Learn California gun law
Plain-English guides, trackers, and tools for buying, transferring, storing, and inheriting firearms in California. Every transfer completes at a licensed dealer.
You don’t need to already know how this works. Nobody’s born knowing California gun law: pick the line that sounds like you and we’ll walk it step by step.
Your first gun,
in California
Six steps from “I want one” to carrying it out the door. Every one runs through a licensed dealer. You can’t accidentally skip a legal step.
- 01Pass the FSC · a short . Take it at the dealer
- 02Check the roster · is the handgun sellable new, or a ?
- 03Pick a dealer · compare fees and hours near you
- 04File the DROS · $37.19 in state fees at the counter, runs
- 0510-day hold · everyone waits it. Nothing about it is a flag
- 06Pickup · return with your ID and take it home
The rest of the guides
All guides →
Understanding DROS
What the Dealer Record of Sale checks, the state fee, and the 10-day hold, plus delay, deny, and undetermined outcomes.
What to ask an FFL
The call script before you drive out: fees, appointments, documents, and turnaround, with why each answer matters.
Selling your gun, the safe way
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.
Buying ammunition
The point-of-sale eligibility check, who passes, and the exact reasons a check bounces at the counter.
Storage & transport
What the law requires versus what is just good practice: at home, in the car, and on the road.
Inherited a firearm
For executors and heirs: keeping it in the family, selling or consigning through a dealer, and handling unwanted or restricted guns.
Every state fee, itemized
DROS, safety and enforcement fees, the PPT dealer cap, FSC issuance and replacement, and CCW state fees, each line with its DOJ source, audited values marked.
Moving to California with firearms
The new-resident report and its deadline, items with their own rules, transport, ammunition, and the enacted SB 948 changes. A sourced draft, not a clearance.
Item rules: what the statutes say
Magazines, suppressors, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, body armor, trigger devices, threaded pistols: the governing statute, documented status, and any court case.
New guides (draft)
- Ammunition rules
- Magazine-definition history
- CCW applications statewide
- DROS: the legal framework
- What “featureless” means
- The fixed-magazine definition
- Intrafamilial transfers
- Private-party transfers: statutory duties
- Roster fees, expiration and removal
- Short-barreled rifles and braces
- Semiautomatic shotgun categories
- Firearm storage laws
Law & tracking
The dealer handles the DROS paperwork and background check. You can't accidentally skip a legal step.