April 2026 Legislation/Litigation Report April Focus

AB2571, 2022 session, finally defeated!

After four years of litigation, California finally conceded its youth firearms marketing law is unconstitutional and agreed to pay the challenging parties $481,792 in attorney’s fees. In summer 2022, California passed Assembly Bill 2571. The bill banned any marketing of firearms or accessories that might be attractive to minors. In its original form, the bill was so broad that teaching youth firearm safety education programs was illegal.

The bill passed, and Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation, Safari Club International, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, and So Cal Top Guns, with support from the National Rifle Association, immediately sued, alleging that the law violated the First, Second, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments. It took nearly two years and an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals before we were able to get a preliminary order enjoining the state from enforcing the law.

The Ninth Circuit recognized the law “does not ‘directly’ and ‘materially’ further” the purported goals of “reducing gun violence and unlawful use of firearms by minors.” Instead, it bans truthful advertising — “for example, an ad showcasing a safer hunting rifle with less recoil for minors would likely be unlawful in California.”

But California was undeterred by that defeat. It prolonged the litigation by seeking an En Banc appeal before 11 judges on the Ninth Circuit—which was unanimously rejected. Then it fought the scope of the injunction in the district court. But after a second loss in the Ninth Circuit, the state has finally acquiesced. It now acknowledges what was obvious all along—it infringed on First Amendment rights and is paying a price for doing so.

The restrictions imposed by AB 2571 are finally moot and no longer in effect.

Legislation

SB 948, as introduced by Senator Arreguín. Firearms: safety certificates.

Existing law requires any person who purchases or receives a firearm to possess a firearm safety certificate. Existing law also prohibits a person from selling or transferring a firearm to any person who does not possess a firearm safety certificate. A violation of either of these provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor. Existing law requires a personal firearm importer, within 60 days of bringing any firearm into this state, to, among other things, submit a report including information concerning that individual and a description of the firearm in question to the Department of Justice.

This bill would also require that personal firearm importer to obtain a valid firearm safety certificate and include a copy of the valid firearm safety certificate within the report. report and make a violation of this provision a misdemeanor. The bill would prohibit a person from bringing a firearm into this state without obtaining a valid firearm safety certificate within 60

days, except as specified. specified, and make a violation of this provision a misdemeanor. By creating a new prohibition, this bill would create a new crime and therefore a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Existing law requires an applicant for a firearm safety certificate to pass a test developed by the Department of Justice covering specified subjects, including, among others, the laws applicable to carrying and handling firearms and the responsibilities of ownership of firearms.

This bill would require an applicant for a firearm safety certificate, on or after July 1, 2028, to complete a training course no less than 8 hours in length that, among other things, includes instruction on firearm safety and handling and live-fire shooting exercises on a firing range. The bill would authorize the Department of Justice to promulgate regulations and provide additional information for the implementation of this subdivision. these provisions.

In addition to one hour of live-fire training on a gun range, the training shall include instruction on all of the following:

Federal and state laws related to possession, transportation, and storage of
The importance of secure storage to prevent unauthorized access and use of
Safe firearm handling and fundamentals of shooting
Risks of firearms and causes of
How to legally relinquish or transfer a
State laws pertaining to self-defense and techniques for conflict
Mental health, suicide prevention, and domestic violence issues associated with firearms and firearm violence.

March 16, amended and re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations.

AB 1006, as amended, Ramos. Firearms: concealed carry.

Existing law prohibits a person from carrying a concealed firearm or carrying a loaded firearm in public. Existing law requires a licensing authority to issue or renew a license for a person to carry a concealed firearm if specified conditions are met, including, among others, that the applicant is not a disqualified person for the license, as specified, and the applicant is the recorded owner of the firearm with the Department of Justice. Existing law deems an applicant to be a disqualified person and cannot receive or renew a license if, among other reasons, the applicant is reasonably likely to be a danger to self, others, or the community at large, or, in the 10 years prior to the licensing authority receiving the completed application, the applicant has been charged with any certain offense that was dismissed pursuant to a plea or dismissed with a waiver, as specified. Under existing law, a license issued pursuant to these provisions is valid for a period not to exceed 2 years from the date of the license, and any person who files an application knowing that any statement in the application is false is guilty of a misdemeanor.

This bill would also treat the spouse of the recorded owner of the firearm as the recorded owner for licensing purposes. The bill would include additional specified acts that would deem an applicant as a disqualified person, including providing any information that the applicant knew or should have known was inaccurate or incomplete information in connection with the application or, in the 10 years prior to the licensing authority receiving the completed application for a new license or a license renewal, the applicant has been charged

with convicted of certain offenses, including knowingly and willingly threatening the life of any elected public official and other specified persons. By expanding the application of an existing crime and expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. The bill would make other conforming changes.

AB 1974, as introduced, Stefani. Firearms: voluntary firearm storage program.

Existing law requires a person, who claims title to a firearm that is in the custody of a court or law enforcement agency and wishes to have it returned, to make an application for a determination by the Department of Justice as to whether the applicant is eligible to possess a firearm. Under existing law, a law enforcement agency or court that has taken custody of a firearm is prohibited from returning the firearm to an individual unless specified requirements are met, including, but not limited to, requiring the person to be eligible to possess a firearm and verifying that the firearm is not listed as stolen and the firearm has been recorded in the Automated Firearms System in the name of the person, as specified. Existing law requires any weapon that was carried unlawfully for specified crimes to be surrendered to specified law enforcement entities. Existing law requires weapons surrendered pursuant to these provisions to be destroyed by the law enforcement entity.

This bill would authorize a law enforcement agency, as defined, to create a voluntary firearm storage program that allows a person to voluntarily transfer custody of their firearm to the local law enforcement agency for temporary safekeeping purposes to prevent firearm violence, suicide, and other injury. The bill would authorize a law enforcement agency adopting this program to provide clear instructions on the procedure to voluntarily transfer custody of a firearm and to provide explicit instructions on the process for requesting return of the firearm, as specified. Upon receipt of a firearm, the bill would authorize a law enforcement agency to, among other things, check a certain database to ensure the firearm has not previously been reported lost, stolen, or involved in a crime and ensure that the requesting person is eligible to possess firearms when the firearm is returned to the person. The bill would require a law enforcement agency to destroy a firearm that a person failed to retrieve at the end of a time period specified by the law enforcement agency. agency, except as provided.

Existing law prohibits the carrying of a concealed firearm or the open carrying of a firearm, as specified. Existing law provides certain exemptions to these prohibitions, including exemptions for peace officers, retired peace officers, and persons possessing a valid license to carry a concealed firearm. Existing law generally regulates the sale and transfer of firearms, including, among other requirements and subject to exceptions, that the transfer of a firearm be conducted through a firearms dealer.

This bill would exempt the voluntary transfer of a firearm to a local law enforcement agency pursuant to the provisions above from these prohibitions and regulations.

March 26, amended and re-referred to Committee on Public Safety.

AB 1810, as amended, Berman. Firearms: centralized list. Firearms: dealer centralized list.

Existing law requires the Department of Justice to keep a centralized list of all persons who are licensed firearms dealers and satisfy certain requirements, including having a valid federal firearms license and a regulatory or business license required by local government. Existing law requires the department to remove a person from the list if the person’s federal license has expired or been revoked. Existing law, beginning on January 1, 2024, requires the department to conduct inspections of firearms dealers at least every 3 years, except as provided, to ensure compliance with specified requirements. As part of the department’s inspections of firearms dealers, existing law requires the department to audit a dealer’s records that includes a sampling of at least 25% but no more than 50% of each record type. Existing law requires the department to assess annual fees not to exceed specified amounts to cover the reasonable costs of inspecting and maintaining this list and other similar centralized lists.

This bill would require the department to remove from the list a person who fails to comply with the requirements to be on the list and authorize the department to remove a person from the list who fails to remedy specified violations discovered as a result of the above-described inspections. The bill would subject a person removed from the list for these 2 reasons to a fine and make that person ineligible to be placed on the list for a period of 2 years. The bill would require the department to conduct a yearly inspection of the 10 firearm dealer locations with the highest percentage of total sales of firearms that were recovered by law enforcement and found to be illegally possessed, used in a crime, or suspected to have been used in a crime, as specified, pursuant to a certain yearly report. The bill would, for the fees charged for inspecting and maintaining the above-described lists, instead require the department to assess a reasonable annual fee. The bill would prohibit a fee adjustment from exceeding 15% over the previous year and exceeding the amount necessary to cover the costs described above.

Existing law requires the Department of Justice to keep a centralized list of all persons licensed to sell firearms. Existing law authorizes the department to remove from the centralized list a person who knowingly or with gross negligence violates specified provisions of law. Upon removal of a dealer from the centralized list, existing law requires notification to be provided to local law enforcement and licensing authorities in the jurisdiction where the dealer’s business is located.

This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those provisions. March16, amended and re-referred to the Committee on Public Safety.

AB 1943, as amended, Gipson. Pupil safety: notifications: firearms.

Existing law requires a school district, county office of education, and charter school to annually inform parents and guardians of pupils at the beginning of the first semester or

quarter of the regular school term of California’s child access prevention laws and laws relating to the safe storage of firearms, as specified. Existing law requires the State Department of Education, on or before July 1, 2023, to develop, and subsequently update as provided, in consultation with the Department of Justice, and provide to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools, and, upon request, to provide to private schools, model language for the notice regarding those child access prevention and safe storage of firearms laws.

This bill would revise and recast those requirements by, among other things, (A) instead requiring those local educational agencies to inform parents or guardians of each enrolled pupil of the importance of practicing secure firearm storage for all homes in which firearms are present through a notice entitled “Secure Firearm Storage Notification“ that contains, among other things, a description of the risks of children accessing unsecured firearms in the home and California’s child access prevention laws and laws relating to the safe storage of firearms,

(B) for all local educational agencies that maintain a website, requiring the notice to be additionally be posted, and annually updated, on the local educational agency’s department, commencing July 1, 2027, to post the model language for notice on its internet website, as specified, (C) requiring the department, on or before July 1, 2027, to provide formatting and content options for local educational agencies to post the notice on their respective internet websites and for posting other relevant information and resources about secure firearm storage using other internet-based communication options, and (D) requiring the department to encourage each local educational agency to adopt a policy and practice of providing the notice to parents, guardians, and caregivers when otherwise providing notice to parents, guardians, or caregivers of disciplinary actions or supports given related to threats against other pupils or threats of self-harm. The bill would make conforming changes. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Existing law requires the department, on or before June 15, 2025, to curate and post on its internet website best practices pertaining to school shooter or other armed assailant drills for use by school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools, as Existing law encourages a school district, county office of education, or charter school to comply with those best practices.

This bill would require those best practices to also include a recommendation to

distribute distributing the Secure Firearm Storage Notice published by the department when providing a specified drill-related notice to parents and guardians of pupils. pupils and a recommendation to post the notice on the local educational agency’s internet website.

This bill would require those best practices to also include a recommendation to distribute the Secure Firearm Storage Notice published by the department in Section 49896 when providing a specified drill-related notice to parents and guardians of pupils.

Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to send a notice to each middle school, junior high school, and high school that encourages each school to provide suicide prevention training to each school counselor at least one time while employed as a

counselor, provides information on the availability of the suicide prevention training curriculum developed by the department, and informs schools about the suicide prevention training provided by the department and describes how a school might retain those services.

This bill would require that notice to also include the Secure Firearm Storage Notification model content published by the department as an example of information about reducing access to lethal means that can be given by a school counselor to a pupil’s family, as provided.

March 23, amended and re-referred to Committee on Appropriations.

AB 2047, as introduced, Bauer-Kahan. Firearms: 3-dimensional printing blocking technology.

Existing law makes it a crime to knowingly or willfully cause another person to engage in the unlawful manufacture of firearms or knowingly or willfully aiding, abetting, prompting, or facilitating the unlawful manufacture of firearms, including the manufacture of assault weapons or .50 BMG rifles or the manufacture of any firearm using a 3-dimensional printer, as specified.

This bill would require the Department of Justice or other relevant state agency to engage in an investigation of known firearm blueprint design files and existing firearm blueprint detection algorithms, as defined. The bill would require, on or before July 1, 2027, the department or other relevant state agency to publish written guidance on performance standards for persons or entities engaged in the creation of firearm blueprint detection algorithm to be certified for use by 3-dimensional printer manufacturers, as specified. The bill would require the department or other relevant state agency that prepared the written guidance on performance standards to accept applications for certification of firearms blueprint detection algorithms and begin issuing certifications of algorithms that meet or exceed the performance standards on or before January 1, 2028, and would specify the grounds for revocation of certification pursuant to these provisions. The bill would require the department or other relevant state agency to publish written guidance on how to equip 3-dimensional printers with firearm blocking technology, as defined, and would require the performance standards to be publicly available on the department or other relevant state agency’s website.

This bill would require, on or before July 1, 2028, any business that produces or manufactures 3-dimensional printers for sale or transfer in California to submit to the department an attestation for each make and model of printer they intend to make available for sale or transfer in California, confirming, among other things, that the manufacturer has equipped that make and model with a certified firearm blueprint detection algorithm. If the department verifies a printer make and model is properly equipped, the bill would require the department to issue a notice of compliance, as specified. The bill would require, on or before September 1, 2028, the department to publish a list of all the makes and models of 3-dimensional printers whose manufacturers have submitted complete self-attestations and would require the department to update the list no less frequently than on a quarterly basis and to make the list available on the department’s internet website. The bill, beginning on March 1, 2029, would prohibit the sale or transfer of 3-dimensional printers that are not equipped with firearm blocking technology and that are not listed on the department’s list of manufacturers with a certificate of compliance

verification, except as specified. The bill would authorize a civil action to be brought against a person who sells, offers to sell, or transfers a printer without the firearm blocking technology.

This bill would also make it a crime to knowingly disable, deactivate, uninstall, or otherwise circumvent any firearm blocking technology installed in a 3-dimensional printer with intent to manufacture firearms or to distribute, sell, or transfer for consideration in California one or more modified versions of a 3-dimensional printer identified on the Department of Justice’s list of 3-dimensional printers eligible for sale in California. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

March 25, passed Committee on Public Safety and referred to Committee on he Judiciary.

SB 649, as amended, Alvarado-Gil. Criminal law: rights of victims and witnesses of crimes. Firearms: silencers.

Existing law generally regulates deadly weapons, including assault weapons. Existing law defines an assault weapon, including, among others, as a semiautomatic centrefire firearm, as specified, that has a threaded barrel capable of accepting a silencer. Existing law defines a silencer, among others, as any device or attachment intended to muffle the sound of a firearm.

Existing law makes it a felony for any person, firm, or corporation to possess a silencer for a firearm. Existing law exempts specified actions from those provisions, including the manufacture, possession, transportation, or sale or other transfer of a silencer to specified law enforcement agencies and military or naval forces by dealers or manufacturers registered under federal law.

Existing law authorizes a court to sentence an eligible person convicted of a felony to probation. Existing law prohibits granting probation in specified circumstances, including if the person possesses a silencer.

Existing law requires any weapon, including a firearm and any attachments, that was carried unlawfully for specified crimes to be surrendered to specified law enforcement entities. Existing law requires weapons surrendered pursuant to these provisions to be destroyed by the law enforcement entity.

This bill would replace the term “silencer” with the term “suppressor” in the above provisions.

Existing law declares the intent of the Legislature to ensure that all victims and witnesses of crimes, as defined, are treated with dignity, respect, courtesy, and sensitivity. Existing law enumerates the rights of victims and witnesses of crimes, including, but not limited to, the right to be informed by a prosecuting attorney of the final disposition of a case.

This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to a related provision. March 24, amended in the Senate.

AB 1948, as introduced, Ramos. Firearms: concealed carry licenses.

Existing law prohibits a person from carrying a concealed firearm or carrying a loaded firearm in public. Existing law requires a licensing authority to issue or renew a license to carry a firearm capable of being concealed if specified conditions are met, including, among others, that the applicant is not a disqualified person for the license, as specified, and the applicant has completed a specified course of training. Existing law makes a new or renewal license that is issued to be valid for a period of time not to exceed 2 years from the date of the license, except as otherwise provided.

This bill would extend the duration of those licenses to 3 years from the date of the new license and 6 years from the date of the license for renewal. license. The bill would make conforming changes.

Amended and passed by the Assembly. March 26, in the Senate.

AB 1092, as amended, Castillo. Firearms: concealed carry licenses.

This bill would, for a license issued after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2027, extend the duration of those licenses to a period of time not to exceed 3 years from the date of the license. The bill would, for a license issued after January 1, 2027, extend the duration of those licenses to a period of time not to exceed 4 years from the date of the license.

From committee without further action under Joint Rule 62(a). See AB 1948.

Litigation

Baird V Bonta, a challenge to California’s ban on open carry in counties with populations over 200,000. A three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that California’s law for open carry is unconstitutional. The law banned open carry in any county with a population greater than 200,000 and required a permit in counties with less.

The state has appealed to the Supreme Court, and a stay has been issued pending action by the court.

Duncan V Bonta, a challenge to California’s High-Capacity Magazine ban, has been distributed to the Supreme Court justices for review and was rescheduled (yet again). If the Supreme Court denies certiorari in this case ownership of all magazines holding more than 10 rounds will be banned in California. This will include currently “grandfathered” magazines held prior to January 1, 2000, and “freedom week” magazines.

Rhode V Bonta, the challenge to California’s ammunition restrictions, was heard by an En Banc panel of the Ninth Circuit District Court of Appeal on March 25. We are awaiting their decision.

Respectfully submitted, David Smith

April 2026 Legislation/Litigation Report - Apple Valley Gun Club