June 2026 Legislation/Litigation Report 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 extend the above-described time period to within 180 days and 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 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 180 days, except as specified, and make a violation of this provision a misdemeanor. By creating 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 within the prior year a training course no less than 4 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 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 firearms, including the transfer of a firearm.
- The importance of secure storage to prevent unauthorized access and use of
- Safe firearm handling and fundamentals of shooting
- How to legally and voluntarily surrender or transfer a
- State laws pertaining to self-defense, use-of-force guidelines, and techniques for conflict
Passed by the Senate and forwarded to the Assembly on May 27. Referred to the Committee on Public Safety June 8.
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 require a law enforcement agency adopting this program to provide clear instructions on the procedure to voluntarily transfer custody of a firearm and to provide clear instructions on the process for requesting return of the firearm, as specified. Upon receipt of a firearm, the bill would require 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, 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.
April 20 passed by the Assembly and forwarded to the Senate. May 6, referred to Senate Public Safety Committee. Passed by committee on June 9.
AB 1810, as amended, Berman. 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 failure to remedy specified violations 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 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.
May 26, passed by the Assembly and forwarded to the senate. Referred to Committee on Public Safety June 3.
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
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 distributing the Secure Firearm Storage Notice published by the department when providing a specified drill-related notice to parents and guardians of pupils and a recommendation to post the notice on the local educational agency’s internet website.
- 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.
- The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
May 11, passed by the Assembly and forwarded to the Senate. June 3 passed by the Education Committee and referred to Committee o 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 January 1, 2028, 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, on or before March 1, 2028, 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 internet 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 knowingly 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, with the intent to facilitate the unlawful manufacture of firearms. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Passed by the Assembly May 26 and forwarded to the Senate. June 3, referred to Committees on Judiciary and Public Safety.
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 license. The bill would make conforming changes.
Amended and passed by the Assembly March 26, forwarded to the Senate. Passed by the Committee on Public Safety and forwarded to the consent calendar.
Litigation
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). The current court session ends this month, and the court must act on pending cases by then or they become moot.
If the Supreme Court denies certiorari in this case the current ban on ownership of all magazines holding more than 10 rounds will be enforceable in California. This is the ruling of an En Banc panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has been stayed until the Supreme Court acts on the case.
This will include banning possession of currently “grandfathered” magazines held prior to January 1, 2000, and “freedom week” magazines.
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.
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
