2008 Dangerous Weapons Control Law
12125 thru 12133 Handgun Safety Testing
CHAPTER 1.3. UNSAFE HANDGUNS
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12125.
(a) Commencing January 1, 2001, any person in this state who manufactures or causes to be manufactured, imports into the state for sale, keeps for sale, offers or exposes for sale, gives, or lends any unsafe handgun shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year.
(b) This section shall not apply to any of the following:
(1) The manufacture in this state, or importation into this state, of any prototype pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person when the manufacture or importation is for the sole purpose of allowing an independent laboratory certified by the Department of Justice pursuant to Section 12130 to conduct an independent test to determine whether that pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person is prohibited by this chapter, and, if not, allowing the department to add the firearm to the roster of pistols, revolvers, and other firearms capable of being concealed upon the person that may be sold in this state pursuant to Section 12131.
(2) The importation or lending of a pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person by employees or authorized agents determining whether the weapon is prohibited by this section.
(3) Firearms listed as curios or relics, as defined in Section 478.11 of Title 27 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(4) The sale or purchase of any pistol, revolver or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person, if the pistol, revolver, or other firearm is sold to, or purchased by, the Department of Justice, any police department, any sheriff's official, any marshal's office, the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, the California Highway Patrol, any district attorney's office, or the military or naval forces of this state or of the United States for use in the discharge of their official duties. Nor shall anything in this section prohibit the sale to, or purchase by, sworn members of these agencies of any pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person.
(c) Violations of subdivision (a) are cumulative with respect to each handgun and shall not be construed as restricting the application of any other law. However, an act or omission punishable in different ways by this section and other provisions of law shall not be punished under more than one provision, but the penalty to be imposed shall be determined as set forth in Section 654.
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12126.
As used in this chapter, "unsafe handgun" means any pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 12001, for which any of the following is true:
(a) For a revolver:
(1) It does not have a safety device that, either automatically in the case of a double-action firing mechanism, or by manual operation in the case of a single-action firing mechanism, causes the hammer to retract to a point where the firing pin does not rest upon the primer of the cartridge.
(2) It does not meet the firing requirement for handguns pursuant to Section 12127.
(3) It does not meet the drop safety requirement for handguns pursuant to Section 12128.
(b) For a pistol:
(1) It does not have a positive manually operated safety device, as determined by standards relating to imported guns promulgated by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.
(2) It does not meet the firing requirement for handguns pursuant to Section 12127.
(3) It does not meet the drop safety requirement for handguns pursuant to Section 12128.
(4) Commencing January 1, 2006, for a center-fire semiautomatic pistol that is not already listed on the roster pursuant to Section 12131, it does not have either a chamber load indicator, or a magazine disconnect mechanism.
(5) Commencing January 1, 2007, for all center-fire semiautomatic pistols that are not already listed on the roster pursuant to Section 12131, it does not have both a chamber load indicator and if it has a detachable magazine, a magazine disconnect mechanism.
(6) Commencing January 1, 2006, for all rimfire semiautomatic pistols that are not already listed on the roster pursuant to Section 12131, it does not have a magazine disconnect mechanism, if it has a detachable magazine.
(7) Commencing January 1, 2010, for all semiautomatic pistols that are not already listed on the roster pursuant to Section 12131, it is not designed
and equipped with a microscopic array of characters that identify the make, model, and serial number of the pistol, etched or otherwise imprinted in two or more places on the interior surface or internal working parts of the pistol, and that are transferred by imprinting on each cartridge case when the firearm is fired, provided that the Department of Justice certifies that the technology used to create the imprint is available to more than one manufacturer unencumbered by any patent restrictions. The Attorney General may also
approve a method of equal or greater reliability and effectiveness in identifying the specific serial number of a firearm from spent cartridge casings discharged by that firearm than that which is set forth in this
paragraph, to be thereafter required as otherwise set forth by this paragraph where the Attorney General certifies that this new method is also unencumbered by any patent restrictions. Approval by the Attorney General shall include notice of that fact via regulations adopted by the Attorney General for purposes of implementing that method for purposes of this
paragraph. The microscopic array of characters required by this section shall not be considered the name of the maker, model, manufacturer's number, or other mark of identification, including any distinguishing number or mark assigned by the Department of Justice, within the meaning of Sections 12090 and 12094.
(c) As used in this section, a "chamber load indicator" means a device that plainly indicates that a cartridge is in the firing chamber. A device satisfies this definition if it is readily visible, has incorporated or adjacent explanatory text or graphics, or both, and is designed and intended to indicate to a reasonably foreseeable adult user of the pistol, without requiring the user to refer to a user's manual or any other resource other than the pistol itself, whether a cartridge is in the firing chamber.
(d) As used in this section, a "magazine disconnect mechanism" means a mechanism that prevents a semiautomatic pistol that has a detachable magazine from operating to strike the primer of ammunition in the firing chamber when a detachable magazine is not inserted in the semiautomatic pistol.
(e) As used in this section, a "semiautomatic pistol" means a pistol, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 12001, the operating mode of which uses the energy of the explosive in a fixed cartridge to extract a fired cartridge and chamber a fresh cartridge with each single pull of the trigger.
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12127.
(a) As used in this chapter, the "firing requirement for handguns" means a test in which the manufacturer provides three handguns of the make and model for which certification is sought, to an independent testing laboratory certified by the Attorney General pursuant to Section 12130. These handguns may not be refined or modified in any way from those that would be made available for retail sale if certification is granted. The magazines of a tested pistol shall be identical to those that would be provided with the pistol to a retail customer. The laboratory shall fire 600 rounds from each gun, stopping after each series of 50 rounds has been fired for 5 to 10 minutes to allow the weapon to cool, stopping after each series of 100 rounds has been fired to tighten any loose screws and clean the gun in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions, and stopping as needed to refill the empty magazine or cylinder to capacity before continuing. The ammunition used shall be of the type recommended by the handgun manufacturer in the user manual, or if none is recommended, any standard ammunition of the correct caliber in new condition that is commercially available. A handgun shall pass this test if each of the three test guns meets both of the following:
(1) Fires the first 20 rounds without a malfunction that is not due to ammunition that fails to detonate.
(2) Fires the full 600 rounds with no more than six malfunctions that are not due to ammunition that fails to detonate and without any crack or breakage of an operating part of the handgun that increases the risk of injury to the user.
(b) If a pistol or revolver fails the requirements of either paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (a) due to ammunition that fails to detonate, the pistol or revolver shall be retested from the beginning of the "firing requirement for handguns" test. A new model of the pistol or revolver that failed due to ammunition that fails to detonate may be submitted for the test to replace the pistol or revolver that failed.
(c) As used in this section, "malfunction" means a failure to properly feed, fire, or eject a round, or failure of a pistol to accept or eject the magazine, or failure of a pistol's slide to remain open after the magazine has been expended.
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12128.
As used in this chapter, the "drop safety requirement for handguns" means that at the conclusion of the firing requirements for handguns described in Section 12127, the same certified independent testing laboratory shall subject the same three handguns of the make and model for which certification is sought, to the following test:
A primed case (no powder or projectile) shall be inserted into the chamber. For pistols, the slide shall be released, allowing it to move forward under the impetus of the recoil spring, and an empty magazine shall be inserted. For both pistols and revolvers, the weapon shall be placed in a drop fixture capable of dropping the pistol from a drop height of 1m + 1cm (39.4 + 0.4 in.) onto the largest side of a slab of solid concrete having minimum dimensions of 7.5 X 15 X 15 cm (3 X 6 X 6 in.). The drop distance shall be measured from the lowermost portion of the weapon to the top surface of the slab. The weapon shall be dropped from a fixture and not from the hand. The weapon shall be dropped in the condition that it would be in if it were dropped from a hand (cocked with no manual safety applied). If the design of a pistol is such that upon leaving the hand a "safety" is automatically applied by the pistol, this feature shall not be defeated. An approved drop fixture is a short piece of string with the weapon attached at one end and the other end held in an air vise until the drop is initiated.
The following six drops shall be performed:
(a) Normal firing position with barrel horizontal.
(b) Upside down with barrel horizontal.
(c) On grip with barrel vertical.
(d) On muzzle with barrel vertical.
(e) On either side with barrel horizontal.
(f) If there is an exposed hammer or striker, on the rearmost point of that device, otherwise on the rearmost point of the weapon.
The primer shall be examined for indentations after each drop. If indentations are present, a fresh primed case shall be used for the next drop.
The handgun shall pass this test if each of the three test guns does not fire the primer.
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12129.
Every person who is licensed as a manufacturer of firearms pursuant to Chapter 44 (commencing with Section 921) of Title 18 of the United States Code who manufactures firearms in this state, and every person who imports into the state for sale, keeps for sale, or offers or exposes for sale any firearm, shall certify under penalty of perjury and any other remedy provided by law that every model, kind, class, style, or type of pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person that he or she manufactures or imports, keeps, or exposes for sale is not an unsafe handgun as prohibited by this chapter.
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12130.
(a) Any pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person manufactured in this state, imported into the state for sale, kept for sale, or offered or exposed for sale, shall be tested within a reasonable period of time by an independent laboratory certified pursuant to subdivision (b) to determine whether that pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person meets or exceeds the standards defined in Section 12126.
(b) On or before October 1, 2000, the Department of Justice shall certify laboratories to verify compliance with the standards defined in Section 12126. The department may charge any laboratory that is seeking certification to test any pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person pursuant to this chapter a fee not exceeding the costs of certification.
(c) The certified testing laboratory shall, at the manufacturer's or importer's expense, test the firearm and submit a copy of the final test report directly to the Department of Justice along with a prototype of the weapon to be retained by the department. The department shall notify the manufacturer or importer of its receipt of the final test report and the department's determination as to whether the firearm tested may be sold in this state.
(d)(1) Commencing January 1, 2006, no center-fire semiautomatic pistol may be submitted for testing pursuant to this chapter if it does not have either a chamber load indicator as defined in
subdivision (c) of Section 12126, or a magazine disconnect mechanism as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 12126 if it has a detachable magazine.
(2) Commencing January 1, 2007, no center-fire semiautomatic pistol may be submitted for testing pursuant to this chapter if it does not have both a chamber load indicator as defined in subdivision
(c) of Section 12126 and a magazine disconnect mechanism as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 12126.
(3) Commencing January 1, 2006, no rimfire semiautomatic pistol may be submitted for testing pursuant to this chapter if it has a detachable magazine, and does not have a magazine disconnect mechanism as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 12126.
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12131.
(a) On and after January 1, 2001, the Department of Justice shall compile, publish, and thereafter maintain a roster listing all of the pistols, revolvers, and other firearms capable of being concealed upon the person that have been tested by a certified testing laboratory, have been determined not to be unsafe handguns, and may be sold in this state pursuant to this title. The roster shall list, for each firearm, the manufacturer, model number, and model name.
(b)(1) The department may charge every person in this state who is licensed as a manufacturer of firearms pursuant to Chapter 44 (commencing with Section 921) of Title 18 of the United States Code, and any person in this state who manufactures or causes to be manufactured, imports into the state for sale, keeps for sale, or offers or exposes for sale any pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person in this state, an annual fee not exceeding the costs of preparing, publishing, and maintaining the roster pursuant to subdivision (a) and the costs of research and development, report analysis, firearms storage, and other program infrastructure costs necessary to implement this chapter.
(2) Any pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person that is manufactured by a manufacturer who manufactures or causes to be manufactured, imports into the state for sale, keeps for sale, or offers or exposes for sale any pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person in this state, and who fails to pay any fee required pursuant to paragraph (1), may be excluded from the roster.
(3) If a purchaser has initiated a transfer of a handgun that is listed on the roster as not unsafe, and prior to the completion of the transfer, the handgun is removed from the roster of not unsafe handguns because of failure to pay the fee required to keep that handgun listed on the roster, the handgun shall be deliverable to the purchaser if the purchaser is not otherwise prohibited from purchasing or possessing the handgun. However, if a purchaser has initiated a transfer of a handgun that is listed on the roster as not unsafe, and prior to completion of the transfer, the handgun is removed from the roster pursuant to subdivision (f), the handgun shall not be deliverable to the purchaser.
(c) The Attorney General may annually retest up to 5 percent of the handgun models that are listed on the roster described in subdivision (a).
(d) The retesting of a handgun model pursuant to subdivision (c) shall conform to the following:
(1) The Attorney General shall obtain from retail or wholesale sources, or both, three samples of the handgun model to be retested.
(2) The Attorney General shall select the certified laboratory to be used for the retesting.
(3) The ammunition used for the retesting shall be of a type recommended by the manufacturer in the user manual for the handgun. If the user manual for the handgun model makes no ammunition recommendation, the Attorney General shall select the ammunition to be used for the retesting. The ammunition shall be of the proper caliber for the handgun, commercially available, and in new condition.
(e) The retest shall be conducted in the same manner as the testing prescribed in Sections 12127 and 12128.
(f) If the handgun model fails retesting, the Attorney General shall remove the handgun model from the roster maintained pursuant to subdivision (a).
(g) A handgun model removed from the roster pursuant to subdivision (f) may be reinstated on the roster if all of the following are met:
(1) The manufacturer petitions the Attorney General for reinstatement of the handgun model.
(2) The manufacturer pays the Department of Justice for all of the costs related to the reinstatement testing of the handgun model, including the purchase price of the handguns, prior to reinstatement testing.
(3) The reinstatement testing of the handguns shall be in accordance with subdivisions (d) and (e).
(4) The three handgun samples shall be tested only once for reinstatement. If the sample fails it may not be retested.
(5) If the handgun model successfully passes testing for reinstatement, and if the manufacturer of the handgun is otherwise in compliance with this chapter, the Attorney General shall reinstate the handgun model on the roster maintained pursuant to subdivision (a).
(6) The manufacturer shall provide the Attorney General with the complete testing history for the handgun model.
(7) Notwithstanding subdivision (c), the Attorney General may, at any time, further retest any handgun model that has been reinstated to the roster.
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12131.5.
(a) A firearm shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of subdivision (a) of Section 12131 if another firearm made by the same manufacturer is already listed and the unlisted firearm differs from the listed firearm only in one or more of the
following features:
(1) Finish, including, but not limited to, bluing, chrome-plating, oiling, or engraving.
(2) The material from which the grips are made.
(3) The shape or texture of the grips, so long as the difference in grip shape or texture does not in any way alter the dimensions, material, linkage, or functioning of the magazine well, the barrel, the chamber, or any of the components of the firing mechanism of the firearm.
(4) Any other purely cosmetic feature that does not in any way alter the dimensions, material, linkage, or functioning of the magazine well, the barrel, the chamber, or any of the components of the firing mechanism of the firearm.
(b) Any manufacturer seeking to have a firearm listed under this section shall provide to the Department of Justice all of the following:
(1) The model designation of the listed firearm.
(2) The model designation of each firearm that the manufacturer seeks to have listed under this section.
(3) A statement, under oath, that each unlisted firearm for which listing is sought differs from the listed firearm only in one or more of the ways identified in subdivision (a) and is in all other respects identical to the listed firearm.
(c) The department may, in its discretion and at any time, require a manufacturer to provide to the department any model for which listing is sought under this section, to determine whether the model complies with the requirements of this section.
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- 12132.
This chapter shall not apply to any of the following:
(a) The sale, loan, or transfer of any firearm pursuant to Section 12082 in order to comply with subdivision (d) of Section 12072.
(b) The sale, loan, or transfer of any firearm that is exempt from the provisions of subdivision (d) of Section 12072 pursuant to any applicable exemption contained in Section 12078, if the sale, loan, or transfer complies with the requirements of that applicable exemption to subdivision (d) of Section 12072.
(c) The sale, loan, or transfer of any firearm as described in paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 12125.
(d) The delivery of a pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person to a person licensed pursuant to Section 12071 for the purposes of the service or repair of that firearm.
(e) The return of a pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person by a person licensed pursuant to Section 12071 to its owner where that firearm was initially delivered in the circumstances set forth in subdivisions (a), (d), (f), or (j).
(f) The return of a pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person by a person licensed pursuant to Section 12071 to its owner where that firearm was initially delivered to that licensee for the purpose of a consignment sale or as collateral for a pawnbroker loan.
(g) The sale, loan, or transfer of any pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person listed as a curio or relic, as defined in Section 178.11 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(h)(1) The Legislature finds a significant public purpose in exempting pistols that are designed expressly for use in Olympic target shooting events. Therefore, those pistols that are sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee and by USA Shooting, the national governing body for international shooting competition in the United States, and that are used for Olympic target shooting purposes at the time that the act adding this subdivision is enacted, and that fall within the definition of "unsafe handgun" pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 12126 shall be exempt, as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3).
(2) This chapter shall not apply to any of the following pistols, because they are consistent with the significant public purpose expressed in paragraph (1):
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MANUFACTURER
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MODEL
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CALIBER
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ANSCHUTZ
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FP
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.22LR
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BENELLI
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MP90
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.22LR
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BENELLI
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MP90
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.32 S&W LONG
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BENELLI
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MP95
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.22LR
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BENELLI
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MP95
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.32 S&W LONG
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DRULOV
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FP
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.22LR
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GREEN
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ELECTROARM
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.22LR
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HAMMERLI
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100
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.22LR
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HAMMERLI
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101
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.22LR
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HAMMERLI
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102
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.22LR
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HAMMERLI
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162
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.22LR
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HAMMERLI
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280
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.22LR
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HAMMERLI
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280
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.32 S&W LONG
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HAMMERLI
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FP10
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.22LR
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HAMMERLI
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MP33
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.22LR
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HAMMERLI
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SP20
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.22LR
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HAMMERLI
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SP20
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.32 S&W LONG
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MORINI
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CM102E
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.22LR
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MORINI
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22M
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.22LR
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MORINI
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32M
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.32 S&W LONG
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MORINI
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CM80
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.22LR
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PARDINI
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GP
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.22 SHORT
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PARDINI
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GPO
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.22 SHORT
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PARDINI
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GP-SCHUMANN
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.22 SHORT
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PARDINI
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HP
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.32 S&W LONG
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PARDINI
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K22
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.22LR
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PARDINI
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MP
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.32 S&W LONG
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PARDINI
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PGP75
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.22LR
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PARDINI
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SP
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.22LR
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PARDINI
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SPE
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.22LR
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SAKO
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FINMASTER
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.22LR
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STEYR
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FP
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.22LR
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VOSTOK
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IZH NO. 1
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.22LR
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VOSTOK
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MU55
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.22LR
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VOSTOK
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TOZ35
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.22LR
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WALTHER
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FP
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.22LR
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WALTHER
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GSP
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.22LR
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WALTHER
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GSP
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.32 S&W LONG
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WALTHER
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OSP
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.22 SHORT
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WALTHER
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OSP-2000
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.22 SHORT
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(3) The department shall create a program that is consistent with the purpose stated in paragraph (1) to exempt new models of competitive firearms from this chapter. The exempt competitive firearms may be based on recommendations by USA Shooting consistent with the regulations contained in the USA Shooting Official Rules or may be based on the recommendation or rules of any other organization that the department deems relevant.
(i) The sale, loan, or transfer of any semiautomatic pistol that is to be used solely as a prop during the course of a motion picture, television, or video production by an authorized participant therein in the course of making that production or event or by an authorized employee or agent of the entity producing that production or event.
(j) The delivery of a pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person to a person licensed pursuant to Section 12071 where the firearm is being loaned by the licensee to a consultant-evaluator.
(k) The delivery of a pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person by a person licensed pursuant to Section 12071 where the firearm is being loaned by the licensee to a consultant-evaluator.
(l) The return of a pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person to a person licensed pursuant to Section 12071 where it was initially delivered pursuant to subdivision (k).
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- 12133.
(a) The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to a single-action revolver that has at least a 5-cartridge capacity with a barrel length of not less than three inches, and meets any of the following specifications:
(1) Was originally manufactured prior to 1900 and is a curio or relic, as defined in Section 478.11 of Title 27 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(2) Has an overall length measured parallel to the barrel of at least 7 1/2 inches when the handle, frame or receiver, and barrel are assembled.
(3) Has an overall length measured parallel to the barrel of at least 7 1/2 inches when the handle, frame or receiver, and barrel are assembled and that is currently approved for importation into the United States pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (3) of subsection (d) of Section 925 of Title 18 of the United States Code.
(b) The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to a single-shot pistol with a barrel length of not less than six inches and that has an overall length of at least 10 1/2 inches when the handle, frame or receiver, and barrel are assembled.
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