How do I legally transport a handgun in my car in California?

Two crimes shape the transport rules.

• Concealed carry in a vehicle. It is a crime to carry a handgun concealed in a vehicle you control, or to cause one to be carried concealed in a vehicle you are riding in (Penal Code 25400(a)).
• Loaded carry in a vehicle. It is a crime to carry a loaded firearm in a vehicle in a public place or on a public street in an incorporated city, or in a public place or on a public street in a prohibited area of unincorporated territory (Penal Code 25850(a)).

The transport rules below are exemptions to the first law. The second law applies separately to any loaded firearm in the places it covers.

Penal Code 25610 says the concealed carry law does not prohibit a qualifying person from transporting a handgun if either of these is true:

1. The handgun is unloaded, within a motor vehicle, and locked in the vehicle's trunk or in a locked container in the vehicle.
2. The handgun is unloaded and carried directly to or from a motor vehicle inside a locked container.

The current text of the statute refers to listed purposes. Section 25610, last amended by SB 2 effective January 1, 2024, covers transport "for any purpose specified in Sections 25510 to 25595" (Penal Code 25610). Those sections list purposes that include:

• Travel directly between your home, your place of business, and private property you own or lawfully possess, and the trip home from the place where you lawfully received the handgun (Penal Code 25525).
• Going directly to or from a fixed place of business or private residential property for the lawful repair, sale, loan, or transfer of the handgun (Penal Code 25530).
• Going directly to or from a target range that holds a regulatory or business license, to practice shooting at that range (Penal Code 25540).
• Going directly to or from a lawful camping activity, to have the firearm available for lawful personal protection at the campsite (Penal Code 25550).

For those listed purposes, the handgun must be unloaded and in a locked container, and the route may include only the deviations that are reasonably necessary (Penal Code 25505). A separate section covers licensed hunters and fishermen transporting unloaded handguns to and from a hunting or fishing trip (Penal Code 25640).

The DOJ's Transporting Firearms in California page summarizes section 25610 without mentioning the listed purposes, and it still uses the phrase "for any lawful purpose" when describing how the handgun is carried to or from the vehicle. As of 2026-11-11, that wording does not match the current statute. The statute controls, and the DOJ page has not been updated.

Penal Code 16850 defines it as "a secure container that is fully enclosed and locked by a padlock, keylock, combination lock, or similar locking device." The same sentence excludes "the utility or glove compartment of a motor vehicle."

Section 25610 gives two choices inside a vehicle: the locked trunk, or a locked container. A vehicle without a trunk still has the locked container option.

A different section applies once the vehicle is unattended. Penal Code 25140 requires a person who leaves a handgun in an unattended vehicle to secure it in one of these ways:

• Locked in the vehicle's trunk.
• Locked in a locked container that is placed out of plain view.
• Locked in a locked container that is permanently affixed to the vehicle's interior and not in plain view.
• Locked in a locked toolbox or utility box.

For this section, a "trunk" does not include the rear of a hatchback, station wagon, or sport utility vehicle, or any compartment that has a window. "Plain view" includes anything visible by looking through the windows, including tinted windows.

A school zone is the grounds of a public or private K-12 school plus the area within 1,000 feet of those grounds (Penal Code 626.9(e)). The state ban on possessing a firearm there does not apply to an unloaded handgun that stays in a locked container in a motor vehicle, or in the locked trunk, at all times (Penal Code 626.9(c)(2)).

Federal law has a similar exception for a firearm that is not loaded and is in a locked container or a locked firearms rack on a motor vehicle (18 U.S.C. 922(q)(2)(B)(iii)).