Through his unusual combined experience in a wide range of professional firearm disciplines (retail sales, gunsmithing, instruction, and real-world applied combatives), David has applied his personal touch to some of the most popular handguns we sell at AO Sword Firearms. Since the California Safe Handgun Roster limits our choices of handguns in this state, David has thoughtfully and methodically created customized packages for his favorite handguns, upgrading them into high quality precision instruments for personal defense, competition, or duty use.
Each Signature Edition handgun has been carefully designed as a complete system, for a specific purpose, without pricing the end result out of the typical shooter’s budget. David has hand-selected each upgrade part, and in some cases he has designed innovative, exclusive modifications to address a specific attribute of the handgun that he felt needed improvement. The result is a custom handgun that has been professionally designed and hand-tuned with components that have been field-proven to work together in harmony towards a specific design goal.
We are at the 2020 SHOT Show in Las Vegas, and we’ve got a collection of “First Look” videos posted on the AO Sword Channel on YouTube. These bite-sized one minute videos give you a quick overview of some of the most interesting new things David is finding along the 16-1/2 miles of aisles on the show floors.
Please subscribe to our YouTube channel for all the best coverage from the show, and we hope you enjoy virtually tagging along with David on the SHOT Show floor!
By popular demand (and getting outed on the Gun Sports Radio show on KCBQ), we have finally added information on our popular firearms training classes and services to the website. Check out this link for a taste of our course offerings. You’ll be amazed by the amount of information you’ll get in a half-day class, thanks to our hands-on, personal approach to instruction as well as the experience and proficiency of our instructors.
1): Ammo may only be purchased face to face from a licensed dealer. No internet purchases, no sales between friends, no shall not be infringed. The Government must approve your ammo.
2) If you have purchased a gun at your current address (handgun after 1996 or long gun after 2014) and you have a REAL ID or a Federal Limits Apply ID plus a passport or other proof of citizenship, you can pass an “eligibility check” in 2-3 minutes. These cost $1 every time you buy ammo, no limits on quantity or caliber.
3) If your ID address isn’t current or you don’t have a gun registered to you at your current address, you’ll have to do a regular ammo background check for $19, and the DOJ will take however long it wants to approve you (they haven’t said).
4) There are few exemptions for people who are not licensed 01/06/07/08 FFL’s. Curio & Relic licensees have NOT been exempted from the background check in the final published rules! This is directly from the DOJ.
CLICK FOR LARGER PHOTO Ammo purchase flowchart courtesy CA Rifle & Pistol Association
The CA regulations for home-built firearms (also known as 80% builds or “ghost guns”) have been published. CA will not receive another update to the registration laws prior to the June 30th deadline, so the DOJ proposed regulations are effectively what we have to go on. Leading up to this point, multiple laws and Penal Code sections have added nuanced restrictions and exemptions to registration, leaving the public quite confused as to what really must be registered, and how. The final proposed AB857 regulations leave absolutely no doubt: all home-built firearms in the state of California must be serialized and registered with the state.
An Original Ghost Gun
This link documents the published regulations for self-manufactured firearms. While there has been much debate on CA Internet gun forums and dealers specializing in 80% firearms, the regulations are spelled out in black and white:
§ 5509. Persons Affected by These Regulations. Subdivision (a) clarifies that these regulations apply to an individual who owns a self-manufactured or self-assembled firearm as of July 1, 2018. This subdivision is necessary because it states who is being regulated. The Department seeks to record the existence of all selfmanufactured or self-assembled firearms that currently exist in the state of California. This subdivision is necessary to indicate the Department’s intent to the public of its objective to record all self-manufactured or self-assembled firearms in California.
The exact nature of the registration and the requirements for serialization depend upon the specific firearm, as follows:
Self-Built Firearms that are not BBAWs (so-called Bullet Button Assault Weapons) may have an owner-created serial number applied to them in accordance with federal ATF requirements (linked here). The owner must use the Voluntary Registration form available here to register the firearm with the self-created serial number by July 30, 2018. This would include most handguns, and featureless or magazine-locked semiautomatic rifles requiring the receivers to be split in order to remove the magazine.
Self-Built Firearms that will be registered as BBAWs must have a CA DOJ FMBUS serial number assigned to them and engraved upon the firearm . For expediency, we recommend requesting a FMBUS serial number by downloading this form, filling it out according to these instructions, and then scanning it and emailing it to DOJSerialNumber@doj.ca.gov. That’s only step one – you must then apply the FMBUS number to the firearm according to the ATF requirements linked above, and then perform the BBAW registration. Therefore, this step should be completed as soon as possible, because the turnaround on serial numbers has been anywhere from 1 day to 5 weeks. If it goes long, you won’t have time to engrave your firearm before the June 30th deadline.
The BBAW registration of a FMBUS-serialized firearm may be performed on the CFARS website.
Beginning July 1, 2018, no person without an 07 FFL in CA may construct a home-build firearm without applying for permission and a serial number from the state before beginning construction.
Ghost Gun Operator Does NOT Approve!
There have been many amateur interpretations of the law, penal code, and published regulations suggesting that there are exemptions to the law, and that self-serialized firearms do not have to be registered. These opinions are incorrect, and do not take into account the specific limitations of each exemption. § 5508(d) and § 29181(a) or (d) are often cited because the self-applied serial number is already on the firearm. However, all these sections specify that they only apply when the serial numbers were applied by licensed firearms manufacturers. Thus, unlicensed persons building personal firearms do not qualify.
The NRA-ILA and CRPA agree with our guidance; see the Institute for Legislative Action’s March 19, 2018 article documenting their objection to these overreaching regulations. While there was some early hope after 2016’s Gunmageddon that self-applying ATF-compliant markings on the gun could avoid registration requirements, the published regulations have clearly eliminated that option.
Bottom line: as of 7/1/2018, there is no legal way to be in possession of an unregistered self-built firearm in California, regardless of whether it is unserialized or self-serialized. By law, all self-built firearms must be registered.
With increasing interest in the SD Sheriff’s political race, we have been getting asked the same questions with increasing frequency.
YES – Sheriff Gore is issuing CCW permits RIGHT NOW to average citizens!
YES – You should apply right now!
YES – We do offer a pre-application training and consulting service to help people navigate the process and learn the important everyday carry skillset that isn’t covered in the Sheriff’s mandatory 8 hour course.
CCW Essentials Class
The notion that our San Diego Sheriff will not issue to regular citizens is outdated. Please apply now, and if you’d like us to help, our classes have been very beneficial for our students! The complete package is $300, including the pre-application through approval consulting service, and a 1-1/2 hour CCW Essentials class where you receive personal instruction in what everyday carry actually entails, how to do it, the choices that need to be made and how to make them, and most importantly, how to be good at it.
Our students have a 100% approval rate, and represent the broadest range of San Diegans imaginable – from regular 9-5 blue collar workers to college students to unemployed/retired people without a job at all!
Our CCW Essentials curriculum was developed in conjunction with trainers who deliver the mandatory 8-hour class, and expressed a need for additional training in real-world carry effectiveness, since the mandatory training is so strongly geared towards liability, legal concerns, and safety.
We conduct the classes on demand, and the consulting is ongoing since it is a start-to-finish service. Typically, students schedule 2-3 weeks out for their CCW Essentials class with 5 other students – class size is kept small for maximum personalized instruction. We do offer weekday and Saturday classes for flexible scheduling.
Please call us at 619-749-4867, stop by the shop or send us an email to sign up! Let us know if you’d prefer a weekday morning, weekday evening, Saturday morning or Saturday midday class and we’ll accommodate you in the next available slot.
The gun rights situation in CA seems like it comes straight out of a conspiracy novel. CA citizens are used to the routine of renewing their drivers’ licenses by mail or in person at the DMV. As of January 22, 2018, every Californian who goes through all the same steps they have in the past immediately loses their gun rights!
Without any warning or explanation, these American Citizens end up with the same license as an illegal alien. This new “AB60” license isn’t recognized in other states, and worst of all – effective immediately – the bearer of an AB60 license cannot buy guns! That’s right – Californians are silently and systematically losing their Constitutionally-protected gun rights at the DMV!
We’d have a hard time believing this if we weren’t seeing it firsthand at AO Sword Firearms, our retail gun store in the San Diego area. We also have direct and verified confirmation and applicable guidance from the CA Department of Justice and the federal BATF, the two agencies that regulate firearms transfers at the state and federal levels.
So what is this new AB60 License?
The AB60 license is a California implement to allow illegal aliens to get a driver’s license. Since it is issued to non-citizens and undocumented aliens as well as citizens, it is not valid federal ID and isn’t proof of citizenship. It doesn’t even have to be recognized as a valid license to operate a motor vehicle in any other state! It says FEDERAL LIMITS APPLY on it in tiny lettering. The State is taking this a step further by automatically giving a FEDERAL LIMITS license by default to everyone who renews – even Californians who are US Citizens!
Sample AB60 license
The DMV advertises the availability of the new federally-compliant REAL ID as an option, but they don’t warn you that opting out results in your civil rights being stripped away effective immediately! As a matter of fact, the advertisements, posters and flyers all specifically cite 2020 as the deadline to obtain a Real ID. The DMV does NOT advise you that you’re about to receive a Federally Limited license, they do NOT advise you of your options, and they do NOT inform you when you are at the desk that you must bring additional identification (Social Security card, Birth Certificate, and proof of residence) in order to receive a Real ID license.
California is abusing the DMV’s authority in order to systematically eliminate the ability of all residents to buy guns. Make no mistake, the CA DMV has been fully involved in gun sales for decades – as retail firearms dealers, we see more than one case a month at AO Sword Firearms in which buyers are DENIED by the state for unpaid parking tickets or other DMV fees. These purchase denials come through the CA state DROS system as “DMV REJECT” background checks. That’s right – the State of California already strips citizens of their basic, Constitutionally-protected civil rights for unpaid parking tickets!
This problem is not limited to citizens losing their gun rights. As of January we are now getting illegal aliens coming into AO Sword Firearms and attempting to buy guns with their new, official state-issued AB60 licenses. That’s right – non-citizens think that this AB60 license now gives them the rights of US citizens, and they’re trying to obtain firearms! If the gun store doesn’t catch it at the retail counter, or if it slips through the cracks at the DOJ in the background check (national news confirms weekly that the background check system is seriously flawed), illegal aliens can obtain guns right over the retail counter!
SPREAD THE WORD! Bring your birth certificate, social security card, and proof of residency to your DMV license renewal appointment, demand to be issued a Real ID, and don’t accept a FEDERAL LIMITS license! See the DMV website regarding the Real ID (linked here) for a full list of the required documents. More importantly, elect state legislators who don’t give US citizen’s rights to illegal aliens while simultaneously stripping civil rights from actual citizens!
Background Information From the federal ATF:
“This means there is no distinction between an AB 60 license and a non-REAL ID […]. As a result, California licensed firearm dealers are currently prohibited from accepting non-REAL IDs for the purposes of firearm transfers due to ATF’s current policy.”
NOTE: ATF reversed their decision and rescinded the above guidance letter on 3/23/18. However, the CA DOJ knows that the CA DMV is issuing identical AB60 licenses to illegal aliens as well as citizens. Thus the DOJ continues to reject any DROS (background check for obtaining a firearm) submitted with an AB60 license.
