CA Approved Handguns: Roster, Exemptions, and Microstamping

In California, the handguns a licensed dealer can sell you are limited to models on the state’s Roster of Certified Handguns, a list the Department of Justice maintains under Penal Code section 31910.¹ If a handgun isn’t on that roster and doesn’t fall under a specific exemption, no dealer in the state can transfer it to you as a new retail sale, no matter how common the model is elsewhere in the country.²

How to Check if a Handgun Is on the Roster

Before you put money down on anything, verify the exact model on the DOJ’s online database. The search page lets you filter by manufacturer, model name, gun type (pistol or revolver), and barrel length.² Bring the exact model number or SKU. Manufacturers often list several configurations of the same basic design, and only some variants may be certified.

The DOJ also publishes separate lists of recently added and recently removed models.³ Check both. The roster changes frequently, and a gun that a dealer says was “just certified” or that “will be on the list soon” may not actually be sellable to you today. Don’t rely on a store’s word alone.

Why the Roster Keeps Getting Shorter

Two things quietly pull models off the list. First, every rostered model carries a $200 annual maintenance fee, and missing the renewal deadline gets a model removed.⁴ Second, and more consequentially, any meaningful change to a rostered handgun’s internal mechanics, materials, or significant external features is treated as an entirely new model. That updated version has to go through full testing again and meet all current feature requirements, including ones that didn’t exist when the original was certified.

Manufacturers update product lines routinely, and many have decided the recertification cost isn’t worth it for a single state. So a model you or a friend bought a few years ago may no longer be available new.

What It Takes for a Handgun to Qualify

The requirements split by action type, and models already on the roster before certain cutoffs are grandfathered under the older rules.

Revolvers

A revolver must have a safety device that prevents the firing pin from resting on a live round. Double-action revolvers need this to engage automatically; single-action revolvers can use a manual safety.¹

Semi-Automatic Pistols

Every pistol needs a manually operated safety meeting federal import standards. On top of that, any centerfire semi-automatic pistol not already rostered must include a chamber load indicator, and any pistol with a detachable magazine that isn’t already rostered must include a magazine disconnect mechanism that prevents firing when the magazine is out.¹

Laboratory Testing

Every submitted model has to pass two physical tests at a DOJ-certified independent lab, paid for by the manufacturer. In the drop-safety test, the handgun is dropped from one meter onto concrete in six orientations without discharging. In the firing test, the lab runs 600 rounds through the gun; the model passes only if the first 20 rounds fire without malfunction and total malfunctions across 600 rounds stay at or under six. Any crack or breakage of an operating part that could injure the shooter is an automatic failure.⁵

Legal Ways to Get a Non-Rostered Handgun

The roster restricts new retail sales from dealer inventory. Several legal channels move around it.

Private party transfers. Two California residents can buy and sell handguns between themselves, including non-rostered models, as long as the transaction goes through a licensed dealer for the background check and paperwork. This is probably the most common way Californians end up with off-roster handguns, and it’s fully legal.²
Law enforcement purchases. Sworn members of qualifying agencies, including police departments, sheriff’s offices, the California Highway Patrol, the Department of Corrections, and various federal and state agencies, can buy non-rostered handguns for duty or personal use.⁶
Curios and relics. Firearms at least 50 years old in original configuration qualify as curios or relics under federal law and are exempt.⁷
Single-action revolvers meeting size specs. Exempt if they have at least a five-cartridge capacity, a barrel length of at least three inches, and an overall length of at least seven and a half inches measured parallel to the barrel.
Olympic competition pistols. Certain pistols designed for Olympic target events are exempt under Penal Code section 32105.⁸
Intrafamilial transfers. Transfers between immediate family members by gift, bequest, or inheritance are exempt from both the roster restriction and the usual dealer requirement.
Pawn and consignment returns. Getting your own firearm back from pawn or consignment does not trigger the roster restriction.²

Buying a Rostered Handgun

Once you’ve found a model on the roster and picked one out at a dealer, the purchase runs through the Dealer Record of Sale (DROS) process. You’ll fill out California’s paperwork along with federal ATF Form 4473, which the government uses to determine whether you’re legally eligible to possess a firearm. Lying on that form, including buying on someone else’s behalf (a straw purchase), is a federal felony.

After DROS submission and acceptance, a mandatory waiting period of ten 24-hour periods begins. You cannot take possession of the handgun until it expires, no matter how fast your background check clears.⁹ The DROS fee is $31.19 and covers one or more firearms transferred to the same buyer at the same time. Your dealer may charge additional processing fees on top.

Moving to California with Handguns You Already Own

The roster restriction doesn’t apply to handguns you already own and bring with you when moving into the state. You can legally keep a non-rostered handgun you imported as a new resident.¹⁰

You do have to report it, though. Within 60 days of arrival, you must do one of three things: submit a New Resident Report of Firearm Ownership (Form BOF 4010A) with a $19 fee to the DOJ Bureau of Firearms, sell or transfer the firearm through a licensed California dealer, or turn it over to law enforcement. When transporting handguns into the state, they must be unloaded and stored in a locked container separate from the glove compartment or utility compartment of your vehicle. Missing the 60-day window can lead to criminal prosecution under Penal Code section 27590.¹⁰

Microstamping and What’s Coming in 2028

Microstamping engraves microscopic identifiers onto a firearm’s internal parts so that unique marks transfer to each spent cartridge case. Senate Bill 452, signed in September 2023, pulled the old microstamping mandate out of Penal Code section 31910 (that provision sunsets January 1, 2027) and replaced it with a new framework in Penal Code sections 27531 through 27534.¹¹

Starting January 1, 2028, licensed dealers would be barred from selling a semi-automatic pistol unless it has been certified as “microstamping-enabled” by the manufacturer, a dealer, or a gunsmith who installed a qualifying component. The rule reaches only pistols manufactured or delivered to a dealer on or after that date, so existing inventory and private-party sales aren’t affected.¹²

There’s a condition attached. The 2028 requirement kicks in only if the DOJ first finds that microstamping components are technologically viable and commercially available at reasonable prices. A July 2025 DOJ report found the technology viable, and the department began accepting applications from microstamping component producers in 2026.¹¹ Whether the commercial availability determination will be made in time for the 2028 deadline is still open.

1
California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 31910
2
State of California – Department of Justice. Handguns Certified for Sale
3
State of California – Department of Justice. Recently Added Handgun Models
4
Legal Information Institute. 11 CCR 4072 – Fees for the Roster of Certified Handguns
5
California Department of Justice. Title 11 Department of Justice Proposed Regulations
6
State of California – Department of Justice. State Exemptions for Authorized Peace Officers
7
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Curios and Relics
8
State of California – Department of Justice. Roster of Exempted Olympic Competition Pistols
9
State of California – Department of Justice. Frequently Asked Questions – Dealers
10
State of California – Department of Justice. Firearms Information for New California Residents
11
State of California – Department of Justice. Senate Bill 452 Microstamping
12
State of California – Department of Justice. Microstamping Technological Viability Report 2025