rules which basically revolve around removal of full-auto That's not quite right. Full-auto means that the gun can shoot more than one shot per pull of the tri

rules which basically revolve around removal of full-auto That's not quite right. Full-auto means that the gun can shoot more than one shot per pull of the trigger. These have been severely restricted by Federal law since 1934, requiring a $200 tax and registration. New registrations have been banned since 1986, driving prices in to the five-figure range for weapons that would otherwise be worth less than $1000. What does enable you to have all the scary-looking features you want in California is not having a detachable magazine. A detachable magazine does actually have an impact on a gun's combat effectiveness (it makes reloading faster), but there are alternatives to that as well: guns like the SKS and M1 Garand have fixed magazines that can be quickly reloaded from an external clip. So in CA, you can have say... a Mini-14, which doesn't look scary, but is semi-automatic and equipped with a detachable magazine just like the AR-15 (a semi-automatic-only version of the US military's M-16) and just as deadly, or you can have a very military-looking SKS that takes a little bit more practice to reload quickly but is otherwise functionally similar to an AK-47. What, exactly has this law accomplished aside from making legal gun owners learn a bunch of very detailed regulations to ensure they're not committing a felony? The M1 Garand is actually sold to civilians through the Civilian Marksmanship Program, sponsored by the Federal government. They also appear in gun stores on occasion. These guns were never full-auto, and removing full auto doesn't satisfy the ATF as far as the aforementioned registration requirement; that's the reason the CMP doesn't sell the later M14 and M16 rifles to civilians.