High cap mags to Kalifornia?

Phessor

I am selling some 30 round mags on ebay and a guy wants to know if I can send them to the Republik of Kalifornia. Is this legal? Thank you, Phessor [8D]

gruntled

The short answer is no. The longer answer would be maybe if he has some conection with a law enforement agency.

Prebanparts

I doubt the validity of the question since your listing states "Sorry Republik of Kalifornia"

mark christian

If the person you are shipping the magazines to is a licensed firearms dealer in the State of California or he holds a state issued High Capacity Magazine Permit (generally not available to private individuals) you can ship the magazines. Individual law enforcement officers in California are NOT allowed to receive high capacity magazines from out of state sources. These LEO's must purchase their hi-caps from licensed firearms dealers inside this state so that the proper records can be kept for insection by the California Department of Justice. Short answer: If the guy has a valid FFL you can ship him the mags. If he is unlicensed then the answer is no.

Mark T. Christian

WebSiteMaker

What about the reverse? I have 3 .40 S&W Sigma mags in mint shape that belonged to a pistol I sold years ago. I would like to finally get rid of them here on GunBroker but decline to sell to banned states. I'm in CA and not a dealer. Is it OK in CA to export the things?

mark christian

WebSite, no problem with sending your magazines out of California. In fact the gun banners here dream of the day that the last high cap is shipped out of this state along with every semi automatic! Seriously, your only choices with the magazines you now have is to either keep them until the day you die, sell them to a licensed California firearms dealer, turn them over to a police department (NOT AN INDIVIDUAL OFFICER), or sell them out of state. Lets look at these options: Keeping them without the pistol is a waste of time since you can't do anything with them. Selling them to a dealer in California won't bring you much money because there is no retail market here for High caps and I can get all the restricted S&W LEO only High caps I want at cut rate prices (a 15 round .40 S&W demo Sigma magazine costs me under $9). The local PD will take your magazines and won't give you a penny--they may say thank you however. Selling them out of state is your only real choice.

Mark T. Christian

deerhntr

So if i was a private Seller of Hi-caps I would be REQUIRED to KNOW and enforce the local laws of other states? Or is it REALY up to the buyer to know his or her own states laws and know weather to order the mags from me or not? What kind of liability would the seller have residing in a differnt state and shipping to a "Banned" state if that seller did not have knowlage of the other states local "laws"? I areas
that have banned hi-cap mag sales and state they cant be shipped in either to violate the local law would put the buyer in trouble with the law on a local level,How is that local law enforcement going to prosicute someone from another state for "shipping them in" when they are legal to own and ship from that state!This is all very confusing
thats why i dont deal with hi-caps through the mail.

mark christian

The four states which have magazine restrictions: Hawaii, California, New Jersey, and Maryland are well known--although there may well be a few people who are unaware. If you are an unlicensed individual and ship a high capacity magazine to a restricted state there is little or nothing that will happen to you...a few times. If you are making a habit of doing this sort of thing then an agency from the receiving state will at some point contact your home states attorney general and inform them of what you are up to and try to convince the AG that you are engaging in interstate commerce and should be licensed. This is no different than the fireworks wholesalers who years ago would ship banned fireworks from legal states like Missouri into restricted states like...well like California. Do this sort of thing often enough, get enough complaints, and you or your business will attract the attention of state agencies whom you'd prefer to take as little notice of your business practices as possible (I don't like to hear from any agency--DOJ, AG, BATFE)!

If on the other hand you are a licesned firearms dealer than you have ZERO excuse for violating the laws of any state. When you get your FFL you are authorized to engage in interstate commerce. You are also bound to abide by all federal and state laws...on both ends of the transaction. Violation of these laws would allow a state agency to contact the BATFE and you would have your license suspended or revoked...you are now no longer in the gun business and probably won't be again in your life time. The BATFE supplies each dealer with a copy of ATF Publication 5300.5 "State Laws and Published Ordinances- Firearms. It contains over 400 pages of VERY small print which outlines in agonizing detail each and every firearms law in all 50 states, DC, Guam, and all of those tiny little islands out in the middle of the vast ocean that we learned about in geography class. Deerhntr, you no doubt already know all of this but others may read this post and be able to use the information. In nearly every case on high-caps; if the fellow on the receiving end is an FFL then the shippment is probably all right. If he is unlicensed then the sale is either going to be prohibited or he'll need to show some sort of state permit. In California the is the Large Capacity Magazine Permit issued by the DOJ and valid for one year--all expire on 31 December of each year and must then be renewed for another year..and so on and so on until you die or tire of the whole issue.

Mark T. Christian