imported post
CA_Libertarian wrote:
Publius wrote:
171d whenever both the firearm and unexpended ammunition
capable of being discharged from such firearm are in the immediate possession of the same person.
If ammunition is in a magazine on your opposite hip, then the ammunition contained in the magazines are NOT capable of being discharged.
Do you have a citation for this claim?
It seems extremely clear and obvious that the legislative intent was to prohibit the carrying of ammunition of a caliber that can be discharged in the firearm you possess. The intent, in short, is to render the firearm nearly useless by precluding the possibility of loading/discharging the firearm. This makes sense in light of the history of the Mulford Act and the Black Panthers protest at the state house.
The following is the wording found in subsection (g) of PC 12031:
(g) A firearm shall be deemed to be loaded for the purposes of
this section when there is an unexpended cartridge or shell,
consisting of a case that holds a charge of powder and a bullet or
shot, in, or attached in any manner to, the firearm, including, but
not limited to, in the firing chamber, magazine, or clip thereof
attached to the firearm; except that a muzzle-loader firearm shall be
deemed to be loaded when it is capped or primed and has a powder
charge and ball or shot in the barrel or cylinder.
We find clarification in People v. Clark (1996) 45 Cal.App.4th 1147 , 53 Cal.Rptr.2d 99:
"...When the police seized the shotgun, it did not have a shell in the firing chamber. There were, however, three shells located in a covered compartment at the rear of the shotgun's stock. It is not possible to fire a shell from that location; a shell would have to be removed from the compartment and placed by hand in the chamber before it could be fired..."
"...to the extent an ambiguity exists between whether the Legislature intended the term "loaded" to be used in its ordinary sense (i.e., a shell placed in a position ready to be fired) or to be used in an unusual sense (i.e., including a shell placed in a storage compartment from which it cannot be fired), we adopt the construction more favorable to Clark, i.e., that the term was intended to be used in its ordinary sense and that the shotgun here was not loaded..."