AB2339 - Firearms: prohibited persons.

Enrolled August 24, 2026 Passed IN Senate August 20, 2026 Passed IN Assembly May 26, 2026 Amended IN Assembly April 23, 2026 Amended IN Assembly April 13, 2026 Amended IN Assembly March 16, 2026 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Assembly Bill No. 2339 Introduced by Assembly Member Gipson February 19, 2026 An act to amend Section 29820 of the Penal Code, and to amend Sections 786, 8103, and 8105 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to firearms. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2339, Gipson. Firearms: prohibited persons. (1) Existing law prohibits a juvenile who is adjudged a ward of the juvenile court due to the commission of specified serious or violent offenses from subsequently owning or possessing a firearm until they are 30 years of age. Existing law requires the juvenile court to notify the Department of Justice of persons subject to these provisions, as specified. This bill would require the juvenile court to notify the department if the juvenile court grants a dismissal of a juvenile petition for an offense that subjected the juvenile to the above-described firearm prohibition. (2) Existing law authorizes certain juvenile records to be sealed upon order of the court and to subsequently be destroyed. Existing law requires a juvenile record that has been ordered to be sealed, and that contains a sustained petition making a person ineligible to own or possess a firearm, to not be destroyed until the person is 33 years of age. Existing law authorizes a record that has been sealed by a court pursuant to these provisions to be accessed, inspected, or utilized in certain circumstances, including by the Department of Justice for the purpose of determining if the person is suitable to purchase, own, or possess a firearm, as specified. This bill would authorize the Department of Justice, if it determines based on its review of a person’s sealed record pursuant to the above-described provisions that a person is or may not be suitable to purchase, own, or possess a firearm, to provide the person with a copy of the record reviewed by the department. (3) Existing law prohibits a person who has been taken into custody, assessed, and admitted to a designated facility, or who has been certified for intensive treatment after having been admitted to a designated facility, because the person is a danger to themselves or others as a result of a mental health disorder, from owning a firearm, as specified. Existing law requires a facility to submit a report to the Department of Justice containing specified information and requires the report to be kept confidential, except for the purpose of court proceedings and determination of eligibility to own, possess, control, receive, or purchase a firearm, other deadly weapon, or ammunition. This bill would require a designated facility that accepts the transfer for placement of a person pursuant to the above-described provisions to be responsible for submitting the report to the department. Existing law also prohibits a person who has been adjudicated to be a danger to others as a result of a mental disorder or mental illness, or who has been adjudicated to be a mentally disordered sex offender, a person who has been found not guilty by reason of insanity of committing specified crimes, a person found by a court to be mentally incompetent to stand trial, or a person who has been placed under conservatorship by a court because the person is gravely disabled as a result of a mental disorder or impairment by chronic alcoholism from purchasing or receiving, or attempting to purchase or receive, or having possession, custody, or control of a firearm or any other deadly weapon. Existing law requires the court to notify the Department of Justice of the court order placing the person under the conservatorship and prohibiting possession of a firearm or other deadly weapon or ammunition by the person, as specified. Existing law requires all information provided to the Department of Justice regarding the conservatorship to be kept confidential and only used to determine eligibility to purchase or possesses a firearm, other deadly weapon, or ammunition, and makes a violation of this provision a misdemeanor. This bill would require all information provided to the department pursuant to the above-described provisions to be kept confidential, separate, and apart from all other records maintained by the department, except in specified circumstances, including, among others, for use by a state law enforcement agency seeking the issuance of a gun violence restraining order, and would make a violation of these provisions a misdemeanor. The bill would require notices or reports submitted pursuant to these provisions to include a copy of documents substantiating the report or detailing the listed offense prohibiting the person from possessing firearms, ammunition, or other deadly weapons, as specified. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Under existing law, a person who has been certified for intensive treatment under specified provisions is prohibited from owning, possessing, controlling, receiving, or purchasing, or attempting to own, possess, control, receive, or purchase, a firearm, other deadly weapon, or ammunition for a period of 5 years. This bill would require that a person who was certified for intensive treatment under the specified provisions and is released from intensive treatment following a certification review or a writ of habeas corpus to remain subject to the 5-year prohibition period described above. The bill would require a facility discharging a person certified for intensive treatment to provide the person and the Department of Justice with a copy of a specified form pertaining to the firearm prohibition. Existing law requires the Department of Justice to request specified institutions to submit information necessary to identify persons subject to the prohibitions regarding firearms, destructive devices, and explosives. This bill would require the various reports to the department to include a copy of specified identification information for persons subject to these provisions, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to use, and to give to specified entities, the information provided to the department to determine the eligibility of a person to acquire, care, or possess ammunition. This bill would make unauthorized disclosure of the information provided pursuant to these provisions a misdemeanor. (4)The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YES Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. Section 29820 of the Penal Code is amended to read: 29820. (a) This section applies to a person who satisfies both of the following requirements: (1) The person meets one of the following: (A) The person is alleged to have committed an offense listed in subdivision (b) of Section 707 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. (B) The person was convicted of violating Section 11351 or 11351.5 of the Health and Safety Code by possessing for sale, or Section 11352 of the Health and Safety Code by selling, a substance containing 28.5 grams or more of cocaine as specified in paragraph (6) of subdivision (b) of Section 11055 of, or cocaine base as specified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (f) of Section 11054 of, the Health and Safety Code, or 57 grams or more of a substance containing at least 5 grams of cocaine as specified in paragraph (6) of subdivision (b) of Section 11055 of, or cocaine base as specified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (f) of Section 11054 of, the Health and Safety Code. (C) The person was convicted of violating Section 11378 of the Health and Safety Code by possessing for sale, or Section 11379 of the Health and Safety Code by selling, a substance containing 28.5 grams or more of methamphetamine or 57 grams or more of a substance containing methamphetamine. (D) The person was convicted of violating subdivision (a) of Section 11379.6 of the Health and Safety Code, except those who manufacture phencyclidine, or who is convicted of an act that is punishable under subdivision (b) of Section 11379.6 of the Health and Safety Code, except those who offer to perform an act that aids in the manufacture of phencyclidine. (E) Except as otherwise provided in Section 1203.07, the person was convicted of violating Section 11353 or 11380 of the Health and Safety Code by using, soliciting, inducing, encouraging, or intimidating a minor to manufacture, compound, or sell heroin, cocaine base as specified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (f) of Section 11054 of the Health and Safety Code, cocaine as specified in paragraph (6) of subdivision (b) of Section 11055 of the Health and Safety Code, or methamphetamine. (F) The person was convicted of violating Section 11379.6, 11382, or 11383 of the Health and Safety Code with respect to methamphetamine, if the person has one or more prior convictions for a violation of Section 11378, 11379, 11379.6, 11380, 11382, or 11383 of the Health and Safety Code with respect to methamphetamine. (G) The person was alleged to have committed an offense enumerated in Section 29805 or an offense described in Section 25850, subdivision (a) of Section 25400, or subdivision (a) of Section 26100. (2) The person is subsequently adjudged a ward of the juvenile court within the meaning of Section 602 of the Welfare and Institutions Code because the person committed an offense listed in paragraph (1). (b) A person described in subdivision (a) shall not own, or have in possession or under custody or control, a firearm until the person is 30 years of age or older. (c) A violation of this section shall be punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year or in the state prison, by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that imprisonment and fine. (d) The juvenile court, on forms prescribed by the Department of Justice, shall notify the department of persons subject to this section. Notwithstanding any other law, the forms required to be submitted to the department pursuant to this section may be used to determine eligibility to acquire a firearm. (e) The juvenile court shall notify the Department of Justice, in a manner prescribed by the department, if an order for dismissal pursuant to Section 782 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is granted to a person previously required to be reported to the department pursuant to this section for an offense listed within paragraph (1) of subdivision (a). SEC. 2. Section 786 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read: 786. (a) If a person who has been alleged or found to be a ward of the juvenile court satisfactorily completes (1) an informal program of supervision pursuant to Section 654.2, (2) probation under Section 725, or (3) a term of probation for any offense, the court shall order the petition dismissed. The court shall order sealed all records pertaining to the dismissed petition in the custody of the juvenile court, and in the custody of law enforcement agencies, the probation department, or the Department of Justice. Defense counsel for the minor shall not be ordered to seal their records. The court shall send a copy of the order to each agency and official named in the order, direct the agency or official to seal its records, and specify a date by which the sealed records shall be destroyed. If a record contains a sustained petition rendering the person ineligible to own or possess a firearm until 30 years of age pursuant to Section 29820 of the Penal Code, then the date the sealed records shall be destroyed is the date upon which the person turns 33 years of age. Each agency and official named in the order shall seal the records in its custody as directed by the order, shall advise the court of its compliance, and, after advising the court, shall seal the copy of the court’s order that was received. The court shall also provide notice to the person and the person’s counsel that it has ordered the petition dismissed and the records sealed in the case. The notice shall include an advisement of the person’s right to nondisclosure of the arrest and proceedings, as specified in subdivision (b). (b) Upon the court’s order of dismissal of the petition, the arrest and other proceedings in the case shall be deemed not to have occurred and the person who was the subject of the petition may reply accordingly to an inquiry by employers, educational institutions, or other persons or entities regarding the arrest and proceedings in the case. (c) (1) For purposes of this section, satisfactory completion of an informal program of supervision or another term of probation described in subdivision (a) shall be deemed to have occurred if the person has no new findings of wardship or conviction for a felony offense or a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude during the period of supervision or probation and if the person has not failed to substantially comply with the reasonable orders of supervision or probation that are within their capacity to perform. The period of supervision or probation shall not be extended solely for the purpose of deferring or delaying eligibility for dismissal of the petition and sealing of the records under this section. (2) An unfulfilled order or condition of restitution, including a restitution fine that can be converted to a civil judgment under Section 730.6 or an unpaid restitution fee shall not be deemed to constitute unsatisfactory completion of supervision or probation under this section. (d) A court shall not seal a record or dismiss a petition pursuant to this section if the petition was sustained based on the commission of an offense listed in subdivision (b) of Section 707 that was committed when the individual was 14 years of age or older unless the finding on that offense was dismissed or was reduced to a misdemeanor or to a lesser offense that is not listed in subdivision (b) of Section 707. (e) If a person who has been alleged to be a ward of the juvenile court has their petition dismissed by the court, whether on the motion of the prosecution or on the court’s own motion, or if the petition is not sustained by the court after an adjudication hearing, the court shall order sealed all records pertaining to the dismissed petition in the custody of the juvenile court, and in the custody of law enforcement agencies, the probation department, or the Department of Justice. The court shall send a copy of the order to each agency and official named in the order, direct the agency or official to seal its [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]