The Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Control Act, authored by Senator David Roberti and Assemblymember Mike Roos, was signed by Governor George Deukmejian on May 24, 1989, in the aftermath of the Cleveland Elementary School shooting in Stockton.[1] It was the first assault weapons ban enacted in any U.S. state and became the template for similar legislation nationwide, including the federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994.
The Named Firearms List
The Roberti-Roos Act identified assault weapons by make and model, listing approximately 75 specific firearms. The original list is now codified at Penal Code Section 30510 and includes rifles such as the Colt AR-15 series, all AK series weapons, the FN FAL/FN LAR, and the Heckler & Koch HK91/HK93 series, among others. Pistols on the list include the UZI, MAC-10, and TEC-9/TEC-DC9 variants. The complete list was later supplemented by the Kasler list, named after the Kasler v. Lockyer[2] litigation, which affirmed the DOJ's authority to identify additional variants as substantially identical to named models.
Registration Framework
Owners who lawfully possessed firearms on the named list before the ban's effective date were given a 90-day registration window. Registered assault weapons may be kept by the original registrant but are subject to strict conditions: they must be stored at the registrant's residence or registered place of business, transported only to specified locations (ranges, gunsmiths, lawful hunting areas) in a locked container, and may not be transferred to any person within California except to a licensed dealer, by operation of law, or to a law enforcement agency.
Enforcement and Penalties
Under the current statutory framework at Penal Code Section 30600, manufacturing, distributing, transporting, importing, selling, giving, or lending an assault weapon is a felony punishable by four, six, or eight years in state prison.[3] Possession of an unregistered assault weapon under Section 30605 is a wobbler offense.
Legacy and Subsequent Legislation
The named firearms list approach had an inherent limitation: manufacturers could produce functionally identical firearms under new model names to circumvent the list. This loophole led to the enactment of SB 23 in 1999, which added the characteristics-based (features) test as a second identification method. Together, the named list and the characteristics test form the two-track assault weapon identification system that remains in effect today.