AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 3, 2025
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 19, 2025
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 10, 2025
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 28, 2025
california legislature—2025–26 regular session
ASSEMBLY BILL No. 1127
Introduced by Assembly Members Gabriel and Stefani
(Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Gipson and Wicks) (Coauthors: Assembly Members Bauer -Kahan, Berman, Bryan, Connolly, Mark González, Kalra, Ortega, P etrie-Norris, and Quirk-Silva)
February 20, 2025
An act to amend Section 3273.50 of the Ci vil Code, and to amend Section 16880 of, and to add Sections 16885, 17015, 27595, and 27595.1 to, the Penal Code, relating to firearms.
legislative counsel’s digest
AB 1127, as amended, Gabriel. Firearms: converter pistols.
Existing law prohibits any person from selling, leasing, or transferring any firearm unless the person is licensed as a firearms dealer , as specified. Existing law prescribes certain requirements and prohibitions for licensed firearms dealers. A violation of any of these requirements or prohibitions is grounds for forfeiture of a firearms dealer’ s license.
For purposes of these pro visions, existing law defines “machinegun” to mean, among other definitions, any weapon that shoots or is designed to shoot automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.
95 This bill would prohibit a licensed firearms dealer to sell, of fer for sale, e xchange, gi ve, transfer , or deli ver an y semiautomatic machinegun-convertible pistol, except as specified. For these purposes, the bill w ould define “machine gun-convertible pistol” as an y semiautomatic pistol with a cruciform trigger bar that can be readily converted by hand or with common household tools into a machinegun by the installation or attachment of a pistol converter, as specified, and “pistol converter” as any device or instrument that, when installed in or attached to the rear of the slide of a semiautomatic pistol, replaces the backplate and interferes with the trigger mechanism and thereby enables the pistol to shoot automatically more than one shot by a single function of the trigger . The bill w ould mak e a violation of these provisions punishable by a fine, a 2nd violation punishable by a fine that may result in a suspension or revocation of the dealer’s license and removal from certain centralized lists maintained by the Department of Justice, and a 3rd violation punishable as a misdemeanor that shall result in the re vocation of the dealer’ s license and remo val from certain centralized lists.
Existing la w prohibits the manuf acture, sale, possession, or transportation of a machine gun, except as authorized. A violation of these prohibitions is punishable as a felony.
This bill w ould e xpand the abo ve definition of “machine gun” to include an y machine gun-convertible pistol equipped with a pistol converter and, thus, prohibit the manuf acture, sale, possession, or transportation of a machinegun-convertible pistol equipped with a pistol converter.
This bill would make these provisions severable.
By creating a new crime and expanding the application of an existing crime, this bill would create a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimb urse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state.
Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.
95 — 2 — AB 1127
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. Section 3273.50 of the Civil Code is amended line 2 to read:
line 3 3273.50. As used in this title, the following definitions apply:
line 4 (a) “Ammunition” has the same meaning as pro vided in line 5 subdivision (b) of Section 16150 of the Penal Code. line 6 (b) “Firearm” has the same meaning as provided in subdivisions line 7 (a) and (b) of Section 16520 of the Penal Code.
line 8 (c) “Firearm accessory” means an attachment or device designed line 9 or adapted to be inserted into, affixed onto, or used in conjunction line 10 with a firearm that is designed, intended, or functions to alter or line 11 enhance the firing capabilities of a firearm, the lethality of the line 12 firearm, or a shooter’s ability to hold and use a firearm. line 13 (d) “Firearm-related product” means a firearm, ammunition, a line 14 firearm precursor part, a firearm component, firearm manufacturing line 15 machine, and a firearm accessory that meets any of the following line 16 conditions:
line 17 (1) The item is sold, made, or distributed in California. line 18 (2) The item is intended to be sold or distributed in California. line 19 (3) The item is or w as possessed in California and it w as line 20 reasonably foreseeable that the item w ould be possessed in line 21 California.
line 22 (e) “Firearm precursor part” has the same meaning as provided line 23 in Section 16531 of the Penal Code.
line 24 (f) “Firearm industry member” shall mean a person, firm, line 25 corporation, company, partnership, society, joint stock company, line 26 or an y other entity or association eng aged in the manuf acture, line 27 distribution, importation, marketing, wholesale sale, or retail sale line 28 of firearm-related products.
line 29 (g) “Firearm manufacturing machine” means a three-dimensional line 30 printer, as defined in Section 29185 of the Penal Code, or CNC line 31 milling machine that, as described in that section, is mark eted or line 32 sold as, or reasonably designed or intended to be used to line 33 manufacture or produce a firearm.
line 34 (h) “Reasonable controls” means reasonable procedures, acts, line 35 or practices that are designed, implemented, and enforced to do line 36 the following:
line 37 (1) Prevent the sale or distribution of a firearm-related product line 38 to a straw purchaser, a firearm trafficker, a person prohibited from 95 AB 1127 — 3 —
line 1 possessing a firearm under state or federal la w, or a person who line 2 the firearm industry member has reasonable cause to believe is at line 3 substantial risk of using a firearm-related product to harm line 4 themselves or another or of possessing or using a firearm-related line 5 product unlawfully.
line 6 (2) Prevent the loss or theft of a firearm-related product from line 7 the firearm industry member.
line 8 (3) Ensure that the firearm industry member complies with all line 9 provisions of California and federal la w and does not otherwise line 10 promote the unla wful manufacture, sale, possession, mark eting, line 11 or use of a firearm-related product.
line 12 (4) Prevent the installation and use of a pistol con verter, as line 13 defined in Section 17015 of the Penal Code, with a firearm. line 14 SEC. 2. Section 16880 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
line 15 16880. (a) As used in this part, “machine gun” means an y line 16 weapon that shoots, is designed to shoot, or can readily be restored line 17 to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual line 18 reloading, by a single function of the trigger. line 19 (b) The term “machinegun” also includes the frame or receiver line 20 of any weapon described in subdivision (a), any part designed and line 21 intended solely and exclusively, or combination of parts designed line 22 and intended, for use in converting a weapon into a machinegun, line 23 and any combination of parts from which a machine gun can be line 24 assembled if those parts are in the possession or under the control line 25 of a person.
line 26 (c) The term “machinegun” also includes any weapon deemed line 27 by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and line 28 Explosives as readily convertible to a machinegun under Chapter line 29 53 (commencing with Section 5801) of Title 26 of the United line 30 States Code.
line 31 (d) The term “machine gun” also includes an y
line 32 machinegun-convertible pistol equipped with a pistol con verter, line 33 as defined in Section 17015.
line 34 SEC. 3. Section 16885 is added to the Penal Code, to read:
line 35 16885. (a) As used in this part, “machine gun-convertible line 36 pistol” means any semiautomatic pistol with a cruciform trigger line 37 bar that can be readily con verted by hand or with common line 38 household tools, as defined in Section 4082 of Title 11 of the line 39 California Code of Re gulations, into a machine gun by the line 40 installation or attachment of a pistol con verter as a replacement 95 — 4 — AB 1127
line 1 for the slide’ s backplate without an y additional engineering, line 2 machining, or modification of the pistol’s trigger mechanism. line 3 (b) A machine gun-convertible pistol does not include a line 4 hammer-fired semiautomatic pistol or striker-fired semiautomatic line 5 pistol lacking a cruciform trigger bar, which instead has a trigger line 6 bar that is shielded from interference by a pistol converter. line 7 (c) A polymer notch or other piece of polymer molded into the line 8 rear of the pistol frame does not pre vent ready conversion into a line 9 machinegun and will not pre vent a pistol from qualifying under line 10 this definition.
line 11 SEC. 4. Section 17015 is added to the Penal Code, to read:
line 12 17015. “Pistol converter” means any device or instrument that line 13 when installed in or attached to the rear of the slide of a line 14 semiautomatic pistol, replaces the backplate, and interferes with line 15 the trigger mechanism and thereby enables the pistol to shoot line 16 automatically more than one shot by a single function of the trigger. line 17 A pistol converter includes, but is not limited to, a pistol converter line 18 manufactured using a three-dimensional printer , as defined in line 19 Section 29185.
line 20 SEC. 5. Section 27595 is added to the Penal Code, to read:
line 21 27595. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (c), commencing line 22 on January 1, 2026, a firearms dealer licensed pursuant to Sections line 23 26700 to 26920, shall not sell, of fer for sale, e xchange, gi ve, line 24 transfer, or deli ver an y semiautomatic machine gun-convertible line 25 pistol, as defined in Section 16885.
line 26 (b) (1) A violation of subdivision (a) shall be punishable by a line 27 fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000). line 28 (2) A second violation of subdi vision (a) shall be punishable line 29 by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) and may line 30 result in the suspension or revocation of the dealer’s license issued line 31 under Sections 26700 to 26920, inclusi ve, and remo val of the line 32 firearms dealer from an y centralized list maintained by the line 33 Department of Justice pursuant to Sections 26715, 28450, and line 34 29060.
line 35 (3) A third violation of subdi vision (a) is a misdemeanor and line 36 shall result in the re vocation of the dealer’s license issued under line 37 Sections 26700 to 26920, inclusi ve, and removal of the firearms line 38 dealer from an y centralized list maintained by the Department line 39 pursuant to Sections 26715, 28450, and 29060.
line 40 (c) This section shall not apply to any of the following:
95 AB 1127 — 5 —
line 1 (1) A machine gun-convertible pistol deli vered to a firearms line 2 dealer prior to January 1, 2026.
line 3 (2) The sale of a machinegun-convertible pistol to a any of the line 4 following entities for lawful use in the disc harge of their official line 5 duties:
line 6 (A) A police department, sheriff’s office, probation department, line 7 marshal’s office, district attorney’s office, the California Highway line 8 Patrol, the Department of Justice, the Department of Corrections line 9 and Rehabilitation, or the military or na val forces of this state or line 10 of the United States for use in the discharge of their official duties. line 11 Rehabilitation.
line 12 (B) Any state agency listed in paragraph (6) or paragraph (7) line 13 of subdivision (b) of Section 32000.
line 14 (C) The military or naval for ces of this state or of the United line 15 States.
line 16 (3) A pri vate party to pri vate party transaction conducted line 17 through a licensed firearms dealer pursuant to Chapter 5 line 18 (commencing with Section 28050).
line 19 (4) A transfer of a machinegun-convertible pistol to a gunsmith line 20 or other qualified entity for service or repair. line 21 (5) The sale or transfer of a machinegun-convertible pistol to a line 22 firearms dealer licensed pursuant to Sections 26700 to 26920, line 23 inclusive, or to federally licensed firearms manufacturers or dealers line 24 outside California.
line 25 (6) A transfer of a machine gun-convertible pistol back to a line 26 private party after temporary safek eeping storage pursuant to line 27 Section 26892.
line 28 (7) A transfer of a machine gun-convertible pistol back to a line 29 private party after a period of temporary prohibition pursuant to line 30 Section 29830.
line 31 (8) A transfer of a machinegun-convertible pistol to any forensic line 32 laboratory or forensic laboratory emplo yee, while on duty and line 33 acting within the scope and course of employment. line 34 SEC. 6. Section 27595.1 is added to the Penal Code, to read:
line 35 27595.1. The Department of Justice is authorized to adopt line 36 regulations to implement Section 27595. Re gulations adopted line 37 pursuant to Section 27595 are e xempt from the Administrative line 38 Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of line 39 Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code). 95 — 6 — AB 1127
line 1 SEC. 7. If any section, subsection, sentence, or clause of this line 2 act is for an y reason declared unconstitutional, in valid, or line 3 unenforceable by any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision line 4 shall not affect the constitutionality, validity, or enforceability of line 5 the remaining portions of this act or an y part thereof. The line 6 Legislature hereby declares that it w ould have adopted this act line 7 notwithstanding the unconstitutionality , in validity, or line 8 unenforceability of any one or more of its sections, subsections, line 9 sentences, or clauses.
line 10 SEC. 8. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to line 11 Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because line 12 the only costs that may be incurred by a local agenc y or school line 13 district will be incurred because this act creates a ne w crime or line 14 infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty line 15 for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of line 16 the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within line 17 the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California line 18 Constitution.
O
95 AB 1127 — 7 —