My question involves criminal law for the state of: CA
After you have been convicted of code 5150,5152 how long do you have to sell your firearms.
My question involves criminal law for the state of: CA
After you have been convicted of code 5150,5152 how long do you have to sell your firearms.
I don't find those numbers in the CA Penal Code.
However, if you are prohibited from owning, buying, possessing a firearm I suggest you get them gone immediately.
At least get them out of your possession today if it takes you a few days to sell them.
Have an FFL dealer pick them up on consignment or buy them from you.
If you get caught anywhere near them, it's more charges and more time.
You do not get "convicted" of W&I 5150 or 5152, it is the law covering a detention for a mental health evaluation (5150) and the law that mandates an evaluation after being placed on the hold (5152). Once you have been admitted to a mental health facility for a 72 hour evaluation, you technically lose your right to own or possess a firearm for 5 years. You would have to make immediate arrangements with someone to store and dispose (sell, destroy, etc.) of your firearms.
Until the folks from the task force under the California Department of Justice shows up at your house to take them from you. The crystal ball is down for maintenance so we don't know how quickly that will happen. I would strongly suggest that the guns be in an FFL's hands tomorrow, whether you decide to consign them or sell them outright.
Well, there's not quite a state task force that would show up, they'd have local LEOs do it (and local LEOs can pull prohibited person data themselves - and many agencies have people assigned to regularly do just that). But, yeah ...
Since links to .com sites are prohibited I'll not post them, but there are plenty of news articles from 2018 where CA formed a task force comprised of DoJ agents whose job is to do nothing but pull info on prohibited persons, cross-reference with the registration list, and go to their homes to get the firearms. So as far as the OP is concerned, it's just a matter of time until they get to him.
They have such a unit, but the criteria to get their attention is much more than a simple prohibited person. I was my agency's APPS (Armed & Prohibited Persons System) coordinator and we got the call when someone came to their attention if we hadn't already looked into it ourselves. DOJ's unit rarely got involved on the ground, and, when they did, it was generally for higher profile matters - not the local 5150 who may still have firearms registered to him. DOJ gutted their enforcement arms a decade ago.
But, yes, if the OP does not turn them in, it's possible that at some point someone will come knocking on his door. What the police can do may be limited if he refuses entry, though. There's a big myth that the police can go kicking in doors of prohibited persons which is simply not the case. The DOJ teams often act with a search warrant, local officers do knock-and-talks and resort to search warrants sometimes. So, if you read/hear that DOJ was involved, it is usually because they've gotten the search warrant or the person is already subject to search clauses in probation or parole (at least in those instances I am aware of).