What is a fixed magazine rifle under California law?

The definition has three parts that work together (PC 30515(b)):

1. There is an ammunition feeding device.
2. The device is contained in, or permanently attached to, the firearm.
3. The device cannot be removed without disassembly of the firearm action.

The statute does not ask whether a magazine is hard to remove or whether a tool is needed. It asks whether the action must be disassembled first.

A Department of Justice (DOJ) regulation defines the words inside the statutory definition (11 CCR 5471):

• "Action" means the working mechanism of a semiautomatic firearm: the receiver or frame and breech bolt, together with the other parts by which the firearm is loaded, fired, and unloaded (subdivision (b)).
• "Contained in" means the magazine cannot be released from the firearm while the action is assembled (subdivision (k)).
• "Disassembly of the firearm action" means the fire control assembly is detached from the action in such a way that the action has been interrupted and will not function (subdivision (n)).
• "Detachable magazine" means any ammunition feeding device that can be removed readily from the firearm without disassembly of the firearm action or use of a tool. A bullet or cartridge counts as a tool (subdivision (m)).

A second regulation says these definitions apply to the identification of assault weapons under section 30515 (11 CCR 5460).

It decides which paragraph of the statute applies (PC 30515(a)):

• No fixed magazine: a semiautomatic, centerfire rifle is an assault weapon if it has any one of six listed characteristics, such as a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action, a folding or telescoping stock, or a flash suppressor (paragraph (a)(1)).
• Fixed magazine: the same kind of rifle is an assault weapon if the fixed magazine has the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds (paragraph (a)(2)).
• Either way: an overall length of less than 30 inches makes a semiautomatic, centerfire rifle an assault weapon (paragraph (a)(3)).

Named models are a separate matter: PC 30510 designates specific firearms by make and model.

For rifles, the limit is in PC 30515(a)(2): a fixed magazine "with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds." The statute uses the same test for semiautomatic pistols with a fixed magazine (paragraph (a)(5)) and for semiautomatic centerfire firearms that are not rifles, pistols, or shotguns (paragraph (a)(10)).

The general definition of a "large-capacity magazine" is in a different section (PC 16740).

Before 2017, the rifle feature list applied to a semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that "has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine." SB 880 and AB 1135 replaced those words with "does not have a fixed magazine" and added the definition of fixed magazine now found in subdivision (b) (SB 880, Legislative Counsel's Digest and text).

The change reached firearms with what the regulations call a "bullet-button": a product requiring a tool to remove a magazine by depressing a recessed button or lever. The regulation states that a fully functional semiautomatic firearm equipped with one "does not meet the fixed magazine definition under Penal Code section 30515(b)" (11 CCR 5471(f)).

The 2016 bills created a registration path. A person who lawfully possessed, from January 1, 2001, through December 31, 2016, an assault weapon without a fixed magazine was required to register it with DOJ. SB 880 as enacted set the deadline at January 1, 2018 (SB 880). The statute now reads "before July 1, 2018" (PC 30900(b)(1)).

Possession of an assault weapon is otherwise a crime under PC 30605. PC 30680 says that section does not apply to a person who lawfully possessed the firearm before January 1, 2017, was eligible to register it, and registered it by July 1, 2018.

DOJ reports that a federal court order later reopened registration from January 13, 2022, to April 12, 2022, only for people who had tried to register before the 2018 deadline and were stopped by technical problems. That window is closed (DOJ bullet-button page).