Have your son find a CA FFL that knows what they are doing and ship it to them. Prepare for sticker shock on the tax and DROS and transfer fees!
There is NO use tax collected on gifts, regardless of the source of the gift. There is no use tax collected at the point of FFL transfer on the sale of a gun from out-of-state to a CA resident, if the sale is by a private party. If a CA resident purchases a gun from an out-of-state dealer/FFL, use tax will be collected at the point of transfer by the receiving FFL. In this case, OP should ship directly to the receiving FFL, without involving an FFL on his end, and document in the package that the gun is a gift to his son. Prior to shipping, son should confirm that his FFL will receive a gun from a private party and will not attempt to collect tax on the value of the gift. FFLs in CA are just as uninformed on some of these rules as are FFLs in other states. It can be tedious to find an FFL who actually knows and follows the rules.
