The new gun controls reclassified semi-automatic rifles that have certain features as assault weapons. The features added to the prohibited list include a protruding or forward pistol grip, a thumbhole stock, a folding stock or a flash suppressor. Assault weapons have been banned in California since 1989.
"Gun manufacturers are in a profit-making business," state Sen. Steve Glazer told Small. "They want to do everything to ratchet up sales -- and they use this change as marketing to try to compel people to go out and buy one of these guns."
Glazer co-authored the law to ban a narrow classification of guns used in warfare -- that don't belong in neighborhoods.
Steven Serna came into Pacific Outfitters sporting goods store in Ukiah last week to buy a semi-automatic rifle before new gun control legislation limits the gun's features in California.
He wanted to purchase an AK-47 rifle but there were none to be found at the store. The deer hunter lamented that he should have purchased one earlier this year.
Todd Lyly also visited the store last week to talk with his friends behind the gun sales counter about the new laws.
Lyly said he will convert his weapons so they are compliant with the new regulations, most likely by installing a fixed stock. But he said it's a superficial change that he expects will mostly impact law-abiding people and not violent criminals already disinclined to follow the law.
"It's frustrating," Lyly said.
California lawmakers pushed for the new gun controls after a mass shooting in San Bernardino last year. A married couple who were armed with AR-15 rifles and 9mm pistols shot and killed 14 people and wounded 22 others at a county health department holiday party. Authorities said they were inspired by foreign terrorist groups.
