18+ Content Warning

By clicking Enter, you confirm you are 18 years of age or older and agree to comply with all applicable local, state, and federal laws.

Notice: Any content or member activity - including anything you may buy, sell, transfer, or discuss - must comply with current and upcoming laws.

Members are encouraged to stay informed: California Firearm Laws: 2026 Outlook & 2025 Recap . Responsibility for compliance rests solely with the individual member.

What's new
caguns.net

Welcome to CAguns.net!
Join our growing community where you can ask questions, share knowledge, or browse our classifieds section.

Sign up for a free account today and unlock full access! Once registered, you can search, post, and take advantage of exclusive features unavailable to guests.

A note on why more of the site now requires an account: automated scrapers and AI systems have been crawling our forums and classifieds at a scale. Requiring sign-in for those sections is the most effective tool we have. It takes a minute to register, it's free, and it keeps what happens here between actual members.

New to California gun ownership or trying to keep up with the changing laws? Check out our sister site CA2A.com — free courses, plain-English legal updates, and step-by-step guides built for California owners.

Advanced features are available only to registered members. Register today!

New Resident, Question about Registration

E

ednx

⚠️ New Member | No Deposits ☢️
Messages
11
New resident of CA, I know that I need to register my firearms by completing the form BOF 4010A: https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/bof-4010a.pdf

But I have a question... the form asks for the date that I acquired each firearm... I only have estimates of when I acquired each, I have no idea of the exact dates. I was thinking of just providing the approximate date and then writing (estimated) in parenthesis.

Anyone with a similar experience who can provide guidance?
 
jayson_b24 said:
Yes! I just registered my firearms (about a dozen) and I just made up a date. There won't be a spot to add (estimated) on the form. Everything came back approved. They're not tracking your firearm purchases outside of the state.
Click to expand...
I really appreciate your response. How long did it take you to hear back that they were successfully registered? Did the CA DOJ notify you? I ask because I would like to use one of them on my CCWs and so I believe I need to register it first.

Best,
 
Yeah, no problem! I filled out the forms on Feb 5th. There was an issue with 3 of my firearms (they wanted more photos), but everything else was marked as "completed" in CFARS. Then, everything dropped back to "in progress", so i sweat that for a couple weeks. Apparently that's the day they printed out my ownership letters (Mar 5th), because about three weeks later I got my forms in the mail. Once you have that form in your hand, you can add that firearm to your CCW.

That's my next step, but I'm still waiting on confirmation on one handgun that I bought here years ago. That's registered to my old address, so that could be an issue. But that has nothing to do with your question, it's just an extra nugget.

TL;DR About 7 weeks, total.
 
jayson_b24 said:
Everything.
Click to expand...
Hm and is there a limit on how long you have to do this after you move to CA? Within 30 days?

What if someone moves to CA but leaves guns in another state - can they later on bring them in and register them? My mother in law moved from FL 2 years ago and has a shotgun she wants to bring back from out of state.
 
weaverftw said:
Hm and is there a limit on how long you have to do this after you move to CA? Within 30 days?

What if someone moves to CA but leaves guns in another state - can they later on bring them in and register them? My mother in law moved from FL 2 years ago and has a shotgun she wants to bring back from out of state.
Click to expand...
I'm so glad you asked; this was my exact situation. I was unclear on which form to use, since I'd been here well over 30 days, but I finally made a trip out of state to get some stuff, including my firearms.

Initially I filled out the "New Resident Report..." form. Don't do that. The forms look the same, but apparently they are not. At least the DOJ was kind enough to reject my forms on the same day and not charge me the $19 application fee. Since your MIL has been here over 30 days, she'll need to fill out the same form I did: "Firearm Ownership Report". Then the timeline should likely be quicker than mine, provided they don't request additional pics (for 3 of mine they wanted pics of both sides in full; sernos; magazine release and make/ model).
 
jayson_b24 said:
I'm so glad you asked; this was my exact situation. I was unclear on which form to use, since I'd been here well over 30 days, but I finally made a trip out of state to get some stuff, including my firearms.

Initially I filled out the "New Resident Report..." form. Don't do that. The forms look the same, but apparently they are not. At least the DOJ was kind enough to reject my forms on the same day and not charge me the $19 application fee. Since your MIL has been here over 30 days, she'll need to fill out the same form I did: "Firearm Ownership Report". Then the timeline should likely be quicker than mine, provided they don't request additional pics (for 3 of mine they wanted pics of both sides in full; sernos; magazine release and make/ model).
Click to expand...
Awesome, thank you. Does she need to take the FSC test or anything else (bg check etc) or is that only for buying a gun once here? She doesn’t intend to buy anything, just wants to bring her shotgun
 
weaverftw said:
Awesome, thank you. Does she need to take the FSC test or anything else (bg check etc) or is that only for buying a gun once here? She doesn’t intend to buy anything, just wants to bring her shotgun
Click to expand...
No need for a FSC or an FFL. No need to get anyone else involved. She's basically just importing her own personal property into the state.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom