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Overall, California has the strongest gun safety laws in the nation and has been a trailblazer for gun safety reform for the past 30 years.

California has been the first state in the nation to adopt a number of gun safety reforms, ranging from assault weapons restrictions and strong background check requirements to extreme risk protection orders and domestic violence protections. In 2022, California had the seventh lowest gun death rate among the states. In an average year, 3,299 people die from gun violence in the state. That means that someone dies from gun violence every 3 hours. Forty-nine percent of these deaths are gun suicides, and 47% are gun homicides. In California, the rate of gun deaths increased 12% from 2013 to 2022, compared to a 36% increase nationwide.

What California Does Well

  • Universal background checks
  • Strong eligibility standards for firearms
  • Extreme risk protection orders
  • Domestic violence gun laws
  • Firearm relinquishment requirements
  • Assault weapon and magazine restrictions
  • Waiting periods
  • Minimum age laws
  • Public carry laws
  • Gun Industry Liability and Responsibility Laws
  • Safe storage laws
  • Community violence intervention funding
  • Ghost gun reforms
  • Gun dealer regulation
  • Local authority to regulate firearms
  • State firearm sale records retention
  • Gun violence research funding
  • Ammunition Regulation
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REPORT

COMMUNITIES ON THE MOVE

Local communities in California have enacted some of the strongest and most innovative gun safety policies in the nation. Our report, Communities on the Move: Local Gun Safety Legislation in California, highlights the gun safety achievements of municipalities in the Golden State.

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SUPPORT GUN SAFETY

We’re in this together. To build a safer America—one where children and parents in every neighborhood can learn, play, work, and worship without fear of gun violence—we need you standing beside us in this fight.