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California has the strongest gun laws in the country—along with some of the lowest rates of gun deaths and gun ownership. Thanks to strong leadership, California continues to innovate with its gun safety laws. It was the first state to enact consumer safety standards for firearms, to require school districts to notify families about secure firearm storage, and to pass a law funding gun violence prevention programs with a modest tax on firearm industry revenue.

In an average year, 3,332 people die by guns in California. With a rate of 8.3 deaths per 100,000 people, California has the 45th-highest rate of gun deaths in the US. 48% of gun deaths are suicide and 48% are homicide. 

In 2021, California funded community violence intervention at a record-breaking figure of $200 million and enacted several measures to hold police accountable. In 2022, the state enacted new laws to further regulate ghost guns, hold firearm industry members accountable, and more. In 2023, the state strengthened its laws surrounding the public carry of firearms, developed a sustainable source of funding for community violence intervention programs and other gun violence prevention programs, updated its first-in-the-nation microstamping law, and continued strengthening its industry accountability laws and illegal gun removal programs. In 2024, California passed several bills strengthening and refining existing laws to facilitate better implementation, including improvements to the state’s gun violence restraining order law, secure storage laws, and reporting on firearm dealer inspections.