Do I Need To Register A 40 Year Old Handgun I Recieved From A Relative

June 5, 2021 update: On June 4, 2021, a federal guess overturned California's ban on assault weapons on the grounds that it violates the constitutional right to bear artillery under the Second Amendment. But assault weapons remain illegal in California while the state appeals the ruling.

You tin can annals an unregistered gun in California by completing and submitting a Firearm Buying Written report (FOR) Application. This voluntarily declares that you are the possessor of the firearm. Still, this form cannot be used to register an assault weapon.

A FOR Application is not required for most firearms. They will have been registered by the dealer during the sale. Yet, there are reasons to register a firearm on your ain. A registered gun that is lost or stolen may exist returned to the person listed on the grade. If the gun is unregistered, it volition not be returned.

Submitting a FOR Application could as well lead to legal trouble. Y'all could be defendant of possession of an assault weapon. The person who sold or gave yous the weapon could also exist charged with illegally transferring a firearm. The form tin be used equally prove.

man holding revolver

You can register an unregistered gun in California past filling out and submitting a Firearm Ownership Report (FOR) Application.

What is the Firearm Ownership Study Application?

The Firearm Ownership Study (FOR) Application is a legal class. It goes to the California Department of Justice (DOJ). The course is also known as the BOF 4542A. By filling out and submitting the form, yous voluntarily annals a firearm. You are declared its legal owner.

To fill out the form, you need to provide information about yourself, including:

your personal and contact data,
where you were born,
citizenship condition and identification information, including a re-create of your driver's license or ID card,
Handgun Safety Document number, and
whatsoever aliases you are known past.

You will also accept to provide information about the firearm you are declaring:

whether information technology is a handgun or a long gun, and what blazon it is,
serial number,
make and model,
caliber,
origin,
butt length,
colour, and
when and how you caused it.

There is infinite for declaring buying of three firearms on each application class. If you want to declare ownership of more than than 3, you can attach additional copies of the grade.

You will have to pay a $19 processing fee for each FOR Application.

The form can be mailed to:

Department of Justice
Bureau of Firearms – FOR
P.O. Box 820200
Sacramento, CA 94203

This form cannot be used to register an attack weapon. Assault weapons mostly cannot be registered in California anymore.

Do I have to file this awarding?

No, at that place is no legal requirement that a firearm has to be registered unless:

the firearm is an assail weapon, or
you are moving into California and own a firearm.

Handguns that were legally bought in California are already registered. They were registered by the dealer. Yous are the registered owner of these firearms. Your data was collected during the background cheque.

Long guns that were legally bought in 2014 or later in California are also registered. Those bought legally earlier and then may not exist.

Firearm owners moving to California accept to register their firearms within 60 days. They utilize a dissimilar form – the New Resident Firearm Ownership Form.

What are the benefits?

Submitting a FOR Application makes you the official owner of the firearm.

If the firearm is lost or stolen, and then found, it will be returned to yous. If the gun is not registered, there volition be no official possessor. Information technology will not be returned to you if information technology is not registered.

How tin I check to see if my firearms are registered?

You lot can request a list of firearms registered in your name. You can get it by submitting an Automated Firearms Organization Records Request Form.

The form has to be:

signed,
notarized, and
accompanied by a re-create of your commuter's license or photo ID.

You can postal service the form to:

Section of Justice
Bureau of Firearms
AFS Private Citizen Request
P.O. Box 820200
Sacramento, CA 94203

What nigh assault weapons?

Set on weapons cannot be registered in California, anymore.

Country law set ownership and registration periods for assault weapons. This included Browning Machine Guns (BMG). All of those registration windows have passed.¹

Can I arrive legal trouble for filing the form?

Yeah.

If you lot claim ownership of an assault weapon, or any illegal weapon for that affair, you could face charges of illegal possession of a firearm. Assail weapons are illegal to possess in California. Only those that were registered during the registration windows are exempt. If yous fill out a FOR Awarding list an assault weapon and transport information technology to the DOJ, it can be used as evidence against you.

Illegal possession of an assault weapon is a wobbler in California. It can be prosecuted as a felony or a misdemeanor.

If prosecuted as a misdemeanor, a conviction carries upwardly to:

i year in jail, and/or
$1,000 in fines.²

If pursued equally a felony, the potential jail time is 16 months, ii years, or 3 years.³

A FOR Awarding can besides be used every bit prove of theillegal auction of a firearm. California law requires that all gun sales be completed through a licensed dealer.⁴ The FOR Application asks how you lot obtained the weapon. The answer may be used as evidence that you lot got the gun illegally. The person who sold or transferred the gun could exist charged with a crime.

Illegally selling a firearm is a misdemeanor. The penalties can include up to:

6 months in jail, and/or
$ane,000 in fines.

Legal References: