When Can I Register A Firearm With The Police Department

June 5, 2021 update: On June iv, 2021, a federal judge overturned California'due south ban on attack weapons on the grounds that it violates the ramble right to bear arms under the Second Subpoena. Merely assault weapons remain illegal in California while the state appeals the ruling.

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

A FOR Application is non required for most firearms. They will accept been registered past the dealer during the sale. However, there are reasons to register a firearm on your own. A registered gun that is lost or stolen may exist returned to the person listed on the form. If the gun is unregistered, information technology will not exist returned.

Submitting a FOR Application could also lead to legal trouble. Yous could be accused of possession of an assail weapon. The person who sold or gave you the weapon could also exist charged with illegally transferring a firearm. The form can exist used as prove.

man holding revolver

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

What is the Firearm Ownership Report Application?

The Firearm Ownership Report (FOR) Application is a legal grade. Information technology goes to the California Department of Justice (DOJ). The form is too known as the BOF 4542A. By filling out and submitting the grade, you voluntarily register a firearm. You are declared its legal owner.

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

your personal and contact information,
where y'all were built-in,
citizenship status and identification information, including a copy of your driver's license or ID card,
Handgun Safety Certificate number, and
whatever aliases y'all are known past.

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

whether it is a handgun or a long gun, and what blazon it is,
serial number,
brand and model,
caliber,
origin,
barrel length,
color, and
when and how you acquired it.

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

Yous will take to pay a $xix processing fee for each FOR Application.

The grade can exist mailed to:

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

This course cannot be used to annals an assault weapon. Assail weapons more often than not cannot be registered in California anymore.

Do I have to file this awarding?

No, there is no legal requirement that a firearm has to exist registered unless:

the firearm is an assault 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. You are the registered possessor of these firearms. Your information was collected during the background cheque.

Long guns that were legally bought in 2014 or afterward in California are also registered. Those bought legally earlier then may not be.

Firearm owners moving to California accept to register their firearms inside 60 days. They use a different form – the New Resident Firearm Buying Form.

What are the benefits?

Submitting a FOR Application makes yous the official possessor of the firearm.

If the firearm is lost or stolen, and and so found, it will be returned to you. If the gun is not registered, in that location volition be no official possessor. It volition not be returned to you if it is not registered.

How can I check to encounter if my firearms are registered?

You can request a list of firearms registered in your proper noun. You can go information technology past submitting an Automated Firearms System Records Request Course.

The form has to be:

signed,
notarized, and
accompanied by a copy of your driver'south license or photo ID.

Yous can mail the form to:

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

What most attack weapons?

Assault weapons cannot be registered in California, anymore.

State law fix ownership and registration periods for attack weapons. This included Browning Motorcar Guns (BMG). All of those registration windows have passed.¹

Tin I get in legal problem for filing the form?

Yes.

If you claim ownership of an assault weapon, or any illegal weapon for that matter, you could confront charges of illegal possession of a firearm. Attack weapons are illegal to possess in California. Only those that were registered during the registration windows are exempt. If y'all fill out a FOR Application listing an assault weapon and ship 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 equally a misdemeanor, a conviction carries upward to:

i yr in jail, and/or
$1,000 in fines.ⁱⁱ

If pursued equally a felony, the potential jail time is 16 months, 2 years, or three years.³

A FOR Application tin can likewise be used as testify of theillegal sale of a firearm. California law requires that all gun sales exist completed through a licensed dealer.^iv The FOR Application asks how you obtained the weapon. The answer may exist used as testify that you got the gun illegally. The person who sold or transferred the gun could be charged with a crime.

Illegally selling a firearm is a misdemeanor. The penalties tin include upward to: