California Carry Guide

To carry a concealed handgun away from home, or a loaded gun in public in a city or a county's "prohibited area," you need a California license to carry (a "CCW" license) from a county sheriff or city police chief. It names each handgun you may carry, and a long list of places stays closed even with it. Magazines stop at 10 rounds, and ammunition means a state check at the counter.

You can get a California license at 21, from your county sheriff (where you live, or work and spend substantial time) or your city police chief; non-residents may apply since January 1, 2026. The prohibited-persons laws (mainly Penal Code 29800 and 29805) bar some people from any gun, and the disqualified-person list (Penal Code 26202) bars more from a license. The license test borrows the federal "unlawful user" rule, and no California source says how that lands on an adult who uses cannabis lawfully under state law.

You apply to your sheriff or city police chief on the DOJ form BOF 4012. A disqualified-person check comes first, then at least 16 hours of training and live fire with each handgun you want listed. The final answer is due within 120 days, or later if the DOJ is slow. A license lasts up to two years, and up to three from January 1, 2027. Local fees vary; the DOJ's standard renewal fee is $93 from September 1, 2026.

California has no permitless carry. Without a license, no handgun may be carried concealed, and in public in a city or a county's "prohibited area" no gun may be carried loaded, nor a handgun openly, nor an unloaded rifle or shotgun outside a vehicle, apart from narrow exceptions (Penal Code 26400). Your home, business and own land are exempt, and so is a handgun moved unloaded and locked on a trip the law lists (Vehicle carry, and getting around California). A campsite, lawful hunting, a range and a grave emergency lift the loaded-carry ban, and hunting has open-carry exceptions too. School zones reach everyone: without a license, within 1,000 feet of a K-12 school a handgun must be unloaded and locked in a container or the trunk of a vehicle (for the federal law, a locked case, which may sit in the trunk), unless you're in a home, business or private property that isn't part of the school grounds (Penal Code 626.9; Where carry is prohibited). Small counties may license loaded, exposed carry; the open-carry ban is in court.

License holders' banned places are in the sensitive-places list in Penal Code 26230: the DOJ counts 26 kinds of place and enforces 20, from schools and parks to stadiums and restaurants that serve alcohol. Six are under a court order: hospitals, transit, permitted events, places of worship, banks, and the "no sign means no guns" rule. At most enforced places a gun may wait in the car in a locked lock box on the DOJ's roster, but not at a college, where Penal Code 626.9 bans any gun without written permission. On a K-12 school's grounds, parking and the street next to it, state law still allows the lock box for a license holder (Penal Code 626.9(c)(5)), but this book advises the handgun ride unloaded in a locked container or the locked trunk; for the federal school-zone law, which names a locked container, make it a locked case, which may sit in the trunk. The Capitol, courthouse, airport and transit laws reach everyone.

With a license, your listed handgun may ride loaded and concealed, subject to the sensitive-places list and its lock-box rules; a lock box doesn't make a college campus lawful, and on the street next to a K-12 school, where state law still allows the lock box, this book advises unloaded in a locked container or the locked trunk; for the federal school-zone law, which names a locked container, make it a locked case, which may sit in the trunk. Without one, a handgun rides unloaded and locked, never in the glove box, on a trip the law lists, such as to a range; the trunk is an option for U.S. citizens only. Long guns ride unloaded. A handgun left in an unattended car must be locked in the trunk or a locked container out of sight. In State Parks, a licensed gun stays unloaded in the lock box in the car. Airports and transit add their own layers.

California caps magazines at 10 rounds, old ones included, and no exception lets a license holder or visitor keep a bigger one. Almost every ammunition purchase goes through a licensed vendor and a DOJ check. Banned outright: handgun rounds designed to pierce body armor, flechette darts, explosive bullets, and tracer and incendiary rounds except shotgun tracer. So are bump stocks, burst and forced reset triggers, and silencers. The magazine and ammunition laws are in court, and in force.

We found no California statute that makes you tell an officer you're armed. Your license conditions require you to carry the license, show it and hand over the gun for inspection on demand, and not impede the officer, and your sheriff or chief may print more conditions on it, so read it. Licensed or not, an officer may check whether a gun you carry in public in a city or a county's prohibited area is loaded, and refusing is grounds for arrest.

To buy from a dealer you must be 21, with narrow exceptions, and hold a Firearm Safety Certificate unless exempt, as license holders are. Almost every sale runs through a dealer, with a 10-day wait and a limit of three guns in 30 days. A new handgun must be on the state's roster. Since January 1, 2026, a gun at home must be securely stored unless carried or within your control. Report a lost or stolen gun within five days.

State law takes over the registration and licensing of commercially made guns (Government Code 53071), and imitation guns (53071.5). Cities and counties add rules on storage, ammunition and more, such as home-storage rules in San Francisco and Los Angeles and San Jose's insurance rule. Your licensing authority can also write limits onto your license. Before you stay in a new city, read its code.

California honors no other state's license. A visitor gets a California non-resident license, available since January 1, 2026, or moves the handgun unloaded and locked on a trip the law lists, such as to a range; the trunk is an option for U.S. citizens only. Visitors leave behind what California bans, such as magazines over 10 rounds. Going out, California's law gives your license and its transport rule no force past the state line, though some states choose to honor a California license. For Oregon, Nevada and Arizona, see the California Regional Carry Guide at www.sneakypeteholsters.com/california-regional-carry-guide, or search "California Regional Carry Guide" at www.sneakypeteholsters.com.

California allows deadly force against a reasonable fear of imminent death or great bodily injury. A "bare fear" isn't enough, and force must be no more than necessary. The jury instruction says you needn't retreat, and at home a reasonable fear is presumed against an intruder who isn't part of the household and unlawfully and forcibly enters, when you know or have reason to believe that happened (Penal Code 198.5). A license holder may not drink or be under the influence while carrying, and must tell the licensing authority of any restraining order, or arrest, charge or conviction for a crime the disqualified-person list names.

Your sheriff or city police chief issues the license. The DOJ's Bureau of Firearms writes the forms, runs the checks and publishes the bulletins on which rules are enforced. The law is free online, and court status is on the courts' own sites. Everything here was checked on September 29, 2026.