacturer, model number, and model name.
The bill went into effect January, 2001. The author was Senator Richard G. Polanco (D-Los Angeles).
There have been two major modifications since then: Senator Scott’s 2003 SB 489 for loaded chamber indicator/magazine disconnect, and Assembly Member Feuer’s 2007 AB 1471, microstamping.
2007-2008 bill AB 2235, Mr DeSaulnier's "owner-authorized handguns" bill, failed passage.
Process
A manufacturer or an importer (and ONLY those - 11 CCR § 4070 and § 4071) submits a handgun for testing. They must supply THREE copies of the gun to be tested, and pay a fee. (Penal Code 12130)
The gun must pass a defined firing requirement (Penal Code 12127) and a drop safety test (Penal Code 12128). It must also meet other requirements in effect at the time it is submitted for testing, currently a magazine disconnect and a loaded chamber indicator for semi-automatic handguns. (Penal Code 12126(b)(5))
Once a tested gun is added to the Roster, a manufacturer may certify that additional models are different from the tested model only in ‘minor’ attributes:
12131.5. (a) A firearm shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of subdivision (a) of Section 12131 if another firearm made by the same manufacturer is already listed and the unlisted firearm differs from the listed firearm only in one or more of the following features: (1) Finish, including, but not limited to, bluing, chrome-plating, oiling, or engraving. (2) The material from which the grips are made. (3) The shape or texture of the grips, so long as the difference in grip shape or texture does not in any way alter the dimensions, material, linkage, or functioning of the magazine well, the barrel, the chamber, or any of the components of the firing mechanism of the firearm. (4) Any other purely cosmetic feature that does not in any way alter the dimensions, material, linkage, or functioning of the magazine well, the barrel, the chamber, or any of the components of the firing mechanism of the firearm.
Each model must be individually added to the Roster and each requires the annual fee. It is entirely the choice of the manufacturer which models will be added to the Roster in this fashion.
Duration
Once a handgun is on the Roster, it can remain there, unchanged, so long as the responsible party continues to pay the annual fee. The expiration dates which appear in the Roster listings are the due dates for those fees.
The California Department of Justice may choose to retest handguns on the Roster (11 CCR § 4073), either randomly or with reason to believe there is a problem. Handguns which fail retesting are removed from the Roster. Testing criteria are the same as those used for original certification.
A manufacturer may occasionally allow the gun to lapse. California Code of Regulations (11 CCR § 4074) provides the submitter may request the gun be recertified (retested), and if the gun passes testing it may be returned to the Roster.
New Requirements
Amendments to the law so far have been written to include language such as
(5) Commencing January 1, 2007, for all center fire semiautomatic pistols that are not already listed on the roster pursuant to Section 12131, it does not have both a chamber load indicator and if it has a detachable magazine, a magazine disconnect mechanism.
That is, if a pistol is already tested and listed on the Roster at the time new requirements become law, that pistol is NOT affected and does NOT need the new features or capabilities.
The Legislature may choose to write amendments to this law differently in the future.
Effects
California FFLs may not transfer handguns which are not on the Roster unless the individual or guns or kind of transaction are listed as exceptions.
Current exceptions include:
- peace officers with official identification;
- gifts from out-of-state immediate family members (who are defined as parents, grandparents, children and grandchildren only; brothers and other familial relationships are not included);
- curios and relics;
- Olympic pistols listed in Penal Code 12132(h)(2);
- private party transactions (PPT)Penal Code 12132(a) PPT is described in Penal Code 12082;
- Single shot pistols that meet certain dimensional and other requirements in Penal Code 12133 (a) and (b) and described further below.
Other exempt transactions and conditions
No long guns are affected.
Handguns moved into the state by new residents are not affected by the Roster.
Transfers between immediate family members using the Operation of Law or Intrafamilial Handgun Transaction Report are not affected by the Roster. This procedure was established in 1994 with AB 2470.
Pawning and redeeming from pawn are not subject to the Roster. (Penal Code 12132(f))
Giving a handgun to a gunsmith for repair, and receiving that handgun back are exempt. (Penal Code 12132(d) and (e))
General government transactions are exempt (Penal Code 12125(b)(4):
The sale or purchase of any pistol, revolver or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person, if the pistol, revolver, or other firearm is sold to, or purchased by, the Department of Justice, any police department, any sheriff's official, any marshal's office, the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, the California Highway Patrol, any district attorney's office, or the military or naval forces of this state or of the United States for use in the discharge of their official duties.
Certain single shot handguns are exempt: Penal Code 12133:
12133. (a) The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to a single-action revolver that has at least a 5-cartridge capacity with a barrel length of not less than three inches, and meets any of the following specifications: (1) Was originally manufactured prior to 1900 and is a curio or relic, as defined in Section 478.11 of Title 27 of the Code of Federal Regulations. (2) Has an overall length measured parallel to the barrel of at least 71/2 inches when the handle, frame or receiver, and barrel are assembled. (3) Has an overall length measured parallel to the barrel of at least 71/2 inches when the handle, frame or receiver, and barrel are assembled and that is currently approved for importation into the United States pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (3) of subsection (d) of Section 925 of Title 18 of the United States Code. (b) The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to a single-shot pistol with a barrel length of not less than six inches and that has an overall length of at least 101/2 inches when the handle, frame or receiver, and barrel are assembled.
Safety
It is arguable that the law has little relationship to any useful definition of 'safety'. Most notably, a gun tested and certified and added to the Roster cannot be transferred by dealers if the model is removed from the Roster for non-payment of the annual fee. With no mechanical changes, a gun would go from 'not unsafe' to something else overnight.
