Assault Weapons

According to the California Attorney General, “effective January 1, 2000, Senate Bill 23, Statutes of 1999, establishes new criteria for defining assault weapons based on generic characteristics.” In simple terms, generic characteristics are based on what the gun looks like. Do generic characteristics on a gun cause more damage than the same gun without generic characteristics? No, they still operate the same, and have the exact same muzzle velocity as one another.

Assault Weapon shall mean any of the following:

A semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and any one of the following:

1. A pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon.
2. A thumbhole stock.
3. A folding or telescoping stock.
4. A grenade launcher or flare launcher.
5. A flash suppressor.
6. A forward pistol grip.

Here is a picture of a perfectly legal mini 14 that you could purchase in California.


Here is a picture of a mini 14 that you would not be able to purchase in California because of the thumbhole in the stock.


Here is a picture of a flash suppressor on a mini 14, which would not be eligible for purchase in California.


This is a picture of a mini 14 that has a folding stock, front and rear pistol grips, flash suppressor, and a 30 round detachable magazine. This gun could not be legally purchased in California, and it represents five generic characteristics of a mini 14.


The only difference between these pictures is obviously the looks, but they are the same exact gun. Having a mini 14 that has all these generic characteristics is no different than one that does not. The looks of these tricked out mini 14’s may scare some people who are not familiar with weapons, but the mere fact is they all operate the same.