If you sell parts, accessories, or barrels in California, January 1, 2026 added a step to your checkout. Assembly Bill 1263 requires dealers to give buyers a specific written notice, get a signed acknowledgment, and check ID before certain sales go through. Plenty of shops are still piecing together their own paperwork to handle it.
One California FFL shared the form they built with us. We checked it line by line against the law, cleaned it up, made it generic, and we’re giving it away free. You can drop your store name on it and start using it today. Here’s what the law asks of you and how to put the form to work.
What AB 1263 Requires
AB 1263 added new rules to California Civil Code Section 3273.51. The part that matters at the counter covers three kinds of products sold in California or to a California resident:
- Firearm accessories. The definition is broad. It includes devices that increase a firearm’s rate of fire or speed up reloading or magazine changes, any feature that can make a firearm an “assault weapon” under Penal Code 30515(a), and any tool, kit, part, or parts set clearly designed and intended for manufacturing firearms.
- Firearm barrels sold unattached to a firearm.
- Firearm manufacturing machines, such as 3D printers and CNC mills designed or marketed for making guns.
Before you complete one of those sales, the law says you have to do three things:
- Give the buyer a clear and conspicuous notice explaining that certain kinds of firearm manufacturing are generally a crime in California without a manufacturing license. The law spells out six specific points the notice has to cover.
- Get an acknowledgment from the buyer that they received and understand that notice.
- Check the buyer’s ID to confirm they are at least 18.
If you ship the item, there are three more rules. The package has to be conspicuously labeled “Signature and proof of identification of person aged 18 years or older required for delivery.” The shipping address has to match the buyer’s ID. And the buyer has to show ID and sign for it when it arrives.
Sales to other licensed dealers, manufacturers, and importers are exempt, as are sales to wholesalers, licensed ammunition vendors, forensic labs, and on-duty military and law enforcement. For everyone else, the Attorney General, a county counsel, or a city attorney can seek civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation. That adds up fast for a shop that ships a lot of small parts.
How We Built This Form
We started with a notice and acknowledgment form a California dealer put together for their own customers. It was a solid start. We then compared every line to the text of the statute and made a few changes:
- The six notice items now match the law word for word. That’s the safest way to show you gave the notice the law describes.
- The store-specific language is gone. Bracketed fields for your store name, contact info, orders email, and return deadline take its place.
- We added a “For Retailer Use” box. The shipping rules are the easiest part of AB 1263 to miss, and the original form didn’t cover them. The box gives your staff a quick checklist for the ID check, the address match, the package label, and the adult signature service.
It fits on one printed page, and it comes as a Google Doc and a Word file so you can edit it in whatever you already use.
How to Use It
- Make it yours. Open the Google Doc and choose File, then Make a copy, or download the Word version. Fill in the bracketed fields: store name, address, phone, email, the email address customers should send the form to, and your deadline for getting it back.
- At the counter. Before you ring up a covered item, hand the customer the form. They initial each of the six lines, sign, and date it. You check their photo ID, confirm they’re 18 or older, and fill in the retailer box.
- For online and phone orders. Email the form with the order confirmation and ask the customer to send it back, with a copy of their ID, by your deadline. Hold the order until it comes back complete. Then check that the ship-to address matches the ID, put the required label on the package, and ship with a carrier service that requires an adult signature.
- Keep it on file. Store the completed form with the sale record. If it includes a copy of the customer’s ID, treat it like any other personal information you’re responsible for and keep it secure.
If you run an online store, you may also want the notice and acknowledgment built into checkout. The form still works for phone orders, special orders, and anything that comes in outside your normal checkout flow.
Before You Rely On It
This form is a practical tool to help you comply with the notice, acknowledgment, and ID requirements in AB 1263. It isn’t legal advice, and it doesn’t cover every part of the bill. The law is new, and how it gets enforced may change. Run your process by your own attorney, and check the California DOJ at oag.ca.gov/firearms for updates.
We cover California gun laws on Gun Owners Radio every week, and dealers are a big part of this community. If the form saves you an afternoon of paperwork, it was worth making.
Get the Free AB 1263 Form
Enter your email below and we’ll send you a link to the Google Doc and a Word version you can download.
