Penal Code 22410 PC: possession of shurikens.
California treats the throwing star as contraband at every link - making, importing, selling, giving, possessing - and lets the prosecutor pick misdemeanor or felony. A martial-arts purchase becomes a wobbler in a glovebox.
The statute and its definition.
PC 22410 criminalizes manufacturing, importing, selling, giving, lending, or possessing a shuriken. The definition (PC 17200) is functional: a metal plate with three or more radiating points, with one or more sharp edges, designed for use as a weapon for throwing. It is a wobbler - up to one year county as a misdemeanor, sixteen months to three years as a felony - with the tier chosen at charging. The definition’s edges matter: fewer than three points falls out; decorative plaques and belt ornaments litigate on “designed for use as a weapon”; and throwing knives are a different analysis entirely (dirk/dagger and manner-of-carry rules, not 22410).
How these cases actually arise.
Three fact patterns cover nearly all of them. The martial-arts collector: bought openly online or at a tournament, stored with the gear - charged when a car search finds the bag. The prop and cosplay case: convention purchases, costume pieces, film props - charged on the same definitional language, defended on “designed as a weapon.” And the add-on count: shurikens found during an unrelated search, stacked to thicken an indictment or justify the stop retroactively. In all three, the object was legal to buy somewhere and became criminal by geography - the same trap the knuckles and balisong statutes set.
The defense stack.
Search first: shurikens are found in bags, cars, and closets - each discovery has a Fourth Amendment story the government must tell correctly, and suppression ends the count. Definition second: point count, edge, metal, and weapon-design are all elements; training stars with rounded points and display pieces have acquitted. Knowledge third: gym bags shared across a dojo defeat possession. And the landing: 17(b) reduction for wobblers, judicial diversion for misdemeanors, and non-weapon dispositions that keep “prohibited weapon” off a record it would otherwise follow for decades. First consultation free - bring the property receipt; the object’s own specs are usually the best defense exhibit.
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