California: Another Holiday Gift to Gun Owners — DOJ Proposes Regulation Regarding “Assault Weapon” Definitions

Today, November 22 — the day before Thanksgiving — the California Department of Justice officially notified the public of its intent to adopt a new regulation regarding the definitions of certain terms used to identify “assault weapons” under California law. If adopted, the regulation would take existing definitions of terms relating to “assault weapons” currently being challenged by NRA and CRPA in state court, and apply them to the identification of “assault weapons” pursuant to California law.  

The NRA and CRPA attorneys are currently reviewing the proposed regulation and will be providing public comment.  Stay tuned for more information, and make sure you are subscribed to NRA and CRPA email alerts. 

For those of you who are confused (and rightfully so, we might add), the regulation is a direct result of DOJ’s recently adopted regulations regarding the registration of newly classified “assault weapons” pursuant to AB 1135 and SB 880. As we reported in August, the Office of Administrative Law approved DOJ’s regulations regarding the registration of “assault weapons” only after it made a minor, non-substantive change to its originally proposed regulations which were formally rejected barely a month earlier. 

This non-substantive change made it so DOJ’s registration regulations — including all of the definitions regarding “assault weapons”— only applied to the registration of newly classified "assault weapons." Conspicuously absent, however, were any definitions that could be used for the purposes of enforcement of California’s “assault weapon” restrictions in other respects.  

DOJ will be holding a public hearing on the proposed regulation on January 8, 2018, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM, at the Resources Building Auditorium, located at 1416 9^th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814. We encourage our members, who are able, to attend and voice their opposition. If you are unable to attend, you can also submit written comments no later than 5:00 PM on January 8, 2018, to the following: 

Jacqueline Dosch

Bureau of Firearms

Division of Law Enforcement

Department of Justice 

P.O. Box 160487

Sacramento, CA 95816-0487

Phone: (916) 227-5419

Email: [email protected] 

Continue to check your inbox and the California Stand and Fight webpage for updates on issues impacting your Second Amendment rights and hunting heritage in California.