California’s large-capacity magazine ban is in full effect. Buying, importing, manufacturing, selling, lending, giving, or receiving any magazine that holds more than 10 rounds is illegal in the state. The one piece of the law currently on hold is the possession ban as applied to magazines people already owned lawfully: the Ninth Circuit stayed enforcement of that part while the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether to hear a challenge to the law.
What Counts as a Large-Capacity Magazine
California defines a large-capacity magazine as any ammunition feeding device that can accept more than 10 rounds.1California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 16740 Three things fall outside that definition and are not covered by the ban: devices permanently altered so they cannot hold more than 10 rounds, .22 caliber tube feeding devices, and tubular magazines in lever-action firearms.
Penal Code section 32310 is the operative statute. It prohibits manufacturing, importing, selling, lending, buying, giving away, or receiving any large-capacity magazine in California. Since July 1, 2017, mere possession has also been illegal, regardless of when the magazine was acquired.2California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 32310 The possession provision is the piece now under a court-ordered stay.
What You Can and Cannot Do Right Now
While the Supreme Court considers the challenge, the practical rules are:
- You cannot buy, import, manufacture, sell, lend, give away, or receive a large-capacity magazine. These restrictions have been in force throughout the litigation. No court order has lifted them since a brief window in late March and early April 2019 known as Freedom Week, which closed when the Ninth Circuit stayed the district court’s injunction on April 5, 2019.3California Rifle & Pistol Association. Moving Forward with Large Capacity Magazine Court Ordered Stay
- You can possess a magazine you already own if you acquired it before the relevant deadlines (2000 for the sales ban, 2017 for the possession ban) or during Freedom Week between March 29 and April 5, 2019. The Ninth Circuit’s stay of its mandate protects that possession for now.4Supreme Court of the United States. Duncan v. Bonta – Brief in Opposition
- You cannot inherit one. The statute prohibits “receiving” a large-capacity magazine, and the law contains no exemption for inheritance or estate transfers. If a family member dies and leaves these magazines in their estate, receiving them in California violates section 32310(a).
- You generally cannot bring them back if you moved away and returned. The one narrow exception covers people who possessed magazines before January 1, 2000, lawfully took them out of state, and are returning with those same magazines.5Justia Law. California Penal Code 32400-32450
Keeping some record of when you bought your magazines is sensible. That timeline is what separates lawful possession from a criminal charge if the stay ever dissolves.
Penalties for Violating the Ban
Penalties split along two tracks: trafficking offenses and simple possession.
Manufacturing, importing, selling, lending, buying, or receiving a large-capacity magazine is a wobbler. Prosecutors can charge it as a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in county jail, or as a felony carrying 16 months, two years, or three years in county jail.2California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 323106California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 1170
Possession alone can be charged as an infraction with a fine of up to $100 per magazine, or as a misdemeanor carrying a fine of up to $100 per magazine, up to one year in county jail, or both. The “per magazine” language matters. Holding five banned magazines can mean five separate charges, not one.
Where the Case Stands
The challenge, Duncan v. Bonta, has moved between the federal district court and the Ninth Circuit since 2017. On March 20, 2025, the Ninth Circuit sitting en banc reversed a district court ruling that had struck down the ban and held that section 32310 is consistent with the Second Amendment.7United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Duncan v. Bonta The plaintiffs then asked the Ninth Circuit to stay its mandate as to magazines already in people’s possession. California did not oppose, and the court granted the request. As the state told the Supreme Court, “Due to similar relief granted at prior stages of the case, Section 32310 has not yet taken effect as to those magazines.”
The plaintiffs filed a petition for certiorari on August 15, 2025. The case was first distributed for conference in November 2025 and, as of late March 2026, has been relisted at least 11 times without a decision.8Supreme Court of the United States. Docket for 25-198 – Duncan v. Bonta If the Court grants the petition, the stay will likely remain in place while the case is briefed and argued. If the Court denies it, the Ninth Circuit’s mandate will take effect, the possession stay will dissolve, and section 32310 will become fully enforceable, including the possession ban.
Compliance Options If the Possession Ban Takes Effect
If the stay lifts, people holding these magazines will need to act. Section 32310(d) sets out three compliance paths:
- Remove them from the state. The magazines remain your property; they just cannot stay in California.
- Sell them to a licensed firearms dealer holding a valid California firearms license.
- Surrender them to law enforcement for destruction by contacting your local police or sheriff’s department.
A fourth path sits in the definitional statute rather than the compliance section: permanently modify the magazine so it cannot hold more than 10 rounds. A properly modified magazine falls outside the statutory definition and is legal to possess.
What Counts as a Permanent Modification
Dropping a block into a magazine body is not enough. California’s regulations lay out specific requirements. For a standard box-type magazine, the modification takes two steps: insert a rigid magazine block that reduces capacity to 10 rounds or fewer, then permanently epoxy the floor plate to the magazine body and rivet the block in place through either the floor plate or the side wall.9California Office of the Attorney General. California Code of Regulations Title 11 – Assault Weapons and Large-Capacity Magazines Metal magazines with metal floor plates can instead have the floor plate welded shut after the block is installed.
Permanent means permanent. The modification must make it impossible to restore the original capacity without destroying the magazine body. A friction-fit block or a block held in place only by spring tension does not meet the regulation, and a magazine modified that way still counts as a large-capacity magazine under the statute.
Who Is Exempt
Penal Code sections 32400 through 32450 list the groups the ban does not reach:
- Law enforcement agencies and officers. Federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies can purchase and issue large-capacity magazines for official duties. Individual sworn peace officers authorized to carry a firearm in their duties can also personally purchase and possess them.10California Office of the Attorney General. State Exemptions for Authorized Peace Officers
- Licensed firearms dealers can buy and sell these magazines as part of their business.
- Armored vehicle companies providing armed cash-transportation services can issue these magazines to their guards for on-duty use. The company, not the individual guard, must own the magazines.
- Licensed dealers and gunsmiths can receive large-capacity magazines for maintenance, repair, or modification and must return them to the owner afterward.
- Permitted importers who obtain a specific permit under section 32315 can import magazines consistent with that permit’s terms.
Standard private security guards are not exempt. Only guards employed directly by public law enforcement agencies, or those working for armored vehicle companies, fall within the statutory exceptions.