AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 25, 2025
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 23, 2025
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 26, 2025
SENATE BILL No. 704
Introduced by Senator Arreguín
February 21, 2025
An act to amend Section 28235 of, to add Section 16525 to, and to add Chapter 11 (commencing with Section 33700) to Di vision 10 of Title 4 of Part 6 of, the Penal Code, relating to firearms. legislative counsel’s digest
SB 704, as amended, Arreguín. Firearms: firearm barrels.
Existing law generally requires the sale or transfer of firearms to be conducted through a licensed firearms dealer . For purposes of these provisions, existing law defines “firearm” to mean a de vice, designed to be used as a weapon, from which is e xpelled through a barrel a projectile by the force of an explosion or other form of combustion and to include the frame or recei ver of the weapon, including both a completed frame or recei ver, or a firearm precursor part. F or these purposes, existing law defines “firearm precursor part” as any forging, casting, printing, extrusion, machined body, or similar article that has reached a stage in manuf acture where it may readily be completed, assembled, or con verted to be used as the frame or recei ver of a functional firearm, or that is marketed or sold to the public to become or be used as the frame or recei ver of a functional firearm once completed, assembled, or converted.
Commencing on July 1, 2026, January 1, 2027, this bill would, except as specified, prohibit the sale or transfer of a firearm barrel, as defined,
96 unless the transaction is completed in person by a licensed firearms dealer. The bill would also prohibit a person from possessing a firearm barrel with the intent to sell, or of fering to sell, unless the person is a licensed firearms dealer. The bill would require the licensed firearms dealer to conduct a background check of the purchaser or transferee and to record specified information pertaining to the transaction, including the date of the sale or transfer. The bill would make a the first violation of these pro visions punishable as a misdemeanor . misdemeanor, as specified, and any additional violation of these provisions punishable as a wobbler , as specified. By creating a ne w 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.
The bill would declare the severability of its provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. Section 16525 is added to the Penal Code, to line 2 read:
line 3 16525. (a) As used in Section 33700, “firearm barrel” means line 4 the tube, usually metal and cylindrical, through which a projectile line 5 or shot charge is fired. A firearm barrel includes a firearm barrel line 6 that has reached a stage in manuf acture where it may readily be line 7 completed, assembled, or converted to be used as a firearm barrel, line 8 or that is marketed or sold to the public to become or be used as line 9 a firearm barrel once completed, assembled, or con verted. A line 10 firearm barrel may have a rifled or smooth bore. line 11 (b) A firearm barrel that is attac hed or affixed to a fir earm is line 12 not subject to the requirements of Section 33700. line 13 SEC. 2. Section 28235 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
line 14 28235. Except as otherwise provided in Section 28233, moneys line 15 received by the department pursuant to this article shall be line 16 deposited in the Dealers’ Record of Sale Special Account of the line 17 General Fund, which is hereby created, to be a vailable, upon 96 — 2 — SB 704
line 1 appropriation by the Legislature, for expenditure by the department line 2 to offset the costs incurred pursuant to any of the following:
line 3 (a) This article.
line 4 (b) Section 18910.
line 5 (c) Section 27555.
line 6 (d) Subdivisions (d) and (e) of Section 27560.
line 7 (e) Chapter 4.1 (commencing with Section 28010). line 8 (f) Article 6 (commencing with Section 28450).
line 9 (g) Section 31110.
line 10 (h) Section 31115.
line 11 (i) Subdivision (a) of Section 32020.
line 12 (j) Section 32670.
line 13 (k) Section 33320.
line 14 (l) Section 33700.
line 15 SEC. 3. Chapter 11 (commencing with Section 33700) is added line 16 to Division 10 of Title 4 of Part 6 of the Penal Code, to read:
line 17
line 18 Chapter 11. Firearm Barrel
line 19
line 20 33700. (a) (1) Commencing July 1, 2026, January 1, 2027, line 21 a firearm barrel, as defined in Section 16525, shall not be sold or line 22 transferred unless that transaction is completed in person by a line 23 firearms dealer licensed pursuant to Sections 26700 to 26915, line 24 inclusive, and the licensed firearms dealer has conducted a line 25 background check to determine that the person is authorized to line 26 purchase a firearm, ammunition, and a firearm barrel in a manner line 27 prescribed by the department.
line 28 (2) Commencing January 1, 2027, a fir earm barrel shall only line 29 be possessed with the intent to be sold or of fered to be sold by a line 30 firearms dealer licensed pur suant to Sections 26700 to 26915, line 31 inclusive.
line 32 (b) A person is authorized to purchase a firearm barrel if they line 33 meet the following criteria:
line 34 (1) They are at least 18 years of age.
line 35 (2) They are not pr ohibited from possessing or pur chasing a line 36 firearm under state or federal law.
line 37 (b)
line 38 (c) The licensed firearms dealer shall le gibly record all of the line 39 following on a form to be prescribed by the Department of Justice line 40 pertaining to the sale or transfer of the firearm barrel:
96 SB 704 — 3 —
line 1 (1) The date of the sale or transfer.
line 2 (2) The purchaser’ s or transferee’ s dri ver’s license or other line 3 identification number and the state in which it was issued. line 4 (3) The make, model, and caliber of the firearm that the firearm line 5 barrel is designed for or used in.
line 6 (4) The purchaser’s or transferee’s full name.
line 7 (5) The name of the salesperson who processed the sale or line 8 transfer.
line 9 (6) The purchaser’s or transferee’s full residential address and line 10 telephone number.
line 11 (7) The purchaser’s or transferee’s date of birth. line 12 (c)
line 13 (d) Commencing July 1, 2026, J anuary 1, 2027, a licensed line 14 firearms dealer shall electronically submit to the department the line 15 information required by subdi vision (b) (c) for all sales and line 16 transfers of ownership of a firearm barrel. The department shall line 17 not retain this information in a manner established by the line 18 department. once the bac kground c heck is completed and the line 19 firearm barrel has been listed as deliver ed to the pur chaser or line 20 transferee.
line 21 (d)
line 22 (e) The Department of Justice is authorized to adopt regulations line 23 to implement this act.
line 24 (e) A violation of this section shall be a misdemeanor punishable line 25 by up to one year in jail and a ten-thousand-dollar ($10,000) fine. line 26 (f) (1) The fir st violation of subdivision (a) shall be a line 27 misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of line 28 one thousand dollars ($1,000).
line 29 (2) Any subsequent violation of subdivision (a) shall be line 30 punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, thr ee, or line 31 four years, or in a county jail for not exceeding one year, or by a line 32 fine not exceeding two thousand dollars ($2,000), or by both the line 33 fine and imprisonment.
line 34 (f)
line 35 (g) The following are exempt from the process outlined in this line 36 section:
line 37 (1) Federal, Sales or tr ansfers to feder al, state, and local la w line 38 enforcement agencies.
line 39 (2) Sales or transfers to a federal firearms licensee. line 40 (2) The
96 — 4 — SB 704
line 1 (3) Sales or transfers to the United States military. line 2 (3) A
line 3 (4) Sales or transfers to a person who, in the same transaction, line 4 is separ ately purchasing a firearm and under going a state and line 5 federal firearm background check pursuant to Section 28220. line 6 (5) Sales or tr ansfers to a feder ally licensed collector who is line 7 acquiring or being loaned the barr el of a firearm that is a curio line 8 or relic, as defined in Section 478.11 of Title 27 of the Code of line 9 Federal Regulations, who has a curr ent certificate of eligibility line 10 issued by the department pursuant to Section 26710. line 11 (6) Transfers to the e xecutor, per sonal r epresentative, or line 12 administrator of an estate.
line 13 (7) A barrel that is attached to or affixed to a firearm. line 14 (h) The department is authorized to adopt r egulations to line 15 implement the provisions of this section.
line 16 SEC. 4. The pr ovisions of this act ar e se verable. If any line 17 provision of this act or its application is held invalid, that invalidity line 18 shall not affect other provisions or applications that can be given line 19 effect without the invalid provision or application. line 20 SEC. 4.
line 21 SEC. 5. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to line 22 Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because line 23 the only costs that may be incurred by a local agenc y or school line 24 district will be incurred because this act creates a ne w crime or line 25 infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty line 26 for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of line 27 the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within line 28 the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California line 29 Constitution.
O
96 SB 704 — 5 —