Yes, you can carry a gun in your business in California without a concealed carry permit, but the exemption is narrower than most owners assume. Penal Code Section 25605 lets a lawful adult carry a handgun, openly or concealed, at a place of business they own or lawfully possess.1California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 25605 – Carrying Handgun in Residence, Place of Business, or Private Property It covers handguns only, it does not override the ban on loaded firearms in public places, and it does nothing for anyone who is prohibited from possessing a firearm in the first place.
What Penal Code 25605 Actually Lets You Do
Section 25605 exempts U.S. citizens and legal residents who are at least 18 years old from two statutes they would otherwise violate at work: Section 25400, which prohibits carrying a concealed firearm, and Section 26350, which prohibits open carry of an unloaded handgun. The exemption applies at your residence, your place of business, or private property you own or lawfully possess.1California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 25605 – Carrying Handgun in Residence, Place of Business, or Private Property
Three limits run through this. The statute covers handguns, not rifles or shotguns. “Place of business” means a business you actually own or operate, not any business you happen to be inside. And the exemption disappears entirely for anyone in a prohibited category under Penal Code Sections 29800 or 29900 or the mental-health provisions of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
The Loaded Gun Problem
This is where owners most often misread the statute. Subsection (c) of Section 25605 says nothing in it affects the application of Sections 25850 through 26055. Section 25850 makes it a crime to carry a loaded firearm in any public place or on any public street.2California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 25850 – Carrying a Loaded Firearm So the real question becomes whether your business counts as a public place.
A retail store, restaurant, or shop open to walk-in customers is generally treated as a public place for purposes of Section 25850. A private office, warehouse, or workshop that the public does not enter typically is not. In practical terms, an unloaded handgun kept behind the counter of your shop sits comfortably within what Section 25605 allows. A loaded handgun carried on the sales floor without a CCW license puts you in legally uncertain territory because 25605 does not shield you from the loaded-in-public prohibition. In a back office or stockroom the public never sees, the analysis changes.
If you want to carry loaded in customer-facing areas, the clean solution is a CCW license, not Section 25605.
Who the Exemption Does Not Cover
Section 25605 has a hard prerequisite: you cannot be a person prohibited from possessing firearms. California’s prohibited-persons statute, Penal Code Section 29800, bars firearm possession by anyone convicted of a felony under California, federal, or any other state’s laws, and by anyone addicted to narcotics.3California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 29800 Federal law under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) adds domestic-violence misdemeanants, people subject to active protective orders, people who have been involuntarily committed for mental-health treatment, and unlawful users of controlled substances.
If any of this describes you, carrying a firearm at your business is a felony, not a regulatory issue. Owning the building and holding the business license do not change that. California felony convictions impose a lifetime firearms ban unless you obtain a pardon or the conviction is reduced to a misdemeanor that does not independently trigger a prohibition.
When Your Business Sits Inside a Restricted Zone
Even where Section 25605 would otherwise apply, several location-based laws override it. If your business falls inside any of these zones, the place-of-business exemption does not save you.
School Zones and College Campuses
Penal Code Section 626.9, the Gun-Free School Zone Act, makes it illegal to possess a firearm on K-12 school grounds or within 1,000 feet of a public or private school. If your business happens to sit inside that radius, the restriction reaches you. College and university campuses are covered under subsections (h) and (i), which explicitly begin “notwithstanding Section 25605,” so the place-of-business exemption cannot override the campus ban.4California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 626.9 Possessing a loaded firearm on a college campus is punishable by two, three, or four years in state prison.
Government and Federal Buildings
Penal Code Section 171b prohibits bringing any firearm into a state or local public building or any meeting required to be open to the public, with a penalty of up to one year in county jail or state prison.5California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 171b At the federal level, 18 U.S.C. § 930 prohibits firearms in any federal facility, meaning a building or part of a building owned or leased by the federal government where federal employees regularly work. A basic violation carries up to one year in prison; federal court facilities carry up to two.6GovInfo. 18 USC 930 – Possession of Firearms and Dangerous Weapons in Federal Facilities If you lease space in a building that also houses a federal agency, this matters.
SB 2 Sensitive Places
SB 2 added a list of “sensitive places” under Penal Code Section 26230 where carrying is barred. After Ninth Circuit review, 20 of the original 26 locations are enforceable as of January 2025.7California Department of Justice – Office of the Attorney General. 2025-DLE-06 Additional Restrictions on CCW License Holders For business owners, the categories most likely to matter are establishments where alcohol is sold for on-site consumption (including their parking areas), amusement parks, stadiums, casinos, zoos, museums, and public libraries. If you own a bar, restaurant with on-premises alcohol service, or similar venue, Section 26230 applies and Section 25605 does not override it.
Six categories remain blocked by court order while litigation continues: hospitals and medical facilities, public transit, permitted public gatherings, places of worship, financial institutions, and privately owned commercial property open to the public where the owner has posted prohibitory signage.7California Department of Justice – Office of the Attorney General. 2025-DLE-06 Additional Restrictions on CCW License Holders That status could change.
If You Need a CCW License Instead
For owners who want to carry a loaded handgun on the sales floor or while traveling to and from work, a Concealed Carry Weapon license resolves most of what Section 25605 leaves open. SB 2, effective in 2024, eliminated the old “good cause” and “good moral character” standards. A licensing authority such as a sheriff or municipal police chief must now issue or renew a license if the applicant is not a “disqualified person” under the objective criteria in Penal Code Section 26202 and meets the remaining statutory requirements, including minimum age and a firearms training course.8California Department of Justice – Office of the Attorney General. Regulations: Carry Concealed Weapons Licenses Training requirements under Penal Code Section 26165 include a live-fire exercise for each handgun the applicant intends to carry. Fees and timelines vary by county.
Penalties If You Get This Wrong
The stakes are not trivial.
- Concealed carry without a license under Section 25400 is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in county jail, a $1,000 fine, or both. It becomes a felony if you have a prior felony, the firearm is stolen and you knew it, you are an active criminal street gang participant, or you are a prohibited person.9California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 25400 – Carrying a Concealed Firearm
- Carrying a loaded firearm in public under Section 25850 carries the same base misdemeanor exposure, with the same aggravating factors.2California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 25850 – Carrying a Loaded Firearm
- Open carry of an unloaded handgun under Section 26350 is a misdemeanor with up to six months in county jail and a $1,000 fine, rising to one year if the carrier also has ammunition in immediate possession and is not the lawful possessor of the handgun.10California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 26350 – Openly Carrying an Unloaded Handgun
- Firearm possession by a prohibited person under Section 29800 is a felony punishable by state prison time.3California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 29800
Any firearm conviction brings cascading effects: loss of future firearm rights, loss of any CCW license, and collateral consequences for professional licensing in some industries.
Civil Liability and Employees
Criminal law is one layer. Under California premises liability principles, an owner who knows of foreseeable risks of violence and takes no reasonable precautions can face civil exposure if someone is injured on the property. The calculus runs both ways. Allowing firearms can raise risk; inadequate security in a setting with known threats can also create liability.
If you have employees, federal workplace safety rules add another layer. OSHA has no firearms-specific standard, but the General Duty Clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act requires employers to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm. If prior threats, intimidation, or violent incidents have put the employer on notice, OSHA expects a violence prevention program.11Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Workplace Violence – Enforcement
Secure storage when the firearm is not on your person, a written policy if you have staff, and a sober look at where your business sits relative to the restrictions above are the practical pieces. Section 25605 opens the door; the surrounding statutes decide how far you can walk through it.