PC 30600-30675:
.50 BMG Rifle Prohibition

Assembly Bill 50, signed into law in 2004, added .50 BMG rifles as a separate category of prohibited weapon in California. The prohibition is codified in Penal Code Sections 30600 through 30675.^[1]

.50 BMG Rifle Definition (PC 30530)

Section 30530 defines a ".50 BMG rifle" as a center fire rifle that can fire a .50 BMG cartridge and is not already an assault weapon or a machinegun, excluding antique firearms and curios or relics as defined in federal regulations. The ".50 BMG cartridge" is defined in Section 30525 as a cartridge that is designed and intended to be fired from a center fire rifle and that meets specific dimensional criteria matching the military .50 Browning Machine Gun round. A center fire rifle that can fire this cartridge meets the capability requirement whether originally designed for it or modified to accept it, but it must also satisfy the other conditions and exclusions in Section 30530.^[2]

Prohibition (PC 30600)

Subject to the chapter's exceptions, Section 30600 prohibits manufacturing, distributing, transporting, importing, keeping for sale, offering or exposing for sale, giving, or lending any .50 BMG rifle. Possession is governed by Section 30610. The prohibition has statutory exceptions, including acquisition by a sworn peace officer with the employer authorization and registration required by Section 30630. The section also prohibits offering for sale, exposing for sale, or keeping for sale any .50 BMG rifle. The prohibition applies to both commercial transactions and private transfers.

Registration Exception (PC 30905)

Persons who lawfully possessed a .50 BMG rifle before January 1, 2005 were required to register it with the California DOJ by April 30, 2006. Section 30905 establishes the registration requirement.^[3] A registered .50 BMG rifle may be possessed at the owner's residence, place of business, on private property with the property owner's express permission, at a licensed shooting range, or while being transported between these locations. Transfer of a registered .50 BMG rifle is not limited to a licensed dealer or an out-of-state transferee. Section 30630 also permits transfer to qualifying peace officers and federal law enforcement members with the required agency authorization, subject to its registration requirements.

Penalties (PC 30600)

Except as provided in this chapter, unlawful possession of a .50 BMG rifle is a misdemeanor under Section 30610. Section 30610(a) provides a fine of $1,000, imprisonment in county jail for not more than one year, or both.^[4]

Relationship to Assault Weapon Laws

The .50 BMG prohibition was enacted separately from the assault weapon ban because .50 BMG rifles did not meet the assault weapon definition under either the Roberti-Roos named model list or the SB 23 characteristics test. AB 50 added the .50 BMG rifle definition in former Section 12278 and extended former Section 12280 to those rifles. The current definition is in Section 30530, while Section 30600 covers both assault weapons and .50 BMG rifles.