What new California gun laws take effect on January 1, 2027?

SB 948 (chapter 465) has three parts with three dates:

• January 1, 2027 (default date): a "personal firearm importer," the statute's term for a person who moves to California with firearms, has 180 days after bringing a firearm into the state to report it to the Department of Justice (DOJ), sell or transfer it through a dealer, or sell or transfer it to a sheriff or police department. Until then the deadline in Penal Code 27560 is 60 days. The bill also bars bringing a firearm into the state without obtaining a valid Firearm Safety Certificate within 180 days, for people who must file that report. A violation is an infraction.
• "Commencing January 1, 2028": the report must include a certification, under penalty of perjury, that the person has a valid certificate or qualifies for an exemption.
• "On or after January 1, 2029": an applicant for a certificate must have completed, within the prior year, a training course of at least four hours that includes live-fire exercises on a firing range. The course requirement does not apply to people with a valid concealed carry license or who completed concealed carry training within the previous three years.

See moving to California for the current process.

AB 1948 (chapter 44, chaptered June 30, 2026) amends Penal Code 26220 so that a license is valid "for any period of time not to exceed three years." The current text of Penal Code 26220 says two years. The bill states no operative date, so the default date of January 1, 2027 applies. More on licensing is at CCW.

• Altered serial numbers. SB 1220 (chapter 466) adds a 10-year firearm prohibition for a person "convicted on or after January 1, 2027" of violating Penal Code 23920(a), which covers firearms with altered or removed identifying marks.
• Protective order and hate crime misdemeanors. AB 1753 (chapter 458) adds a 10-year prohibition for a person "convicted on or after January 1, 2027" of listed misdemeanors, including violations of a gun violence restraining order or other protective orders and offenses defined as hate crimes.
• Mental health holds. AB 2339 (chapter 462) says a person certified for intensive treatment who is released after a certification review or a writ of habeas corpus stays subject to the existing five-year prohibition. It also changes how courts and facilities report to DOJ. It states no separate operative date.

AB 1753 revises protective order procedures. It states that a restrained person must relinquish ammunition as well as firearms, and it requires peace officers at a domestic violence scene to take temporary custody of ammunition in plain sight. Several court procedure changes, and enforcement of other states' extreme risk protection orders, are written to begin "commencing January 1, 2028." Background on these orders is in gun violence restraining orders.

AB 1974 (chapter 460) adds Penal Code 25010. A police or sheriff's department "may create" a program that lets a person hand over a firearm for temporary safekeeping. A participating agency must be able to store a firearm for one year, post its procedures online, and confirm the person is eligible before returning the firearm. The bill exempts these handovers from the dealer transfer requirement if the person gives the agency prior notice. No separate operative date is stated. Other storage options are in storage laws.

AB 2047 (chapter 461) takes effect on the default date, but its first step is a DOJ duty: "beginning no later than July 1, 2027," DOJ must check quarterly for an industry standard on firearm blocking technology for 3D printers. A sales requirement would begin only one year after DOJ publishes minimum standards.

AB 1912 (chapter 132, chaptered August 27, 2026) removes the rule in Fish and Game Code 4370 that a person taking deer during archery season may not carry a firearm. The bill states no operative date, so the default date applies.

The bill changes the statute only. A Fish and Game Commission regulation, 14 CCR 354(h), still says archers "may not use or possess a firearm while in the field engaged in archery hunting during an archery season," and its exception for a concealable firearm covers big game "other than deer." That text was still in the official code as of 2026-11-10 (current through Register 2026, No. 43).

• AB 1743 (chapter 457): makes the recovered-firearm information that DOJ uses for its trend analysis available, on request, to California government agencies and specified universities.
• AB 1943 (chapter 459): recasts the secure firearm storage notice that schools send to parents. The Department of Education must develop model language "on or before July 1, 2027."
• AB 2378 (chapter 463): creates an Office of Community Violence Intervention within the Board of State and Community Corrections.
• AB 2636 (chapter 464): tells juvenile courts to consider a loaded firearm charge when deciding on deferred entry of judgment.
• AB 191 (chapter 354): a budget bill that took effect immediately on September 20, 2026. Its temporary firearm and ammunition exemptions for credentialed 2028 Olympic and Paralympic competitors "become operative on July 1, 2027."