California does not have constitutional carry. It is not a permitless-carry state.
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
California does not have constitutional carry. It is not a permitless-carry state.
To carry a handgun concealed in public, or to carry any loaded firearm in public, you must hold a valid California carry license (commonly called a CCW). There is no provision in California law that lets a member of the public carry a concealed or loaded handgun in public without a license. Carrying a concealed firearm without a license is a crime under Penal Code 25400, and carrying a loaded firearm in public without authorization is a separate crime under Penal Code 25850. Both offenses are "wobblers" or misdemeanors in the ordinary case and become felonies under aggravating circumstances such as a prior felony conviction, a stolen firearm, or the carrier being a prohibited person (Penal Code 25400(c); Penal Code 25850(c)).
California is a licensed, shall-issue carry state. A license to carry a concealable firearm is issued either by the sheriff of the county where you live or work (Penal Code 26150) or by the chief of a municipal police department for the city where you live (Penal Code 26155). The two statutes apply the same substantive standard.
AB 1078 (Stats. 2025, Ch. 570), effective January 1, 2026, restructured both Penal Code 26150 and Penal Code 26155 into separate application pathways. Subdivision (a) covers a California resident who applies in the county or city where the person lives, or where the person has a principal place of employment or business. Subdivision (b) is a separate pathway for a non-California resident to apply. So California now has a general non-resident carry license pathway, not a system that is limited to in-state residents.
For a California resident, the licensing authority "shall issue or renew" a license under subdivision (a) of Penal Code 26150 or Penal Code 26155 when the applicant shows all of the following:
A non-California resident applies under subdivision (b) of the same statute. The non-resident must show that they are not a disqualified person under Penal Code 26202 and under any comparable disqualifiers in their home state, must be at least 21 with a valid out-of-state driver's license or DMV identification card, must attest under oath that the chosen jurisdiction is the primary California location where they intend to travel or spend time, must complete the required training and live-fire exercises, and must identify each firearm to be licensed (Penal Code 26150(b); Penal Code 26155(b)).
Because the statute uses "shall issue" once these objective criteria are met, the licensing authority does not have discretion to deny a qualified applicant for lack of a special reason to carry. This reflects the change required after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), which struck down "good cause" or "justifiable need" requirements like the one California previously applied.
A license is issued in one of two formats (Penal Code 26150(c); Penal Code 26155(c)). The standard format is a license to carry concealed (Penal Code 26150(c)(1)). In a county with a population under 200,000, the licensing authority may instead issue a license to carry a handgun "loaded and exposed" that is valid only within that county (Penal Code 26150(c)(2)). For everyone else, the license authorizes concealed carry only.
A new applicant must complete a training course of no less than 16 hours (Penal Code 26165(a)(1)). The course must cover firearm safety and handling, safe storage, lawful transport, the laws governing where a permitholder may carry, the law on permissible use of a firearm, and the law on the use of lethal force in self-defense. It must include a component of at least one hour on mental health and mental health resources, a written examination, and live-fire shooting exercises demonstrating proficiency with each firearm to be licensed (Penal Code 26165(a)(2) through (a)(6)). For a renewal, the course must be no less than 8 hours (Penal Code 26165(d)).
Application fees are set by the framework in Penal Code 26190. The state Department of Justice fee is limited to its processing costs, and the local licensing authority may charge an additional fee capped at its reasonable costs to process, issue, and enforce the license.
A standard license issued under Penal Code 26150 or 26155 is valid for a period not to exceed two years from the date of issuance (Penal Code 26220(a)). Longer terms apply to certain officials, such as judges and qualifying court commissioners (up to three years) and custodial officers (up to four years).
On timing, the licensing authority must give the applicant written notice of its initial disqualification determination within 90 days of receiving a completed application (Penal Code 26202(d)), and must give written notice approving or denying the license within 120 days of receiving the completed application, or 30 days after it receives the Department of Justice background information, whichever is later (Penal Code 26205(a)).
Penal Code 26202 lists the conduct and history that make an applicant a disqualified person who cannot receive or renew a license unless a court rules otherwise. These include being reasonably likely to be a danger to self, others, or the community; being subject to certain restraining or protective orders; specified recent convictions or charges; unlawful or reckless brandishing of a firearm; being an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance, or currently abusing a controlled substance or alcohol; and certain firearm loss or failure-to-report histories. The licensing authority must conduct an investigation that includes a review of Department of Justice records, character references, and publicly available information about the applicant (Penal Code 26202(b)).
After Bruen, the Legislature passed SB 2 (Stats. 2023, Ch. 249), effective January 1, 2024, which removed the old "good cause" standard, raised and standardized the qualifications above, and added a long list of "sensitive places" where a licenseholder may not carry. That list is at Penal Code 26230. The statute also lets a licensee transport a locked firearm through some of these areas in a vehicle and store it in a locked lock box out of plain view (Penal Code 26230(b) and (c)).
This part of the law has been heavily litigated, and not every category on the statutory list is being enforced today, so you must check the current status of a specific category before relying on it. In May v. Bonta and the consolidated case Carralero v. Bonta, a federal district court issued a preliminary injunction on December 20, 2023 blocking many of the Penal Code 26230 categories. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals then reversed that injunction in large part, and its mandate took effect on January 23, 2025. The court did not simply pause or "stay" the injunction. It reversed the injunction as to most categories, which put those categories back into force.
According to the California Department of Justice information bulletin on this decision (No. 2025-DLE-06, March 27, 2025), 20 of the 26 challenged sensitive-place categories are now in effect, and 6 categories remain enjoined and are not being enforced.
Currently enforceable (a licenseholder may not carry there). These include the categories that were never enjoined and the ones the Ninth Circuit put back into force:
Currently enjoined (not being enforced pending further appeal). As of the January 23, 2025 mandate, these 6 categories remain blocked by the December 2023 preliminary injunction, so they are not operative carry rules right now. Carry in these places is governed by the underlying private-property or other rules rather than by Penal Code 26230, and you should confirm the litigation status before relying on this:
Because this litigation is ongoing and a category can move between these lists, treat any list as a snapshot and confirm the current rule before carrying near one of these locations.
Open carry is not a substitute for a license. Carrying a loaded firearm openly in public is barred by Penal Code 25850. Separately, openly carrying an exposed and unloaded handgun in a public place or on a public street in an incorporated city (or in a prohibited area of an unincorporated county) is a misdemeanor under Penal Code 26350, and openly carrying an exposed and unloaded firearm that is not a handgun (a long gun) in those public areas is a misdemeanor under Penal Code 26400. Together these statutes leave very little lawful public open carry of a handgun anywhere in California, which is why a carry license is the only practical route to carrying a handgun in public.
California does not have a statutory "stand your ground" law. Penal Code 197 sets out when a homicide is justifiable, including in lawful defense of self or others against an apparent design to commit a felony or to cause great bodily injury. Penal Code 198.5 creates a presumption that a person who uses deadly force against someone who unlawfully and forcibly enters their residence held a reasonable fear of imminent peril, which is California's version of a "castle" rule for the home. While there is no statute that expressly removes a duty to retreat, the standard jury instructions used in California self-defense cases (CALCRIM 505 and 3470) tell jurors that a person who is not the aggressor has no duty to retreat and may stand their ground and even pursue an assailant if reasonably necessary to defend against the threat. The practical effect is similar to a no-duty-to-retreat rule, but it comes from case law and jury instructions rather than a stand-your-ground statute.
A carry license does not exempt you from California's other firearm laws, several of which are themselves the subject of active federal litigation. Examples include the requirement that most firearm transfers between private parties go through a licensed dealer (Penal Code 27545) along with the mandatory 10-day waiting period before a dealer may deliver a firearm; the Unsafe Handgun Act and the Roster of Handguns Certified for Sale (Penal Code 32000 et seq.), the microstamping piece of which has been challenged in Boland v. Bonta; the ban on large-capacity magazines, challenged in Duncan v. Bonta; and the assault weapons restrictions tied to the definition in Penal Code 30515, challenged in Miller v. Bonta. Because these regimes change as courts rule, confirm the current status of any specific restriction before acting on it.
Anyone who wants to carry a concealed or loaded handgun in public in California must obtain a carry license from the county sheriff (Penal Code 26150) or municipal police chief (Penal Code 26155). After AB 1078, a California resident applies under subdivision (a) and a non-California resident applies under subdivision (b), so there is now a non-resident pathway as well. The license requires being at least 21, passing the Penal Code 26202 disqualifier screen, completing the Penal Code 26165 training, and being the registered owner of the firearm. Carrying without a license violates Penal Code 25400 or Penal Code 25850. Even with a license, the sensitive-place limits in Penal Code 26230 apply, but 6 of the 26 categories are currently enjoined and not being enforced, so verify the current status of a category before you rely on it.
This page covers one part of our California concealed carry guide.
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