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Pen. Code, § 17000 · Division 2. DEFINITIONS

Pen. Code, § 17000

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

(a) As used in this part, until January 1, 2014, any reference to the term “personal firearm importer” shall be deemed to mean “personal handgun importer” and, on and after January 1, 2014, any reference to the term “personal handgun importer” shall be deemed to mean “personal firearm importer.” A “personal handgun importer,” until January 1, 2014, and commencing January 1, 2014, a “personal firearm importer” means an individual who meets all of the following criteria:

(1) The individual is not a person licensed pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 26700) and Article 2 (commencing with Section 26800) of Chapter 2 of Division 6 of Title 4.

(2) The individual is not a licensed manufacturer of firearms pursuant to Chapter 44 (commencing with Section 921) of Title 18 of the United States Code.

(3) The individual is not a licensed importer of firearms pursuant to Chapter 44 (commencing with Section 921) of Title 18 of the United States Code and the regulations issued pursuant thereto.

(4) The individual is the owner of a firearm.

(5) The individual acquired that firearm outside of California.

(6) The individual moved into this state on or after January 1, 1998, in the case of a handgun, or in the case of a firearm that is not a handgun, on or after January 1, 2014, as a resident of this state.

(7) The individual intends to possess that handgun within this state on or after January 1, 1998, or in the case of a firearm that is not a handgun, he or she intends to possess that firearm within this state on or after January 1, 2014.

(8) The firearm was not delivered to the individual by a person licensed pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 26700) and Article 2 (commencing with Section 26800) of Chapter 2 of Division 6 of Title 4, who delivered that firearm following the procedures set forth in Section 27540 and Article 1 (commencing with Section 26700) and Article 2 (commencing with Section 26800) of Chapter 2 of Division 6 of Title 4.

(9) The individual, while a resident of this state, had not previously reported ownership of that firearm to the Department of Justice in a manner prescribed by the department that included information concerning the individual and a description of the firearm.

(10) The firearm is not a firearm that is prohibited by any provision listed in Section 16590.

(11) The firearm is not an assault weapon.

(12) The firearm is not a machinegun.

(13) The person is 18 years of age or older.

(14) The firearm is not a .50 BMG rifle.

(15) The firearm is not a destructive device.

(b) For purposes of paragraph (6) of subdivision (a):

(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), residency shall be determined in the same manner as is the case for establishing residency pursuant to Section 12505 of the Vehicle Code.

(2) In the case of a member of the Armed Forces of the United States, residency shall be deemed to be established when the individual was discharged from active service in this state.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 745, Sec. 3. (AB 809) Effective January 1, 2012.

Source of truth

Edition
As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Official file
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN&sectionNum=17000.
Text hash
sha256 6534124118ffac0ffd196d04bb6c1602a0385642e3492dfa4f3bf8b84f9884eb
Composed by
compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section

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