Is open carry legal in California?

Three statutes do most of the work.

Loaded carry. Penal Code 25850 covers any loaded firearm, carried on the person or in a vehicle. A firearm is loaded when a cartridge or shell is in the firearm or attached to it in any manner, including in an attached magazine (Penal Code 16840(b)).

Unloaded handguns. Penal Code 26350 makes it a crime to carry "an exposed and unloaded handgun" outside a vehicle, or inside or on a vehicle, in a public place or public street in an incorporated city, and in public places and streets in prohibited areas of unincorporated territory.

Unloaded long guns. Penal Code 26400 makes it a crime to carry an unloaded firearm that is not a handgun on your person outside a vehicle in an incorporated city, or in a public place or public street in a prohibited area of an unincorporated county.

Each statute is written around specific places. Outside those places, and under the listed exemptions, the three statutes do not apply. Other laws still can, including school zone rules and rules set by land managers.

• Home, business, and private property. The unloaded handgun law does not apply to a U.S. citizen or legal resident over 18, who is not in a class prohibited from having firearms, carrying a handgun within their residence, place of business, or on private property they own or lawfully possess (Penal Code 25605). The loaded carry law does not prevent a person from having a loaded firearm at their place of business, on private property they lawfully possess (Penal Code 26035), or at their residence, including a temporary residence or campsite, if it is otherwise lawful (Penal Code 26055).
• Hunting. The unloaded carry laws exempt a licensed hunter while hunting and while going to or returning from the hunt (Penal Code 26366, 26405(j)). The loaded carry law does not prevent carrying a loaded firearm while hunting within a city, if the city council has not prohibited hunting at that place and time (Penal Code 26040).
• Locked transport. The unloaded handgun law does not apply to a handgun in the locked trunk of a motor vehicle or in a locked container (Penal Code 26389). The long gun law does not apply to a firearm that is in a locked container or encased while being transported directly between lawful places (Penal Code 26405(c)).

The licensing statutes provide two formats. One is a license to carry a handgun concealed. The other, available only "where the population of the county is less than 200,000 persons according to the most recent federal decennial census," is a license "to carry loaded and exposed in only that county" a handgun (Penal Code 26150(c), 26155(c)).

A loaded and exposed license "shall be revoked immediately" when the licensee moves to another county (Penal Code 26210(e)). There is no statewide open carry license in the statute.

Baird v. Bonta is a federal lawsuit challenging California's open carry restrictions. The record so far:

• January 2, 2026: a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel held, 2 to 1, that California's ban on open carry in counties with more than 200,000 people is inconsistent with the Second Amendment. The panel rejected the facial challenge to the licensing scheme for smaller counties (panel opinion).
• January 7, 2026: the California DOJ told law enforcement that the opinion had not taken effect because the court had not issued its mandate (DOJ bulletin 2026-DLE-04).
• April 15, 2026: the Ninth Circuit ordered the case reheard en banc and stated, "The three-judge panel opinion is vacated" (order).
• April 16, 2026: the DOJ said the open carry restrictions "remain in effect," and that en banc argument would occur the week of June 1, 2026 (DOJ bulletin 2026-DLE-10).