Buying a gun in California, decoded

The whole first-purchase path in order: FSC, roster, dealer, DROS, pickup, storage.

What the Dealer Record of Sale checks, the state fee, and the 10-day hold, plus delay, deny, and undetermined outcomes.

The point-of-sale eligibility check, who passes, and the exact reasons a check bounces at the counter.

What the law requires versus what is just good practice: at home, in the car, and on the road.

The call script before you drive out: fees, appointments, documents, and turnaround, with why each answer matters.

For the nervous seller: the dealer runs the buyer’s background check, not you. The seller’s side of a private transfer, what it costs, and who pays.

Penal Code § 27595 restricts dealer sales of Glock-pattern pistols, with listed exceptions. Private Party Transfers are one of them. Here is how affected models still change hands.

For executors and heirs: keeping it in the family, selling or consigning through a dealer, and handling unwanted or restricted guns.

Bring a valid California ID, a Firearm Safety Certificate, proof of residency for handguns, and $37.19 in state fees; then wait 10 days.

The FSC is a $25 written-test certificate, valid five years, required to buy or receive a firearm in California. Exemptions are in Penal Code 31700.

California dealers cannot deliver a firearm until ten 24-hour periods (240 hours) after DROS submission. DOJ says the exemptions do not cover the general public.

California DOJ can delay a firearm background check for up to 30 days. Here is what the law says happens on a delay, an undetermined result, or a denial.

Since April 1, 2026, California law limits purchase applications to three firearms in any 30-day period. Penal Code 27535 lists the exemptions.

California dealers sell firearms at 21, with narrow exceptions at 18 for some long guns; ammunition is 18, or 21 for handgun ammo.

How federal immigration-status rules and California ID, residency, and safety certificate rules apply when a non-citizen buys a firearm.

Expect a safety briefing, eye and ear protection, staff-run range commands, and simple California rules on rentals, ammo and transport.

You can pay for a firearm online, but it must ship to a California licensed dealer who runs the DROS check and the 10-day wait.

A California resident can pay for a gun in another state, but federal and state law route delivery through a California licensed dealer, with few exceptions.

Every firearm sale at a California gun show goes through a licensed dealer with a DROS check and a 10-day wait; no same-day carry-out.

Since July 1, 2024, California charges sellers an 11% excise tax on retail sales of firearms, precursor parts, and ammunition.

C&R status is federal, but California still routes most C&R transfers through a dealer unless you hold both an 03 FFL and a state COE.

California dealers can sell a new handgun only if the model passed state tests and is on the DOJ roster. Here is how the list works and what is exempt.

California law exempts private party transfers through a dealer, certain family transfers, curios and relics, and a few other cases from the handgun roster.

Microstamping left California's handgun roster test in 2024 and may return as a dealer sales rule on January 1, 2028. Here is the law and its dates.

Long guns skip the handgun roster and the extra residency document, and some can be sold at 18. The 10-day wait, FSC, and background check are the same.

California defines assault weapons by named model and by listed characteristics. Sale is a felony unless an exception in the chapter applies, and public registration is closed.

"Featureless" is defined in a California regulation: a semiautomatic firearm lacking the characteristics listed in Penal Code 30515.

A fixed magazine cannot be removed without disassembly of the firearm action. A semiautomatic, centerfire rifle with one that accepts more than 10 rounds is an assault weapon.

An "other" is a semiautomatic centerfire firearm that is not a rifle, pistol, or shotgun. A 2020 law added three assault weapon tests for it.

California restricts .50 BMG rifles. Possession generally requires a registration made by April 30, 2006, or a DOJ permit.

California defines a magazine that accepts more than 10 rounds as large-capacity and restricts making, importing, selling, buying and possessing one.

California bans silencers and short-barreled rifles and shotguns for the public and requires a state permit for machine guns, whatever federal law allows.

California restricts body armor by person: violent felons and anyone barred from having firearms may not buy, own or possess it.

California allows self-defense sprays up to 2.5 ounces and stun guns, but bars people with felony or assault convictions and restricts some places.

California checks every ammunition purchase at the counter: a $5 Standard check for most buyers, or a $19 Basic check.

Online ammunition orders must go to a licensed California vendor for in-person pickup; reloading is shaped by powder limits and sales rules.

Apply to your county sheriff or city police chief. State law requires age 21, a background investigation, 16 hours of training, and a handgun recorded to you.

California honors no other state's carry permit, but since January 1, 2026 non-residents can apply for a California CCW license.

California bans open carry of loaded and unloaded guns in cities and many other public places. A 2026 court ruling against the ban was vacated.

California's transport exemption covers a handgun that is unloaded and locked in the trunk or a locked container. The glove box does not count.

Rifles and shotguns must be unloaded in a vehicle. Most need no locked case under state law, but school zones and registered assault weapons differ.

Firearms fly unloaded, in a locked hard-sided case, declared at check-in; California adds transport rules and item bans at both ends.

Federal law lets you possess a gun in a national park if California law allows it, but not fire it. Forest and BLM land allow shooting with limits.

To hunt with a firearm in California you need hunter education, a hunting license, any required tags, and certified nonlead ammunition.

New residents must report firearms to California DOJ within 60 days (180 days starting January 1, 2027), and some magazines and firearms cannot come at all.

Leaving California with firearms: federal transport rules, the optional DOJ move-out notice (BOF 4546), carry license deadlines, and coming back.

Parents, children, grandparents, and grandchildren can transfer a firearm without a dealer if the recipient has an FSC and reports to DOJ within 30 days.

In California a minor may not possess a firearm except in listed supervised or consented activities such as hunting and sport shooting.

California requires a report to local law enforcement within five days of learning a firearm was lost or stolen. Fines start at up to $100.

California Penal Code 197, 198, and 198.5 and the CALCRIM jury instructions set the home self-defense rules. The jury instructions say a defendant is not required to retreat.

On January 1, 2027, new residents get 180 days to report firearms, CCW licenses can run three years, and new 10-year prohibitions begin.

AB 2047 directs California DOJ to set firearm blocking standards for 3D printers if an industry standard exists. No printer rule binds yet.

Since January 1, 2026, an unattached firearm barrel must be sold in person through a licensed dealer. An eligibility check starts July 1, 2027.

A COE is a California DOJ certificate showing a records check found no firearm prohibition. It costs $71 to start and $22 a year to renew.

Mail a notarized BOF 053 request to California DOJ for a list of firearms recorded to you. Updates to personal details go through CFARS.

California's roster, magazine, waiting period, safety certificate, and purchase limit laws each have their own officer or military exemption.

A GVRO is a civil court order that temporarily bars a person from having firearms or ammunition. Who can ask, how long it lasts, and how it ends.

California requires a DOJ serial number before a firearm is built, restricts unserialized frames and receivers, and limits 3D printer and CNC use.

California ammunition rules: definitions, records and eligibility requirements

California’s magazine-definition changes: the bullet-button period and the 2016 legislation

California CCW applications: statewide requirements and local administration

California DROS: records, eligibility checks, and delivery requirements

What California firearm law means by featureless

The fixed-magazine definition in California firearm law

California intrafamilial firearm transfers: definitions and limits

California private-party firearm transfers: the statutory duties

How California handgun roster fees, expiration, and removal work

Short-barreled rifles and stabilizing braces: federal and California definitions

California semiautomatic shotgun rules: statutory categories

California firearm storage laws in 2026