The Annoyed Man wrote:As a former Californian myself, I'm not going to advise you what to do, but having just left California after a 2-week vacation there, I can tell you what would happen if you just drove out there and got the guns and left.......exactly nothing.
So long as the guns are transported according to California law - that is to say, unloaded and locked in a gun case - nobody is going to bother you about them. And once you cross the Colorado River into Arizona, nobody gives a darn who owned them before you came into possession - so long as there are no state or federal reasons for why you can't have a gun. There are no manned border crossings going out of California, and those going the other way into the state are manned by either the Border Patrol, or CA Dept of Agriculture personnel. And for good measure, you can always choose to drive in such a way as to not draw the attention of California LEOs.
Once a person is deceased, they cannot be held liable for any firearms transfers. So unless there are guns that are reported stolen, no one here or in between here and California, will care how you got them or anything else. I can promise, you that California, authorities, don't have, a self alerting database, that will tell them that a gun owner has passed away. Any surviving relatives, are not responsible for their safe keeping, since they are not part of any registration. If anyone is asked about them, a shoulder shrug will suffice. And even if you are outed, there is no law that they can use to prosecute you in any way. JMHO