How does California's 10-day waiting period work and who is exempt?

Two Penal Code sections state the same rule. Section 26815 says no firearm shall be delivered "within 10 days of the application to purchase." Section 27540 repeats that for dealers, "whether or not acting pursuant to Chapter 5," which is the chapter on private party transfers. So the wait applies when you buy from a dealer's inventory and when a dealer processes a sale between two private people.

DOJ's summary of the purchase process says the same thing: all purchases and transfers, including private party transactions and sales at gun shows, generally go through a licensed dealer, and the 10-day wait applies before release (DOJ FAQ).

DOJ says the waiting period "is ten (10) 24-hour periods from the date and time the DROS information is submitted to the DOJ" (DOJ FAQ). Ten 24-hour periods equal 240 hours. The clock is tied to the time of submission, not to the calendar date, and not to the day you first chose the firearm or paid for it.

Example: if the dealer submits the Dealer's Record of Sale (DROS) at 3:15 p.m. on the 1st of the month, the tenth 24-hour period ends at 3:15 p.m. on the 11th.

• A correction or missing fee. If DOJ notifies the dealer that the DROS has an error or that a fee was not submitted, the 10 days are measured from the submission of the correction or fee, whichever is later (Penal Code 27540(a)).
• A DOJ delay. If DOJ cannot determine eligibility before the wait ends, for reasons listed in the statute, it tells the dealer to delay the transfer. DOJ then has up to 30 days from the original submission (Penal Code 28220(g)).
• A declared emergency. If the Attorney General determines by order that an emergency has left DOJ unable to review records in time, DOJ may delay a transfer up to 30 days after the original submission (Penal Code 28220(g)(6)).

Once the wait ends and DOJ has not blocked the sale, the same sections set delivery conditions. The firearm must be unloaded and either securely wrapped or in a locked container. The buyer must show clear evidence of identity and age. The buyer must present a Firearm Safety Certificate (Penal Code 27540).

DOJ says that if you do not take physical possession within 30 days of the DROS submission, the dealer must cancel the sale. Repeating the process means new DROS fees and a new 10-day wait (DOJ FAQ). Dealers are required to post a warning that describes this 30-day rule as a matter of federal regulations (Penal Code 26835(a)(7)).

That leaves a pickup window of about 20 days between the end of the wait and the deadline.

DOJ's FAQ puts it plainly: there are exemptions, "but they don't apply to the general public" (DOJ FAQ). The waiting period exemptions DOJ cites are in Penal Code 27650 through 27670:

• Peace officers. A full-time paid peace officer whose employer authorizes carrying firearms on duty, with written certification from the head of the agency that authorizes the purchase (Penal Code 27650).
• Dealers. A dealer delivering a firearm to another dealer, or to himself or herself, when the firearm is not intended as merchandise (Penal Code 27660).
• Special weapons permit holders. A person holding one of the DOJ permits named in the statute (Penal Code 27665).
• Licensed collectors, for curios and relics only. The firearm must be a curio or relic under federal regulations, the buyer must hold a federal collector license, and the buyer must have a current Certificate of Eligibility from DOJ (Penal Code 27670).

Sales to law enforcement agencies for agency use, with written authorization from the agency head, fall outside the dealer delivery rules as well (Penal Code 27600). Matching exemptions to Section 26815 appear in Penal Code 26950 through 26970.

Article 4 of the same chapter, beginning at Penal Code 27700, lists further situations where Section 27540 does not apply. Examples are transfers between federally licensed importers and manufacturers, a firearm delivered to a gunsmith for service or repair and returned to its owner, and certain loans. None of them is a general exemption for a retail buyer.

None of these sections exempts a person because that person already owns firearms or holds a concealed carry license. That question was the subject of the Silvester case.

The plaintiffs in Silvester did not challenge the waiting period as a whole. They challenged applying the full 10 days to buyers who had already purchased a firearm or held a concealed carry permit, and who cleared the background check in less than 10 days (Silvester v. Harris).

• The federal district court ruled for the plaintiffs after a bench trial.
• On December 14, 2016, a Ninth Circuit panel reversed. Applying intermediate scrutiny, it held that the 10-day wait "is a reasonable precaution for the purchase of a second or third weapon, as well as for a first purchase."
• On February 20, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Justice Thomas dissented from that denial (Silvester v. Becerra).

The opinion also traces the history. California has had some form of waiting period continuously since 1923. It became three days in 1955, five days in 1965, and fifteen days in 1975. It was extended to all firearms in 1991, and it was reduced to the current ten days in 1996 after the background check system went electronic.

A newer case is pending. Richards v. Bonta, No. 3:23-cv-00793, was filed in the federal district court for the Southern District of California on May 1, 2023, and challenges what the complaint calls California's "Waiting Period Laws" under the Second Amendment (complaint).

According to the docket, as mirrored by CourtListener:

• Both sides moved for summary judgment in 2024, and the court took the motions under submission on November 13, 2024.
• On March 15, 2025, the court denied both motions without prejudice in light of a Ninth Circuit decision in Yukutake v. Lopez.
• On August 5, 2025, the court stayed the case until the Ninth Circuit decided Yukutake en banc.
• The docket records the en banc Yukutake decision as issued on September 22, 2026. On October 16, 2026, the court ordered a joint status report within 15 days after a forthcoming petition for certiorari in Yukutake is resolved, or by January 5, 2027, if no petition is filed.

As of that last docket entry, the court has not ruled on the merits, and the 10-day waiting period remains in the Penal Code. CourtListener notes that its docket copies may not be up to date.