Pen. Code, § 31905 · Article 4. “Unsafe Handgun” and Related Definitions
Pen. Code, § 31905
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) As used in this part, “firing requirement for handguns” means a test in which the manufacturer provides three handguns of the make and model for which certification is sought to an independent testing laboratory certified by the Attorney General pursuant to Section 32010. These handguns may not be refined or modified in any way from those that would be made available for retail sale if certification is granted. The magazines of a tested pistol shall be identical to those that would be provided with the pistol to a retail customer.
(b) The test shall be conducted as follows:
(1) The laboratory shall fire 600 rounds from each gun, stopping after each series of 50 rounds has been fired for 5 to 10 minutes to allow the weapon to cool, stopping after each series of 100 rounds has been fired to tighten any loose screws and clean the gun in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions, and stopping as needed to refill the empty magazine or cylinder to capacity before continuing.
(2) The ammunition used shall be of the type recommended by the handgun manufacturer in the user manual, or if none is recommended, any standard ammunition of the correct caliber in new condition that is commercially available.
(c) A handgun shall pass this test if each of the three test guns meets both of the following:
(1) Fires the first 20 rounds without a malfunction that is not due to ammunition that fails to detonate.
(2) Fires the full 600 rounds with no more than six malfunctions that are not due to ammunition that fails to detonate and without any crack or breakage of an operating part of the handgun that increases the risk of injury to the user.
(d) If a pistol or revolver fails the requirements of either paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (c) due to ammunition that fails to detonate, the pistol or revolver shall be retested from the beginning of the “firing requirement for handguns” test. A new model of the pistol or revolver that failed due to ammunition that fails to detonate may be submitted for the test to replace the pistol or revolver that failed.
(e) As used in this section, “malfunction” means a failure to properly feed, fire, or eject a round, or failure of a pistol to accept or eject the magazine, or failure of a pistol’s slide to remain open after the magazine has been expended.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Added by Stats. 2010, Ch. 711, Sec. 6. (SB 1080) Effective January 1, 2011. Operative January 1, 2012, by Sec. 10 of Ch. 711.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN§ionNum=31905.
- Text hash
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- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
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