About the California Military Assault Weapon Permit

This is a skeleton of a pending article. MAWP's aren't very well documented, and I intend to correct that for the sake of unformed servicemembers stationed in California.

Intended Use of the Military Assault Weapon Permit

The intended use of the MAWP is to allow active duty personnel from other states, to bring their personally owned weapons into California while they are stationed here, and then leave with them afterwards. It is not a permit to buy new weapons, nor are you allowed to keep the weapons should you move to California after you are no longer on active duty. It is important to note that the MAWP is intended to allow you to own guns which you can own in your home state. This is important; the MAWP does not give you any more leniency than your home state naturally provides, with regards to assault weapons.

State of Residency

It is important to be aware that you must have a state of residence in which assault weapons are legal, in order to get one of these permits. If you are a Californian service member, then the MAWP does nothing for you because your home state prohibits assault weapons.

About Magazines

It is VERY important to note that although the MAWP allows you to bring in assault weapons, it does NOT allow you to bring in large capacity magazines (i.e. magazines with over 10 rounds capacity). You may disassemble and retain the parts of the large capacity magazines disassembled, but any assembled magazines you possess in California must be either magazines you've owned in CA prior to 2000, or have a maximum capacity of 10 rounds.

Who to Contact

You'll want to call (916) 263-8100, which is the "Assault Weapon Registration and Special Weapon Permits" line.

The point of contact USED to be Yolanda Garcia, but she's no longer there; Terry is now the proper POC.

-- SeanNewton - 02 Nov 2007

Topic revision: r4 - 23 Dec 2008 - SeanNewton

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