The Short Answer
California weapons law covers far more than firearms: knives, blunt objects, and other weapons are restricted too, and violations can be charged as misdemeanors or felonies. Common charges include carrying concealed without a permit and possession by a prohibited person. Search legality and knowledge of possession are the usual battlegrounds, and both are defensible.
California regulates weapons more tightly than almost any other state, and the rules reach well past firearms. Switchblades, brass knuckles, certain clubs and batons, and a range of martial arts weapons are all restricted, and everyday objects — a bat, a hammer, a box cutter — can be charged as weapons depending on how they were carried or used. Violations run from misdemeanors capped at a year to felonies carrying multiple years.
Firearms carry their own layer: a Firearm Safety Certificate to purchase under Penal Code 31615, a CCW licence to carry concealed, transport rules that catch people who believed they were complying, and location restrictions that apply even to licensees. Farris Law Firm defends weapons charges across Orange County and Los Angeles, where most cases turn on how the weapon was found rather than on whether it existed.
Weapons Charges We Defend
Carrying a concealed firearm (PC 25400)
A misdemeanor in most circumstances, but PC 25400(c) lists six situations that make it a felony — including a stolen firearm or a prior conviction.
Carrying a loaded firearm in public (PC 25850)
Separate from concealment and frequently charged alongside it. What counts as loaded is statutorily defined and narrower than assumed.
Possession by a prohibited person (PC 29800, PC 29805)
PC 29800 is the lifetime felon-in-possession ban; PC 29805 is the 10 year ban that follows specified misdemeanors, including domestic violence convictions.
Concealed dirks, daggers and prohibited weapons (PC 21310, PC 16590, PC 21510)
PC 16590 is the master list — brass knuckles, billies, shuriken and more. Switchblades over two inches fall under PC 21510. Most are wobblers.
Brandishing (PC 417)
Drawing or exhibiting a weapon in a rude or threatening way. Carries mandatory minimum jail terms even as a misdemeanor, and the firearm version is treated more seriously.
Assault weapons and magazines (PC 30605, PC 32310)
Both are wobblers, and both sit in areas of law under active federal litigation. What is enforceable has changed more than once, so the date of the alleged offense matters.
Defenses That Work in Weapons Cases
Weapons charges are possession charges, and possession cases are won on how the weapon was found and on what you actually knew:
- The search: a stop without reasonable suspicion, or a vehicle or person search without a valid basis, means the weapon is suppressed under PC 1538.5 and the case usually ends
- Knowledge of possession is an element — a weapon in a shared or borrowed car is not automatically yours, and the prosecution has to prove otherwise
- The statutory definitions are narrower than the charge assumes: what counts as concealed, as loaded, or as a dirk or dagger are all specifically defined and regularly overstated
- Lawful transport under PC 25610, which permits an unloaded handgun carried in a locked container separate from the glove box or utility compartment
- Momentary or transitory possession, where you handled the weapon only to dispose of it or take it from someone else
- For PC 16590 and PC 21310 charges, that the object as carried does not meet the statutory description at all
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I keep a gun in my car in California?
Only under specific conditions, and getting them wrong is the most common way otherwise law-abiding people end up charged. Under PC 25610 a handgun may be transported unloaded and in a locked container — and the glove compartment and utility compartment do not count as locked containers, which is the trap. The trunk qualifies. Ammunition should be stored separately. Without a CCW licence, a loaded or accessible firearm in the passenger compartment supports charges under both PC 25400 and PC 25850.
Is carrying a concealed firearm a felony?
Usually not. PC 25400(c)(7) makes it a misdemeanor in the ordinary case, capped at a year in county jail and a $1,000 fine. It becomes a felony only where one of the six circumstances in PC 25400(c)(1) through (6) applies — the firearm was stolen, you were prohibited from possessing it, you have a prior, and so on. Establishing that none of those apply is often the difference between a misdemeanor and a felony record.
Can I get a confiscated firearm back?
Often, yes, and it is a separate process from your criminal case — the case ending does not return the gun by itself. California DOJ operates the Law Enforcement Gun Release system, and PC 33850 sets out the application to establish you are eligible to possess and entitled to the property. It requires a clearance determination and coordination with the agency holding it. We handle this as its own matter, including for people whose underlying case was dismissed.
Can a weapons charge be diverted?
Sometimes. A weapons offense filed as a misdemeanor can qualify for judicial diversion under PC 1001.95, which allows the judge to dismiss the case on completion of conditions such as a firearm safety course and community service — and to do so over the prosecutor's objection. Felony charges fall outside that section, though mental health diversion under PC 1001.36 reaches some of them. Whether either is realistic depends on the specific charge and your record.