Pen. Code, § 31910 · Article 4. “Unsafe Handgun” and Related Definitions
Pen. Code, § 31910
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) As used in this part, “unsafe handgun” means any pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person, for which any of the following is true:
(1) For a revolver:
(A) It does not have a safety device that, either automatically in the case of a double-action firing mechanism, or by manual operation in the case of a single-action firing mechanism, causes the hammer to retract to a point where the firing pin does not rest upon the primer of the cartridge.
(B) It does not meet the firing requirement for handguns.
(C) It does not meet the drop safety requirement for handguns.
(2) For a pistol:
(A) It does not have a positive manually operated safety device, as determined by standards relating to imported guns promulgated by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
(B) It does not meet the firing requirement for handguns.
(C) It does not meet the drop safety requirement for handguns.
(D) Commencing July 1, 2022, for all centerfire semiautomatic pistols that are not already listed on the roster pursuant to Section 32015, it does not have a chamber load indicator.
(E) Commencing July 1, 2022, for all centerfire or rimfire semiautomatic pistols that are not already listed on the roster pursuant to Section 32015, it does not have a magazine disconnect mechanism if it has a detachable magazine.
(b) The Department of Justice shall, for each semiautomatic pistol newly added to the roster pursuant to Section 32015, remove from the roster exactly three semiautomatic pistols lacking one or more of the applicable features described in subparagraphs (D) and (E) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) and added to the roster before July 1, 2022. Notwithstanding those subparagraphs, each semiautomatic pistol removed from the roster pursuant to this subdivision shall be considered an unsafe handgun. The Attorney General shall remove semiautomatic pistols from the roster pursuant to this subdivision in reverse order of their dates of addition to the roster, beginning with the semiautomatic pistol added to the roster on the earliest date and continuing until each semiautomatic pistol on the roster includes each of the applicable features described in those subparagraphs.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2023, Ch. 253, Sec. 7. (SB 452) Effective January 1, 2024.
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=31910.
- Text hash
- sha256 73b41eaa5066f625ce7b9c0dc58e1629a1a675efe11677168a0607752bb42cd5
- 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
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Cited by 7 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Pen. Code, § 31910. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Penal Code
- Pen. Code, § 17140Printed as Sections 16900 and 31910
- Pen. Code, § 17300Printed as Section 31910
- Pen. Code, § 27534.2Printed as Sections 27533, 27534, 27534.1, and 31910
- Pen. Code, § 29182Printed as Section 31910
- Pen. Code, § 32010Printed as Section 31910
- Pen. Code, § 32103Printed as Section 31910
- Pen. Code, § 32105Printed as Section 31910
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