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Pen. Code, § 20165 · Division 4. IMITATION FIREARMS

Pen. Code, § 20165

Verbatim from the official edition

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

(a) Any person who, for commercial purposes, purchases, sells, manufactures, ships, transports, distributes, or receives, by mail order or in any other manner, an imitation firearm, except as authorized by this section, is liable for a civil fine in an action brought by the city attorney or the district attorney of not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each violation.

(b) The manufacture, purchase, sale, shipping, transport, distribution, or receipt, by mail or in any other manner, of an imitation firearm is authorized if the device is manufactured, purchased, sold, shipped, transported, distributed, or received for any of the following purposes:

(1) Solely for export in interstate or foreign commerce.

(2) Solely for lawful use in theatrical productions, including motion picture, television, and stage productions.

(3) For use in a certified or regulated sporting event or competition.

(4) For use in military or civil defense activities, or ceremonial activities.

(5) For public displays authorized by public or private schools.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Added by Stats. 2010, Ch. 711, Sec. 6. (SB 1080) Effective January 1, 2011. Operative January 1, 2012, by Sec. 10 of Ch. 711.

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=20165.
Text hash
sha256 6ce1098908012398e4a4447b39cea6a2e12accf6ec0654769b8a3999198f7941
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

Cited by 1 provision

Provisions in this library whose text cites Pen. Code, § 20165. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.

Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.