No Real ID? No gun purchase

Firearms dealers having to turn customers away

There are likely several people in line at the California Department of Motor Vehicles to renew their driver license that are unknowingly about to get the wrong one for the purpose of purchasing a firearm.

Effective Jan. 22, the DMV began offering two types of driver licenses. The first is the Real ID, which is compliant with federal guidelines that will be required after October 2020 to check in at the airport or enter military bases and federal facilities.

The other choice is a non-federal compliant (also referred to as AB 60) license, which can be obtained by any California resident regardless of their immigration status.

The AB 60 license says “Federal Limits Apply” in the upper right hand corner, while the Real ID has a bear with a superimposed star in the same spot.

Those who choose to apply for a Real ID will need to provide proof of identity, Social Security number, and residency, according to the DMV.

If you didn’t take the extra steps to opt for the Real ID and you’ve renewed your license since Jan. 22, you won’t be able to purchase a firearm with it in California.

Valid licenses issued prior to Jan. 22 will still be accepted as sufficient for firearms purchases, however.

The policy change has forced local firearms dealers to refuse sales to customers and has caught several gun owners by surprise.

Pam Hughes of Country Pleasures on Main Street in Porterville had to refuse sales to two customers in one day that both presented recently-acquired AB 60 licenses. One had already paid for his firearm in advance. The other, an active duty member of the military, presented his military ID with an AB 60 license and was also turned away.

“I called DOJ on his

behalf and explained that he was active military, but they said it didn’t matter,” said Hughes. “The customer was very upset, and he said, ‘I

can fly anywhere in the world with just his military ID, but it’s not good enough to buy a gun.’”

Chanda Dunlap, manager of Sierra Sportsman on West Olive, has also had to turn away customers with AB 60 licenses, but the majority of her customers

have been privy to the change.

“Most people that are firearms people kind of had a heads-up that this was coming down the line,” said Dunlap. “On our Facebook page we post updates on gun laws and regulations, and this was something we had

put out there so our customers were aware.”

But the DMV hasn’t been so forthcoming about the change. In their “frequently asked questions” page about the Real ID, they provide many facts about the license — when and where it is needed, what

is required to get one and other details.

There is no mention of how a Real ID (or lack of one) affects firearm purchases in California.

“It’s a mess. I had a customer who was born and raised here and he’s in his seventies, and now he’s having to prove that

he’s a citizen to buy a firearm,” said Dunlap. “It’s a flawed regulation, but we have to be lawful people, and unfortunately it’s another thing we’re going to have to survive. That’s what we do — we are surviving California’s regulations.”