California Law Brings Big Changes To AR-15 Purchases

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Starting Jan. 1, California law will classify certain semi-automatic firearms as assault weapons.

Buyers can purchase the guns like an AR-15 rifle up until Wednesday, leaving 10 days in 2016 for a background check. After that, you have to register the gun or make changes to it.

"It's gonna be a dumb law cause they're getting stricter and stricter on gun policies and stuff," said Kylie Chamberlain. "if it's not legal, I can't really take it out shooting or use it or anything at a gun range."

Chamberlain and her father, Gary, are worried about what the new laws mean for Kylie's pink AR-15 rifle.

"I just go shooting a lot so target practice basically," she said. "That's about it!"

The two made a stop at Just Guns in Arden-Arcade on Tuesday to find out what they need to do to prepare.

"I'm in law enforcement myself and I don't even know," said Gary Chamberlain.

California law defines assault weapons as firearms with magazines that can be detached without taking the gun apart or using a tool. In order to keep a firearm from being classified as an assault weapon, it would need a fixed magazine.

"So you pull the back pin, load it, and then close it and go back to shooting," Deaser said. "That would be your only way of doing it."

The new laws say a gun owner will not be punished if he or she lawfully purchases and passes a background check between Jan 1, 2001 and Dec 31, 2016.

"You can still use it as freely as you want," Deaser said. "You can go to the range. You can do whatever you want to do with it, because it's your assault weapon. The difference is you cannot sell an assault weapon."

And if you decide to keep it "AS-IS," you're required to register the gun as an assault weapon by Jan. 1, 2018.

"I think I'm going to register it cause I don't want to take all that time to fix it and take off half of the stuff that I already bought and built," Chamberlain said. "Otherwise, it just sits there and I can't do anything with it."