Legislative updates, court decisions, and regulatory changes affecting California firearms law.
AB 824 proposed changes to protective-order firearm and ammunition relinquishment procedures. It did not pass in the 2025-26 session. Its last recorded action was a Senate Appropriations hold on August 29, 2025.
Senate Bill 248 proposed DOJ informational letters for firearm purchasers and specified transaction reporters. It passed the Senate 28-11 in June 2025 but did not pass in the 2025-26 session. Its last recorded action was the August 29, 2025 Assembly Appropriations hold.
A comprehensive analysis of all pending Second Amendment cases affecting California. The Bruen decision has triggered challenges to nearly every major component of the state's firearms regulatory framework. This article examines which provisions are most vulnerable and provides a timeline of expected rulings.
California charges a total state fee of $37.19 for a firearm purchase. This includes a $31.19 DROS fee for background checks and the transfer registry, a $1 Firearms Safety Act fee and a $5 Safety and Enforcement fee.
May v. Bonta and Carralero v. Bonta challenged SB 2's list of sensitive places where concealed carry is prohibited. The Ninth Circuit made 20 of 26 categories enforceable (mandate January 23, 2025). Six remain enjoined. On June 25, 2026, the Supreme Court decided Wolford v. Lopez, striking Hawaii's identical private-property default and cementing the injunction against SB 2's version. District proceedings continue.
Boland v. Bonta challenges the California Handgun Roster and its microstamping requirement as unconstitutional under Bruen. On October 15, 2026, the DOJ roster listed 1,003 handguns.
Miller v. Bonta is the lead challenge to California's assault weapons ban. On June 30, 2026, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Grant v. Higgins and Viramontes v. Cook County, consolidated cases on whether AR-15 platform rifles in common use are protected, and the Ninth Circuit vacated submission of Miller on July 1, 2026, pending resolution of those cases. The ban remains fully enforceable.
Governor Newsom signed SB 2 on September 26, 2023, overhauling California's concealed carry framework in response to the Supreme Court's Bruen decision. The law replaced the struck-down "good cause" requirement with sensitive-places restrictions and new training mandates, and removed the prohibition on licensing-authority requirements for liability insurance.
Rupp v. Bonta is a parallel challenge to California's assault weapons ban filed in the Central District, brought by different plaintiffs but raising similar constitutional issues. The Ninth Circuit vacated the district court's judgment and remanded after Bruen. A later appeal is pending.
Rhode v. Bonta challenges California's Proposition 63 ammunition background check system, which requires point-of-sale background checks for ammunition purchases subject to statutory exceptions and bans direct-to-consumer online sales. A Ninth Circuit panel struck the system down in July 2025, but the en banc court vacated that opinion and reheard the case on March 25, 2026. A decision is pending, and the background checks remain in effect.
On June 23, 2022, the Supreme Court held 6-3 in NYSRPA v. Bruen that New York's "proper cause" requirement for concealed carry permits violates the Second Amendment. The decision established a new text, history, and tradition framework and eliminated "good cause" requirements for CCW permits nationwide.
On June 28, 2010, the Supreme Court held 5-4 in McDonald v. City of Chicago that the Second Amendment individual right recognized in Heller is incorporated against state and local governments through the Fourteenth Amendment.