SACRAMENTO, Calif., July 2 (Our California Times) — California’s AB 1127 took effect July 1, barring licensed firearms dealers from selling certain semiautomatic pistols that state lawmakers say can be readily converted into machine guns with a common device.
The law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Oct. 10, 2025, was authored by Assemblymembers Jesse Gabriel, D-Encino, and Catherine Stefani, D-San Francisco. Legislative records show it expands California’s definition of a machine gun to cover a machinegun-convertible pistol equipped with a pistol converter.
Under the statute, dealers may not sell, offer for sale, exchange, give, transfer or deliver the covered pistols. The law also prohibits the manufacture, sale, possession or transport of a pistol equipped with a converter.
The measure does not stop current owners from keeping firearms they already have, and it includes exemptions for gun dealers, law enforcement and military agencies in future sales, according to the Assembly’s summary of the bill and advocacy materials supporting it.
The Justice Department sued California over the law as it took effect, seeking a court order to block it, according to the federal challenge described in reporting on the filing.
