The Wire · CalGunHub

Signed Bills Add Training Course, Storage Programs and Violence-Prevention Office

Published September 26, 2026 · Updated October 12, 2026

Governor Newsom's Sept. 26 signing of 10 bills phases in a live-fire training requirement for safety certificates, voluntary police storage programs and a new CalVIP office.

Written by the CalGunHub desk from public reporting

Who this affects: The practical effects land mostly in 2028 and 2029. Californians seeking a firearm safety certificate will eventually need a four-hour course with live-fire exercises, creating future demand for training providers and ranges. New residents will face a 180-day certificate window starting January 2028 under SB 948's text. Local agencies gain the option, not a mandate, to offer voluntary storage programs under AB 1974, and the CalVIP office shifts administration of excise-tax-funded grants into a dedicated structure. This is general information, not legal advice.

Among the 10 firearm-related bills Governor Gavin Newsom signed on Sept. 26, 2026, several carry direct consequences for training providers, local agencies and community violence-prevention programs rather than for current possession, according to the governor's office and a Desert Sun analysis.

SB 948, by Senator Jesse Arreguin, creates the most significant buyer-facing change on a delayed timeline. Beginning in January 2029, applicants for a firearm safety certificate must finish a course lasting a minimum of four hours and including live-fire shooting exercises, according to the Desert Sun and a bill summary from the Apple Valley Gun Club. And from January 2028 onward, new residents who bring firearms into California will have 180 days to obtain a certificate, with a violation classified as a misdemeanor under the amended text.

AB 1974, by Assemblymember Catherine Stefani and chaptered as Chapter 460 of the Statutes of 2026, authorizes but does not require local law enforcement agencies to run voluntary firearm storage programs for temporary safekeeping, with storage capability of up to one year, according to Legisus and a Senate floor analysis. Participating agencies must give surrender and retrieval instructions, run an Automated Firearms System check and verify the owner's eligibility before any return, and may destroy or donate firearms left unretrieved after deadlines.

Other measures in the package include AB 1943, requiring schools to send parents a standardized notice about secure firearm storage, with model-language posting requirements beginning July 1, 2027, and AB 2047, which directs the Department of Justice to set performance standards, by Jan. 1, 2028, for algorithms that detect firearm blueprints, and which prohibits the sale or transfer in California, from March 1, 2029, of 3D printers lacking certified blocking technology, according to the Desert Sun and the gun club summary.

AB 2378 establishes an Office of Community Violence Intervention inside the Board of State and Community Corrections, the body that administers the CalVIP grant program, which draws funding from the firearm and ammunition excise tax. The 2026-27 state budget allocates $60 million to CalVIP from that fund, according to the state's budget summary.

Informational only, not legal advice. Facts are attributed to the sources listed above.