Ineligible to Possess Firearms: Minors and Other Persons
Our culture has been set up with many different types of milestones. One type of milestone is when a person is eligible to get his or her driver’s license. These milestones that have been embedded into our culture our privileges and not things that someone automatically gets. These privileges are usually available to be earned at specific ages.
Firearms are no different, as it is generally illegal to sell, transfer or loan any type of long gone to anyone under the age of 18, or to sell a handgun to anyone under the age of 21. (Penal Code 27505)
There are however certain circumstances that do exist that allow a minor to possess a handgun and/or live ammunition:
- If the minor is accompanied by his or her parent or legal guardian and the minor is participating in a lawful recreational sporting, hunting or ranching activity or in a television, motion picture or other entertainment event.
- If the minor is with a responsible adult, but not with his or her parents, but has prior written consent from his or her parent or legal guardian and is participating in a lawful ranching, hunting or recreational activity or is in a motion picture, television or other entertainment event.
- Or, if the minor is at least 16 years old, has prior written consent from his or her parent or legal guardian and he or she is participating in a lawful recreational hunting, ranching or sporting event, or a television, motion picture or other entertainment event.
As mentioned earlier owning a firearm is a privilege and can be revoked, meaning they are temporarily prohibited from possessing a firearm, or never allowed to own/possess a firearm for the following reasons:
- Persons Prohibited for Life
- Anyone who has been convicted of any felony or any offense listed in the Penal Code section 29905.
- Any person who has been convicted of an offense listed and detailed in Penal Code section 23515.
- Anyone who has been convicted of two or more violations of Penal Code section 417, subdivision (a)(2).
- Any person labeled a mentally disordered sex offender.
- Anyone who is determined, by a court, to be mentally incompetent to stand trial or not guilty by reason of insanity, of any crime, unless the court has made a finding of restoration of competence or sanity.
- Persons Prohibited Temporarily
- a person can be prohibited temporarily for many different reasons. Some of those reasons include but are not limited to: being convicted of a particular misdemeanor, a person taken into custody after being deemed a danger to himself or others and admitted into a health facility, juveniles who are placed in a juvenile institution, any person who has been denied firearm possession as a condition of probation, anyone charged with a felony pending the resolution of the matter, any person while in a mental health facility, along with many other miscellaneous.
Owning a firearm is not a right that a person gets automatically. It is a privilege that a person must earn by showing responsibility and following the laws that go along with owning and possessing a firearm.