New Year, New Laws

As the clock struck midnight and the ball dropped in Times Square, two new firearm laws went into effect here in the sunny state of California. Assembly Bill 1263 and Senate Bill 704, both ostensibly meant to combat ‘Ghost Guns’, are now the law of the land, with various provisions kicking in as far down the line as 2027.

To summarize, AB 1263 and SB 704 both affect the sale, possession, and importation of firearm parts. While both add to the legal language meant to combat ‘ghost guns’ and ‘assault weapons’ and are largely restrictions on retailers and distributors of firearms parts, each has their own specialized set of rules and regulations. 

AB 1263 casts the widest net, using broad language to cover not only the sale of gun parts, but digital files used in firearm manufacturing and conduct relating to firearm assembly and use.

After defining firearm, firearm accessory, firearm industry member, and firearm manufacturing machine, several key points are made. Retailers are obligated to maintain ‘reasonable controls’ of firearm components and inform the buyer of some aforementioned definitions and proscribed conduct. Besides setting out the prohibited conduct, it also lays out requirements for face-to-face sales of gun parts affected by the language of the bill, including identity and age verification.

This has had an immediate and disruptive effect on the market essentially freezing online sales from major distributors. We have had customers come in and inform us that various companies have begun restricting the sale of gun parts, no matter how small, to California all together. The key language that has caused the logjam is as follows: 

Section 2, Subsection (c) A firearm industry member shall not manufacture, market, import, offer for wholesale sale, or offer for retail sale a firearm-related product that is abnormally dangerous and likely to create an unreasonable risk of harm to public health and safety in California.

This, along with the language and definitions of the bill, make essentially any gun part meet that definition and open up the possibility of liability. Aside from the risk-averse behavior of distributors, this will also affect individual buyers financially, as the state makes FFL’s the point of enforcement, meaning that people must send their qualifying purchases to a dealer the same as one would ammunition or a firearm. To put this in perspective, a customer bought a trigger spring for an AR15 from us, a part no larger than a quarter that retails for less than $3 online from most sellers. As of now, that small part must be treated as a controlled item and sent to us for handling and verification. 

SB 704 is a bit more straightforward. Put simply, all firearm barrels must now be sent to a licensed FFL for age verification and a compliance statement similar to that required by AB 1263. Shotgun barrels, pistol barrels, rifle barrels, complete uppers, barreled pistol slides, barrels sent for repair or replacement, all must be handled by a dealer. Additionally, come July of 2027, a digital background check, much like the ammunition background check in DROS, will be required. No administrative fee or mechanism of the process has been established by the CA Department of Justice Bureau of Firearms as of this writing.

These bills represent an undue level of burden on both the average law-abiding Californian looking to maintain, repair, or upgrade their firearms and licensed dealers. By using broad, subjective language, it equates everyday people exercising their 2nd amendment rights and utilizing their property lawfully with criminal elements illicitly converting firearms for malicious purposes. Dealers are made possibly complicit and liable despite ‘reasonable controls and compliance with California standards as the definitions of property and conduct leave such interpretations as hostile. It constrains commerce and puts an assumption of criminality on it by all parties, with the ‘advisories’ a steppingstone to hold all parties accountable for unforeseeable behavior. 

While we are not lawyers nor legal scholars, we here at Border Tactical do expect these bills to be challenged in court. And to help ease the burden, we are investigating all avenues of procurement and distribution to allow us to carry a wide array of gun parts and barrels to take the guess work out of purchasing and bringing our community’s dollars closer to home.