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Defense of habitation laws

1Grizzly1

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2009
Messages
54
Location
Layton, Utah, USA
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Can someone help me with Ca's defense of habitation laws? I am a truck driver and occasionally travel to Ca. I have my firearm stored in a locked case but can't find the definition of what counts as your habitat. Would the sleeper berth of my truck count as that when I am stopped for the night? Can I legally have my gun loaded when I am parked and in the sleeper? Any help and links to the appropriate laws would be very helpful.
 

mjones

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2008
Messages
976
Location
Prescott, AZ
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CA Penal Code 12025 deals with concealed weapons. PC 12031 deals with having a loaded firearm.

Both of those codes explicitly have exemptions for temporary residences, so in my opinion, yes you are good for both concealed and loaded while your rig is in 'residence mode' so to speak.

The only hitch that I can think of is the CA Gun Free School Zone; PC 626.9. Off the top of my head I can't think of an exemption for a temporary residence. There is an exemption for Private Property. In theory that statute also requires that you 'know or reasonably should know' that the school is present. Currently we have one member here convicted (and appealing)the GFSZ even though he 'didn't know' and he was on private property.

CA Penal Codes are available online here: http://leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html
 

markm

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Mar 7, 2010
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Even though I am not a snake-in-the-grass, two-faced, back-stabbing, lier, shark, "I didnot have sex with that women, Ms. Lewinski" (lawyer), I concur with mjones opinion--wholly and in part; expressed and implied; written and oral.

markm
 

Theseus

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
964
Location
Lamma Island, HK
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mjones wrote:
CA Penal Code 12025 deals with concealed weapons. PC 12031 deals with having a loaded firearm.

Both of those codes explicitly have exemptions for temporary residences, so in my opinion, yes you are good for both concealed and loaded while your rig is in 'residence mode' so to speak.

The only hitch that I can think of is the CA Gun Free School Zone; PC 626.9. Off the top of my head I can't think of an exemption for a temporary residence. There is an exemption for Private Property. In theory that statute also requires that you 'know or reasonably should know' that the school is present. Currently we have one member here convicted (and appealing)the GFSZ even though he 'didn't know' and he was on private property.

CA Penal Codes are available online here: http://leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html
Problem with temporary residence in relation to 626.9 is People v. Anson "We also conclude that defendant’s camper does not qualify for the residence exception in section 626.9."

It continues to say
We conclude that defendant’s camper is not a residence within the meaning of section 626.9, subdivision (c)(1). Defendant’s camper was fully operable as a vehicle and, in fact, defendant regularly moved the camper from place to place. While a house or an apartment building cannot be moved into or away from a school zone, defendant’s camper could have been moved 1,000 feet within or away from Beatty Elementary School. The camper was parked on a public street — a place not regularly used for residential purposes and not zoned for camping. The living area of the cab was separated from the driver’s seat only by a cloth curtain and thus the contents, including defendant’s loaded semiautomatic handgun, in the living area were accessible to the driver of the camper. Construing a residence within the meaning of section 626.9, subdivision (c)(1) to include a camper would eliminate much of the protection offered by the statute.
I don't however have anything for 12031.
 

CA_Libertarian

State Researcher
Joined
Jul 18, 2007
Messages
2,585
Location
Stanislaus County, California, USA
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IMO keep it loaded and handy, but have your secure container at the ready. If something goes "bump" in the night, you're ready. If that something happens to be a cop, you can quickly lock up your pistol before stepping out of your temp residence, hopefully avoiding any confusion about whether you knew there was a school two blocks away.

I'd also try to avoid schools. But I know how hard that is.
 

Theseus

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Jul 6, 2008
Messages
964
Location
Lamma Island, HK
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CA_Libertarian wrote:
IMO keep it loaded and handy, but have your secure container at the ready. If something goes "bump" in the night, you're ready. If that something happens to be a cop, you can quickly lock up your pistol before stepping out of your temp residence, hopefully avoiding any confusion about whether you knew there was a school two blocks away.

I'd also try to avoid schools. But I know how hard that is.
+1. . . I would recommend something with quick and easy access. . . perhaps something that you can access quickly and lock away as quick.

Although. . . I might suggest that a locked cabin of a truck is meeting the definition of a secure, fully enclosed locked container. . . . But I also don't recommend being the test case.
 
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