The gun owner said the problem started years earlier, when he bought pistols while living in Idaho. At the time, he apparently believed everything was fine. According to the Reddit post, the concern came later, after he moved back to California and started wondering whether the guns were now illegal for him to own.
The original Reddit post can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/1si6z70/i_am_worried_that_i_illegally_own_firearms_and/
That is one of the problems with moving between states. A gun that feels completely ordinary in one place can become a paperwork headache somewhere else. Different states have different rules for handgun rosters, magazine capacity, registration, importing firearms, private transfers, and what has to be reported after a resident brings guns into the state.
The owner’s worry made sense because California has stricter firearm rules than many other states. A pistol bought legally in Idaho does not automatically become illegal just because the owner crosses a state line, but California may still require certain steps when a new resident brings firearms into the state. Missing those steps can create problems later, even if the original purchase was clean.
The confusing part is that people often treat “legal purchase” and “legal possession after moving” as the same thing. They are not always the same. A person may have bought a handgun legally while living in another state, but when they become a California resident again, they may have reporting obligations, restrictions on certain configurations, or magazine issues that did not exist where they bought the firearm.
That can leave someone stuck wondering whether to ask questions or stay quiet. But guessing is risky. If the owner later sells the pistols, reports them stolen, gets pulled over, applies for a permit, or has any contact where the guns are reviewed, old paperwork problems can surface at the worst possible time.
The better move is to figure it out before there is a crisis. That means checking California’s official firearm import rules, confirming whether the handguns themselves are lawful to possess, looking at magazine capacity, and determining whether any new-resident paperwork should have been filed. If the deadline was missed years ago, he may need advice from a California firearms attorney rather than trying to fix it blindly.
The post did not read like someone trying to hide contraband. It sounded like someone who bought guns legally elsewhere, moved, and only later realized that California treats firearm ownership differently. That is exactly how people get surprised by state gun laws. They assume the gun is the same gun, so the rules must be the same too.
They are not.
Commenters told him that he needed California-specific advice, not general gun advice from people in freer states. Several said the key issue was not whether he bought the pistols legally in Idaho, but whether he properly brought and reported them after becoming a California resident.
Others said he should check whether the pistols, magazines, and any features were lawful under California rules. A handgun itself may be allowed, while certain magazines or configurations could create a separate problem.
Some commenters warned him not to sell, transfer, carry, or transport the pistols until he understood their status. If there was a reporting issue or another compliance problem, moving the guns around casually could make things worse.
A few people recommended speaking with a California firearms attorney. If he had missed a required deadline years earlier, a lawyer could explain the safest way to address it without accidentally creating more legal exposure.
The post ended with the owner facing a lesson many gun owners learn only after a move. Buying a pistol legally in one state does not mean every later step is automatically clean in another. When the destination is California, the paperwork and possession rules deserve a second look before the guns become part of a bigger problem.
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