Article 5. Rules Governing Unsafe Handguns of California Penal Code >> Division 10. >> Title 4. >> Part 6. >> Chapter 4. >> Article 5.
(a) A 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 an unsafe handgun shall be
punished by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year.
(b) This section shall not apply to any of the following:
(1) The manufacture in this state, or importation into this state,
of a prototype handgun when the manufacture or importation is for
the sole purpose of allowing an independent laboratory certified by
the Department of Justice pursuant to Section 32010 to conduct an
independent test to determine whether that handgun is prohibited by
Sections 31900 to 32110, inclusive, and, if not, allowing the
department to add the firearm to the roster of handguns that may be
sold in this state pursuant to Section 32015.
(2) The importation or lending of a handgun by employees or
authorized agents of entities determining whether the weapon is
prohibited by this section.
(3) Firearms listed as curios or relics, as defined in Section
478.11 of Title 27 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(4) The sale or purchase of a handgun, if the handgun is sold to,
or purchased by, the Department of Justice, a police department, a
sheriff's official, a marshal's office, the Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation, the California Highway Patrol, any district
attorney's office, any federal law enforcement agency, or the
military or naval forces of this state or of the United States for
use in the discharge of their official duties. This section does not
prohibit the sale to, or purchase by, sworn members of these agencies
of a handgun.
(5) The sale, purchase, or delivery of a handgun, if the sale,
purchase, or delivery of the handgun is made pursuant to subdivision
(d) of Section 10334 of the Public Contract Code.
(c) Violations of subdivision (a) are cumulative with respect to
each handgun and shall not be construed as restricting the
application of any other law. However, an act or omission punishable
in different ways by this section and other provisions of law shall
not be punished under more than one provision, but the penalty to be
imposed shall be determined as set forth in Section 654.
(a) Every person who is licensed as a manufacturer of
firearms pursuant to Chapter 44 (commencing with Section 921) of
Title 18 of the United States Code and who manufactures firearms in
this state shall certify under penalty of perjury and any other
remedy provided by law that every model, kind, class, style, or type
of pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon
the person that the person manufactures is not an unsafe handgun as
prohibited by Sections 31900 to 32110, inclusive.
(b) Every person who imports into the state for sale, keeps for
sale, or offers or exposes for sale any firearm shall certify under
penalty of perjury and any other remedy provided by law that every
model, kind, class, style, or type of pistol, revolver, or other
firearm capable of being concealed upon the person that the person
imports, keeps, or exposes for sale is not an unsafe handgun as
prohibited by Sections 31900 to 32110, inclusive.
(a) Any pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being
concealed upon the person manufactured in this state, imported into
the state for sale, kept for sale, or offered or exposed for sale,
shall be tested within a reasonable period of time by an independent
laboratory certified pursuant to subdivision (b) to determine whether
that pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed
upon the person meets or exceeds the standards defined in Section
31910.
(b) On or before October 1, 2000, the Department of Justice shall
certify laboratories to verify compliance with the standards defined
in Section 31910. The department may charge any laboratory that is
seeking certification to test any pistol, revolver, or other firearm
capable of being concealed upon the person pursuant to Sections 31900
to 32110, inclusive, a fee not exceeding the costs of certification.
(c) The certified testing laboratory shall, at the manufacturer's
or importer's expense, test the firearm and submit a copy of the
final test report directly to the Department of Justice along with a
prototype of the weapon to be retained by the department. The
department shall notify the manufacturer or importer of its receipt
of the final test report and the department's determination as to
whether the firearm tested may be sold in this state.
(d) (1) Commencing January 1, 2006, no center-fire semiautomatic
pistol may be submitted for testing pursuant to Sections 31900 to
32110, inclusive, if it does not have either a chamber load
indicator, or a magazine disconnect mechanism if it has a detachable
magazine.
(2) Commencing January 1, 2007, no center-fire semiautomatic
pistol may be submitted for testing pursuant to Sections 31900 to
32110, inclusive, if it does not have both a chamber load indicator
and a magazine disconnect mechanism.
(3) Commencing January 1, 2006, no rimfire semiautomatic pistol
may be submitted for testing pursuant to Sections 31900 to 32110,
inclusive, if it has a detachable magazine, and does not have a
magazine disconnect mechanism.
(a) On and after January 1, 2001, the Department of Justice
shall compile, publish, and thereafter maintain a roster listing all
of the handguns 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 part. The roster shall list,
for each firearm, the manufacturer, model number, and model name.
(b) (1) The department may charge every person in this state who
is licensed as a manufacturer of firearms pursuant to Chapter 44
(commencing with Section 921) of Title 18 of the United States Code,
and any person in this state who manufactures or causes to be
manufactured, imports into the state for sale, keeps for sale, or
offers or exposes for sale any handgun in this state, an annual fee
not exceeding the costs of preparing, publishing, and maintaining the
roster pursuant to subdivision (a) and the costs of research and
development, report analysis, firearms storage, and other program
infrastructure costs necessary to implement Sections 31900 to 32110,
inclusive. Commencing January 1, 2015, the annual fee shall be paid
on January 1, or the next business day, of every year.
(2) Any handgun that is manufactured by a manufacturer who
manufactures or causes to be manufactured, imports into the state for
sale, keeps for sale, or offers or exposes for sale any handgun in
this state, and who fails to pay any fee required pursuant to
paragraph (1), may be excluded from the roster.
(3) If a purchaser has initiated a transfer of a handgun that is
listed on the roster as not unsafe, and prior to the completion of
the transfer, the handgun is removed from the roster of not unsafe
handguns because of failure to pay the fee required to keep that
handgun listed on the roster, the handgun shall be deliverable to the
purchaser if the purchaser is not otherwise prohibited from
purchasing or possessing the handgun. However, if a purchaser has
initiated a transfer of a handgun that is listed on the roster as not
unsafe, and prior to the completion of the transfer, the handgun is
removed from the roster pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 32020,
the handgun shall not be deliverable to the purchaser.
(a) The Attorney General may annually retest up to 5 percent
of the handgun models that are listed on the roster described in
subdivision (a) of Section 32015.
(b) The retesting of a handgun model pursuant to subdivision (a)
shall conform to the following:
(1) The Attorney General shall obtain from retail or wholesale
sources, or both, three samples of the handgun model to be retested.
(2) The Attorney General shall select the certified laboratory to
be used for the retesting.
(3) The ammunition used for the retesting shall be of a type
recommended by the manufacturer in the user manual for the handgun.
If the user manual for the handgun model makes no ammunition
recommendation, the Attorney General shall select the ammunition to
be used for the retesting. The ammunition shall be of the proper
caliber for the handgun, commercially available, and in new
condition.
(c) The retest shall be conducted in the same manner as the
testing prescribed in Sections 31900 and 31905.
(d) If the handgun model fails retesting, the Attorney General
shall remove the handgun model from the roster maintained pursuant to
subdivision (a) of Section 32015.
A handgun model removed from the roster pursuant to
subdivision (d) of Section 32020 may be reinstated on the roster if
all of the following are met:
(a) The manufacturer petitions the Attorney General for
reinstatement of the handgun model.
(b) The manufacturer pays the Department of Justice for all of the
costs related to the reinstatement testing of the handgun model,
including the purchase price of the handguns, prior to reinstatement
testing.
(c) The reinstatement testing of the handguns shall be in
accordance with subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 32020.
(d) The three handgun samples shall be tested only once for
reinstatement. If the sample fails it may not be retested.
(e) If the handgun model successfully passes testing for
reinstatement, and if the manufacturer of the handgun is otherwise in
compliance with Sections 31900 to 32110, inclusive, the Attorney
General shall reinstate the handgun model on the roster maintained
pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 32015.
(f) The manufacturer shall provide the Attorney General with the
complete testing history for the handgun model.
(g) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of Section 32020, the Attorney
General may, at any time, further retest any handgun model that has
been reinstated to the roster.
(a) A firearm shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of
subdivision (a) of Section 32015 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.
(b) Any manufacturer seeking to have a firearm listed under this
section shall provide to the Department of Justice all of the
following:
(1) The model designation of the listed firearm.
(2) The model designation of each firearm that the manufacturer
seeks to have listed under this section.
(3) A statement, under oath, that each unlisted firearm for which
listing is sought differs from the listed firearm only in one or more
of the ways identified in subdivision (a) and is in all other
respects identical to the listed firearm.
(c) The department may, in its discretion and at any time, require
a manufacturer to provide to the department any model for which
listing is sought under this section, to determine whether the model
complies with the requirements of this section.