The California SB 53 gun storage law takes effect on January 1, 2026, and it requires every firearm kept in a residence to be locked in a Department of Justice-certified safety device or compliant gun safe whenever the gun is not on your person or within arm’s reach.1California Legislative Information. California SB 53 Firearms Storage A first violation of the new Penal Code Section 25145 is a fine of up to $250. A third violation is a misdemeanor, and a misdemeanor storage conviction can cost you the right to own a firearm for ten years.
What Counts as Securely Stored
A firearm meets the storage requirement when it is kept inside, locked by, or disabled using either a DOJ-certified firearm safety device or a gun safe that meets DOJ specifications.1California Legislative Information. California SB 53 Firearms Storage Nothing else qualifies. A generic padlock, a locked closet, or a decorative cabinet with a key lock will not satisfy the law no matter how secure it feels.
Certified Safety Devices
Certified devices are listed on the DOJ’s official roster.2State of California – Department of Justice. Roster of Firearm Safety Devices Certified for Sale The roster includes cable locks, trigger locks, and lock boxes that have passed testing. Check the specific product before you rely on it.
Compliant Gun Safes
A compliant safe has walls of at least 12-gauge steel (or equivalent double-wall construction), a door of 7-gauge steel plate, at least three half-inch steel locking bolts, and a combination lock with a minimum of 10,000 possible combinations protected by drill-resistant hardened steel.3State of California – Department of Justice. Regulatory Gun Safe Standards Hinges must be protected against removal. Biometric and electronic keypad safes can qualify, but only if the underlying construction meets these mechanical standards. A thin-walled quick-access box with a fingerprint reader does not.
There is a safe harbor built into the law. You will not be penalized if you stored a gun using a device you reasonably believed met the legal requirements, such as a lock that was on the DOJ roster or a safe that met standards when you bought it.1California Legislative Information. California SB 53 Firearms Storage
When You Can Keep a Gun Accessible
The storage rule does not require the gun to be locked up every minute. The law treats a firearm as “readily controlled” when you are carrying it on your person or when you are close enough to physically prevent someone else from reaching it.1California Legislative Information. California SB 53 Firearms Storage A pistol on the nightstand while you sleep next to it is fine. A pistol on the nightstand while you make coffee in the kitchen is not.
An “authorized user” can also satisfy the control requirement. That means any person who is not legally prohibited from possessing firearms and who either owns the gun or has the owner’s permission to access and use it.1California Legislative Information. California SB 53 Firearms Storage If your spouse has your permission and is not prohibited from owning guns, their carrying or close control of the firearm satisfies the law.
Penalties for an Unsecured Firearm
Section 25145 penalties escalate with each violation:
- First violation: fine of up to $250.
- Second violation: fine of up to $500.
- Third or subsequent violation: misdemeanor.
No one has to be hurt and no one has to touch the gun. The violation occurs the moment the firearm is unsecured and outside your direct control.1California Legislative Information. California SB 53 Firearms Storage This is the central change SB 53 made. Before it took effect, California only punished storage after a child or prohibited person actually got hold of an unsecured gun. Now the unsecured gun itself is the offense.
Stricter Rule If You Live With a Prohibited Person
SB 53 also rewrote Penal Code Section 25135. If you are 18 or older, live in a residence, own a firearm, and know or have reason to know that someone in the home is legally barred from possessing guns, every firearm in that home must be securely stored or under your direct control at all times.4California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 25135
There is no graduated fine track here. A first violation is a misdemeanor, with up to one year in county jail and a fine of up to $1,000. If an adult child, roommate, or spouse in your home has a felony record, a domestic violence conviction, or any other firearms prohibition, the stricter rule applies to you.
What Happens If Someone Actually Gets the Gun
The penalties above apply when nothing happens beyond the storage failure itself. When a child or prohibited person actually accesses an unsecured firearm, the older criminal storage statutes take over and the consequences rise sharply.
First-degree criminal storage applies when access results in death or great bodily injury. The penalty is 16 months, two years, or three years in state prison plus a fine of up to $10,000, or alternatively up to one year in county jail and a fine of up to $1,000, at the prosecutor’s discretion.5California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 25100-25140
Second-degree criminal storage covers cases where the person carries the firearm off the premises or causes an injury that falls short of great bodily injury. The maximum is one year in county jail, a $1,000 fine, or both.5California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 25100-25140
Third-degree criminal storage is a misdemeanor covering access without the aggravating outcomes of the higher tiers.5California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 25100-25140
The 10-Year Firearm Ban
A misdemeanor storage conviction carries a consequence that outlasts any fine or jail term. Penal Code Section 29805 imposes a 10-year prohibition on owning, purchasing, receiving, or possessing any firearm after a misdemeanor conviction under Sections 25100, 25135, or 25200.6California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 29805 A third 25145 violation (now a misdemeanor) or a first violation of the prohibited-person rule under 25135 can therefore cost you your gun rights for a decade.
The California Department of Justice lists convictions under Sections 25100, 25135, and 25200 on or after January 1, 2020 in its firearms-prohibiting categories.7State of California – Department of Justice. Firearms Prohibiting Categories The prohibition appears on federal background checks and blocks firearm purchases nationwide.
Exemptions
Section 25145 does not apply to unloaded antique firearms as defined under federal law, or to firearms that are permanently inoperable.1California Legislative Information. California SB 53 Firearms Storage A display rifle that cannot fire does not need to be locked.
The criminal storage provisions in Section 25100 also do not apply when a child obtained the firearm through an illegal break-in, when the firearm was in fact securely stored, or when the child obtained and used it in lawful self-defense or defense of another.8California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 25105
Peace officers and members of the U.S. Armed Forces or National Guard have a narrow exemption from criminal storage liability, but only when a child obtained the firearm during or incidental to the performance of that person’s official duties.8California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 25105 Off-duty officers storing personal firearms at home follow the same rules as everyone else.