Buying a gun in California during a pandemic

December 20th, 2021, we had an intruder in the office. A homeless man who had obviously had prior experience with involuntary psychiatric hospitalization, he remained, naked, in our reception area, for almost two hours after we placed a call to 911 (he refused to leave). Our area has become - along with most of the metro area - regrettably overrun with the mentally ill homeless, who have attempted to live in our office building, have barricaded themselves in our parking structure behind dumpsters etc. to use intravenous drugs, etc., etc. Calls to 911 frequently get us nowhere, and our staff are afraid. We have a .45 in the office, but it belongs to one of the other shareholders. I decided to get my own handgun to keep at the office for self defense. Hope I never need it!

Shortly after our naked intruder was escorted, handcuffed to a stretcher, to his next psychiatric ward, I went to the local gun store to see what they had that was in the range of what I wanted to spend. I could get a Croatian-made Springfield XD9 (I already have one, it’s ... fine) or a Smith & Wesson SD9 VE new (both were between $450-500). Or ... An immaculate “grade A” police trade-in Glock 22 with tritium sights, in the same price range. One year warranty.

My selection made, I put down a 30% deposit and headed home. The way things are right now, you have to make an appointment (at least at this shop) to start the mandatory background check. You do this via email. The first available was December 29th.

On the 29th I gathered up my driver’s license and proof of residency (a cable TV bill) and headed back to the gun shop. My (mandatory) Firearm Safety Certificate had expired - they’re good for 5 years - so I paid $25 to retake the test. (I spent about a half hour reading the Study Guide and the owner’s manual for the gun.) This is a 30 question true/false and multiple choice test. I scored 100%.

You also have to demonstrate safe handgun operation using a dummy round (loading, unloading, trigger discipline; really basic stuff). Then, I filled out ATF Form 4473 (5300.9). Thus starts the background check.

California imposes a 10 day waiting period, so the earliest I can pick it up is January 8th. (There are other limitations; only one handgun, and one long gun, can be bought every 30 days; no online ammo purchases, and in-store ammo purchases requires an “instant” background check...). I needed to email the shop again to setup a pick-up appointment. As I was out of town when the waiting period expired, I setup an appointment for the next Saturday, the 15th.

Update: I showed up for my appointment on time on the 15th (10 a.m.) and had to wait a few minutes before they were ready for me. Killed some time wandering around looking at rifles. Five or so more signatures and two right thumb prints (I also picked up a box of ammo), I paid the outstanding amount on the gun, the DROS California gun registration fee ($37.19), bought a basically mandatory lock cable ($7.95), and I was out the door with the gun stapled into an opaque, thick plastic, bag (felt like I was buying pornography). (I had a Pelican iM2050 case in the car (overkill, but it’s what I had on hand), and a lock for the case, for transportation.)

All told I spent:

$450.00 Glock 22
$ 37.19 DROS California Registration Fee
$  7.95 Lock Cable
$ 47.15 Sales Tax (9.5%)
$ 15.00 Firearm Safety Certificate (mine was expired; good for 5 years)
$ 10.00 Testing Fee for the Firearm Safety Certificate
------- Total (excl. ammo)
$567.29

And made three separate trips total to the local gun store, which is still operating on an appointment-only basis.

Next: Some time at the range, and, a personal defense course. Looking for recommendations for the latter, now. (I took a great “home defense” course about 10 years ago, put on by Shooter’s Edge and taught by Sgt Major Bill Skiles (USMC). But it’s been too long.)

Edit: Folks have recommended Gunsite (a $1,900, 5-day commitment in Arizona), and International Tactical.

Laws and Regulations

A few resources I’ve found helpful:

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