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California Concealed Carry Permit

California requires a License to Carry a Pistol, Revolver, or Other Firearm Capable of Being Concealed Upon the Person (commonly "CCW license") to carry. It is shall-issue, the minimum age is 21, and 16 hours of training is required.

Requirements at a glance

Permit name License to Carry a Pistol, Revolver, or Other Firearm Capable of Being Concealed Upon the Person (commonly "CCW license")
Issuing authority County sheriff (Pen. Code § 26150) or the chief of a municipal police department (Pen. Code § 26155). The California DOJ Bureau of Firearms prescribes the standard application form and the uniform license and runs the background check, but the DOJ does NOT issue CCW licenses.
System shall-issue
Minimum age 21 — Pen. Code § 26150(a)(2) and § 26155(a)(2) require the applicant to be "at least 21 years of age" with clear evidence of identity and age. The same 21-year minimum applies to non-resident applicants under the new § 26150(b)/§ 26155(b) (AB 1078, effective 1/1/2026). There is no lower age tier.
Training required Yes — 16 hours, live fire required
State fee $93 initial / $52 renewal — the state's own charge, not the total
Valid for 2 years
Processing time Statutory deadline (Pen. Code § 26205, as amended by AB 1078): for a NEW license the licensing authority must give written notice of approval or denial within 120 days of receiving the completed application, or 30 days after receipt of the DOJ firearms eligibility information, whichever is later. For RENEWALS submitted before September 1, 2026: within 120 days of the completed application. For renewals submitted on or after September 1, 2026: within 120 days, or 30 days after receipt of the DOJ information, whichever is later. A denial must state which requirement was not satisfied. Actual waits in large counties frequently exceed these deadlines.
Fingerprints Required
Non-resident permit Available

What it actually costs

The state fee is rarely the whole bill. Fingerprinting is usually charged by a private vendor, training is bought from an instructor, and several states add photographs, notarisation or other requirements on top.

State fee $93
Fingerprinting $15–$45 — our estimate; no vendor publishes a rate
Training course $150–$350 (private instructor)
County or city fee varies — Pen. Code § 26190 lets each authority set its own. Orange County charges $300 initial; San Luis Obispo $156.50. This is the largest and most variable component.
Psychological assessment $150 — only where the licensing authority requires one; capped at its reasonable cost
Realistic total $414.50–$938 — includes an estimated component

The $93 is the DOJ portion only. California is the widest gap in the country between the published fee and the real one: with a county fee, Live Scan, 16 hours of mandatory training and a psychological assessment where the authority requires one, the realistic outlay is several hundred dollars. The psychological assessment fee is capped at the authority's reasonable cost and is unique to California among the states we have checked.

The $93 (initial, standard 2-year license) and $52 (renewal) figures are the STATE DOJ portion ONLY, as published on official sheriff fee schedules (Orange County Sheriff CCW fee schedule; San Luis Obispo County Sheriff). Other DOJ amounts per OC Sheriff: 90-day employment license $71 initial / $30 renewal; judicial license $115 initial / $74 renewal. On top of the DOJ fee, Pen. Code § 26190 authorizes each county/city to charge its own local fee covering reasonable costs — these vary widely (e.g., Orange County $300 initial / $111 renewal effective 7/1/2025; SLO County $156.50 initial / $100 renewal; Sonoma County $228 renewal). Only the first 50% of the local fee may be collected at filing. ADDITIONAL costs not included: the Live Scan fingerprint rolling fee charged by the operator; the psychological assessment fee if the authority requires one (actual cost, capped at the authority's reasonable cost; may be virtual or within 75 miles of a non-resident's residence); and privately priced 16-hour training. Realistic all-in initial cost is commonly $400-$900+ depending on county and training provider.

How to apply

  1. Confirm threshold eligibility: 21 or older; a resident of (or principally employed/doing business in) the county or city where you apply — or, since January 1, 2026, a non-resident who attests under oath that the jurisdiction is your primary California destination; and not a 'disqualified person' under Pen. Code § 26202.
  2. Identify your licensing authority — the sheriff of the county where you reside, or your city's chief of police (some cities delegate processing to the sheriff by agreement). Each authority publishes its own written policy, appointment system, and local fee schedule; there is no statewide application portal.
  3. Complete DOJ form BOF 4012, the Standard Initial and Renewal Application for License to Carry a Weapon Capable of Being Concealed, prescribed under Pen. Code § 26175 and available at oag.ca.gov/firearms/forms. Non-residents must also complete supplemental attestation form BOF 4013 (Rev. 01/2026).
  4. Submit the application to your licensing authority and pay the initial installment — no more than 50% of the local fee may be collected at filing (Pen. Code § 26190).
  5. Submit fingerprints by Live Scan: complete form BCIA 8016 and have prints captured and transmitted electronically by an authorized Live Scan operator in California (Pen. Code § 26185; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 11, § 4420). Non-residents must appear in California for this.
  6. Complete the § 26202(b) investigation: an in-person or virtual (video and audio) interview with the licensing authority, three character references who will be contacted, and review of publicly available statements. The authority may also require a psychological assessment by an approved licensed psychologist (virtual, or within 75 miles, for non-residents).
  7. After the authority determines you are not a disqualified person, complete the 16-hour DOJ-certified-instructor course including the one-hour mental health component, pass the written exam, and complete live-fire proficiency on a range with each firearm you want listed.
  8. Ensure each handgun to be listed is recorded to you in the DOJ Automated Firearms System (residents, § 26150(a)(5)); non-residents instead list make, model, caliber, and serial number of each firearm on the application.
  9. Await written notice of approval or denial — due within 120 days of the completed application or 30 days after DOJ returns the eligibility check, whichever is later (Pen. Code § 26205).
  10. Pay the balance of the local fee plus the DOJ fee on approval and receive the uniform statewide CCW license. Renew before expiration with the 8-hour renewal course; renewal applications submitted on or after September 1, 2026 require new fingerprints, and failing to apply within 90 days after expiration causes the authority to terminate DOJ subsequent-notification service (Pen. Code § 26225(e)).

Apply on the official California site

What disqualifies you

Where to get the required training

California does not publish a central list of certified instructors. Confirm directly with County sheriff (Pen. Code § 26150) or the chief of a municipal police department (Pen. Code § 26155). The California DOJ Bureau of Firearms prescribes the standard application form and the uniform license and runs the background check, but the DOJ does NOT issue CCW licenses. that a course will be accepted before you pay for it.

Training providers in California

Businesses in our directory that offer firearms training. These are not state-verified as certified permit instructors — check against the official list above, or ask the provider directly.

All firearms training in California →

Reciprocity

Carrying into California

California recognizes no out-of-state carry permits. A permit from another state does not authorize you to carry here.

25 jurisdictions honor a California permit

Derived from what each of those states officially publishes.

Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin

Official California reciprocity page Full reciprocity matrix →

Building your own in California

Build for personal use
Allowed
Serial number required
Yes

Building a firearm for personal use is legal in California but heavily conditioned. (1) VOLUME CAP: Pen. Code § 29010(a) — 'A person shall not manufacture more than three firearms within this state in a calendar year unless that person is licensed' under § 29030 et seq.; violation is a misdemeanor. (2) SERIAL NUMBER REQUIRED IN ADVANCE: Pen. Code § 29180 requires that BEFORE manufacturing or assembling a firearm lacking a valid state or federal serial number, the person must apply to and obtain a unique serial number from the DOJ under § 29182, engrave or permanently affix it within 10 days of assembly in compliance with federal ATF marking standards, and then notify the DOJ that marking is complete with owner and firearm identifying information — which enters the firearm in the state's Automated Firearms System, so a self-made firearm IS state-registered in California. (3) ELIGIBILITY GATE: § 29182 requires a § 28220 firearms eligibility check, age 21+, a valid Firearm Safety Certificate, and a description of the firearm; DOJ must DENY if the firearm would be an unsafe handgun, assault weapon, machinegun, .50 BMG rifle, destructive device, short-barreled rifle or shotgun, unconventional pistol, or otherwise unlawful. DOJ must grant or deny within 90 calendar days for applications received on or after 1/1/2024. (4) DETECTABILITY: a largely polymer firearm must have 3.7 ounces of 17-4 PH stainless steel embedded during construction. (5) NO SALE: an unlicensed person may not sell or transfer a self-assembled firearm (narrow law-enforcement exception). (6) Prohibited persons may not manufacture at all. (7) LEGACY: anyone already owning an unserialized firearm had to comply by January 1, 2024, or within 60 days of moving to California. PENALTIES under § 29180: up to 1 year in county jail and/or $1,000 fine for a handgun; up to 6 months and/or $1,000 for other firearms; each firearm is a separate offense.

Cal. Penal Code §§ 29010, 29180, 29182

Federal law, gunsmithing schools, and tools →

Statutes

What we could not confirm

  • TOTAL COST IS NOT A STATEWIDE NUMBER. The $93 / $52 figures are the DOJ portion only, taken from two official county sheriff fee schedules (Orange County, San Luis Obispo). I could not retrieve the underlying state regulation (Cal. Code Regs. tit. 11, § 4147) directly — govt.westlaw.com is not fetchable from this environment — so the DOJ amounts are corroborated by issuing agencies rather than read off the regulation itself. Local fees are set independently by 58 counties and hundreds of cities and must be checked with the specific licensing authority.
  • LICENSE TERM IS MID-CHANGE. As of today (August 10, 2026) the standard term remains up to 2 years under Pen. Code § 26220. AB 1948 (Stats. 2026, ch. 44, approved June 30, 2026) raises it to up to 3 years. The bill text on leginfo contains no urgency clause, so the ordinary January 1, 2027 operative date should apply, but I found no DOJ bulletin confirming the operative date and could not verify from a primary source whether it will apply to licenses issued before that date.
  • SENSITIVE-PLACES LIST IS PARTIALLY ENJOINED AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED ON AS PRINTED. Pen. Code § 26230's location list has been litigated in May v. Bonta / Carralero v. Bonta; the Ninth Circuit reinstated enforcement as to some subdivisions effective January 2025 while others remain enjoined, and the district court case is stayed pending the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Wolford v. Lopez. I could not load the San Diego Sheriff's official 'Legal Updates Regarding CCW' page (HTTP 403) to obtain the current authoritative enjoined/enforceable breakdown, and found no DOJ bulletin stating the list as of August 2026. The leginfo statutory text does not reflect the injunctions.
  • 'Shall-issue' is the correct legal classification post-SB 2 (§ 26150 says the authority 'shall issue' to an applicant who is not a disqualified person), but the § 26202(a)(1) 'reasonably likely to be a danger to self, others, or the community' standard plus a discretionary psychological assessment gives California licensing authorities materially more judgment than a typical shall-issue state.
  • PROCESSING TIME reported is the statutory deadline, not observed reality. I found no official statewide data on actual issuance times; large-county backlogs are widely reported but not in a primary source I would cite.
  • California publishes no reciprocity page at all. The 'honors: []' conclusion is inferred from the structure of Pen. Code §§ 25400 and 25655 (no out-of-state exemption exists anywhere in the exemption chapter) rather than quoted from an affirmative agency statement. I regard the conclusion as solid but flag the sourcing.
  • No public roster of DOJ-certified CCW instructors exists — the DOJ FAQ directs applicants to their local sheriff or police department — so instructorRegistryUrl is null by fact, not for lack of searching.
  • I did not verify each county's specific residency/employment nexus policy, appointment backlog, or whether particular counties require training beyond the 16-hour statutory floor (many do).
  • For homeManufacture I confirmed §§ 29010, 29180 and 29182 from leginfo, but did not separately check whether any 2025-2026 legislation added further restrictions on personal firearm manufacture (e.g., rules on CNC machines or 3D printers).

Sources