SKS illegal in Cali

[McSniper]

www.sksbuyback.org

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[xSurly]

Fascism lives. I'm surprised they don't offer rewards for people who turn in noncompliant SKS owners.

[TinMan99]

Why are they picking on SKS's? What about an SKS singles it out for a buy-back? And frankly, I'd rather move out of a state than give up my rifle in the first place. Don't sell your SKS to California. Sell it at a gunshow or gunshop out of state and get a few more bucks than you would locally. Cripes! I honestly wish California explodes and sinks into the ocean after the last rational thinking person leaves that place!

TinMan99

[x39]

About 24 years ago I was seriously considering moving to California,but couldn't put the funds together.Another of numerous times where in hindsight,being broke has actually saved my bacon!

[LongDuck]

This is an AK forum, given, but the question was asked regarding why SKS' are being targeted by government for 'buy-back':

The SKS is a very simple and cheap weapon that can be employed by the poorly trained *almost* as effectively as the properly trained soldier. It fires a powerful cartridge (which is currently still available in large quantities, for now, anyway) and can be reloaded quickly with the use of simple and lightweight stripper clips - in seconds, allowing for a high rate of fire. They are semi-automatic, gas-operated, and the gas system is fairly self-cleaning (up to a thousand rounds, or so...). Accuracy leaves something to be desired, but at the ranges they were designed for (200-300 yards, maximum) this gives the SKS user the ability to engage targets with sustained fire.

Where the SKS became famous was in the war in Vietnam where it was the combat rifle of choice for the ComBloc countries supplying the NVA. AK's were used as squad automatic weapons (SAW) back then, with 2 to a squad (so I've read...). The SKS is a very durable and reliable weapon with a minimum of maintenance and cleaning - ideal for a militia member or 'revolutionist' according to the sources in government who are scared.

Keep your SKS - it's a good rifle for the money!

[TinMan99]

After thinking about it, I may have found the underlying method to the madness. The SKS buyback is offering 230-dollars per rifle. What they may be trying to do here is show that banning firearms works by showing off how many they 'siezed' after banning the rifles outright. The SKS is an inexpensive rifle. I doubt very seriously you'll ever see an AK47 or AR15 buyback, since these rifles go for around 450 for AK's and 800 for AR's. Therefore, this is a prelude to a PR-campaign to prove they can effectively ban a firearm and claim they removed them from the public without so much as a shot being fired. They can then use this to try and push for bans of other more common firearms and claim they can effectively get them off the streets without turning law-abiding citizens into criminals. As such, this program must utterly fail. I urge any and all law-abiding firearms owners to never sell their firearms to 'buybacks'. If you feel you shouldn't possess the firearm anymore, sell it to another enthusiast, at an out-of-state gunshop or gunshow. Anything to keep the firearm in circulation and out of the hands of the gun-control social engineers. Never, never, never trust a government that wants control of your gun. Hold onto them discreetly if nothing else. The day youre going to need them is fast approaching.

TinMan99

[TinMan99]

If you need to ship your rifle out of state to an FFL gunshop, you can still lawfully ship the rifle via UPS. In order to minimize the chances of it growing legs during shipping, label the shipment 'Bicycle Parts' or 'Machined Parts'. That way you can claim the full value of the rifle for insurance without sparking curiosity. Another thing to minimize someone becoming interested in your parcel is to call the gunshop ahead of shipping it and getting the manager's/owner's name. Ship the rifle to the person at the gunshop's address. Don't put 'Mike's Gunshop' or anything that might draw attention to your rifle in shipping. Please don't sell your rifle to the BuyBack. The potential consquences of this program being any sort of success are far-reaching and disasterous to any law-abiding firearms owner in the future.

TinMan99

I got to admit I really dont understand this anti SKS movement. Arnt most SKS rifles non detachable magazine guns and under the 10 rd limit? I have seen preban and postban rifles that take standard AK magazines and have to admit they are sweet guns but not particularly common.

[RacerX]

Jimbob+:

The SKS buyback in California only concerns those SKS models built to accept the detachable AK-47 magazine. California refers to them as "SKS Sporters", which is not entirely correct. Some of the post-ban SKS rifles that were imported before President Bubba stopped the Chinese arms imports (heh, funny about the "exports" to China, though, ain't it...) were *fixed magazine* guns, also called "Sporters". The one they are in a tizzy about is called the SKS-D, which somehow did not get included in the original California assault weapons ban.

Essentially, they screwed up by not identifying this less common SKS variant. When they found out about it, they closed that loophole in the State law and instead of allowing a registration period as they did with AKs and such, the details are printed on the website at www.sksbuyback.org (http://www.sksbuyback.org) .

Also, that $230 voucher may be worth no more than the paper they print it on. Check that website and find the "full text", including comments from the Governor. It clearly says that the $1.3 Million (or whatever) for the program was *not* reserved, because the entire assault weapons law is awaiting review (in the California courts - I think)
Anyone with more details, please jump on in.

Bottom line, people who turn them in early could wind up with no rifle AND no payment, if the law is somehow suspended or thrown out. I'll add that it is possible to modify the detachable magazine model of the SKS to use a fixed magazine, and thereby escape the California buy back.

Thanks for the info, I do not live in Cali but I like to keep up on the laws of other states since these are often a starting ground for similar initiatives in other states. I am new to SKS rifles, just bought my first one, nothing fancy just a chinese with a fixed box. Now looking for a similar one in Russian. Saw something funny the other day Romainian SKSs I never knew they made such a thing. THey were in mediocre to poor shape but the quality of construction seemed similar to the Russian guns (blade bayonet similar finish) thought about buying one because they werent to expensive ($269.00) but chose the chinese gun because I was more familiar with them and the overall condition was unused. The dealer claimed the romanian guns were "rare" but considering he had well over a dozen of them at the show I find that hard to believe.

[ramius]

Check out my new topic in the General Discussion area. It concerns this subject.

We can hang together, or we can hang separately.

I think there is an opportunity here that need not be squandered.

[Floyd]

I think an SKS that can take AK magazines is worth more than $230. And then the state's not even sure if it will have the funds. I'm wondering how many people in California are turning in their SKS's that aren't included in the buyback. Are the law enforcement officers required to inform the people that turn-in SKS's that don't fit the requirements or do they just let them turn them in for free?

[Lorenzo]

Some of you have said that this law only affects those SKS rifles that take detachable AK mags. However, I just checked out the buyback site which has pictures of the affected rifles. In addition to the guns using the AK mags, there was also a picture of a regular SKS with one of the "detachable" hi-cap mags like what USA Magazines and other vendors have sold in the past. Since these type magazines can be placed on all SKS rifles that I know of (albeit with minor fitting in some cases), it appears to me that this law will indeed criminalize the possession of all SKS rifles, period. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[trendkiller]

I was thinking the same thing Lorenzo after I saw the pictures on the site. Im glad I dont live in Cali. One thing I was wondering about was how I could change my 2 sks's to accept standard ak mags. I have a pisspot of ak mags to use. I dont really like the usa mags cause they are kind of a bitch to use and are such a pain in the ass to load I just leave the bolt open and load em from the top. Im a steel worker and have access to machinery so any kind of modification is cool. I was gonna figure a way out myself just havnt done it yet. I have looked around online for some kind of mod but havnt seen one. I would greatly appreciate any kind of response. This is my first post here but I have lurked for a while ( too lazy to register), but it is a great forum, yall will here from me from time to time.
later

[Albert]

Racer X is right about the SKS buy back. However, California just passed a new Assault Weapon law which adds to the list of banned weapons, SKS's with fixed magazines if they hold more than 10 rounds. So, if you're like me and added a 20 round fixed magazine to your SKS, you'll either have to put the 10 round fixed magazine back on, register it as an Assault Weapon or dispose of (take it out of state, turn it in etc.). The buy back will not apply to these newly designated Assault Weapons.
This raises another interesting issue touched on in this topic: If a detachable magazine can be put on an SKS in place of the fixed magazine without major modification, isn't it illegal, too? Well the new law defines an Assault Weapon as a semi-auto centerfire rifle "that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine" and has any one of a number of evil characteristics such as a pistol grip, flash suppressor, "thumbhole stock" (I'm not kidding), a grenade launcher etc. I'd argue that an SKS witha fixed magazine does not have the "capacity", but law enforcement may disagree. However, most SKS's don't have any of the other evil characteristics, so they should not be an Assault Weapon.