Quick Answer: Since January 1, 2026, California’s SB 53 requires every firearm kept in a residence to be securely stored — locked in a safe or device listed on the California DOJ’s Firearm Safety Device roster — whenever it isn’t being carried on the owner’s person or kept within immediate reach. Penalties start at a $250 fine for a first violation, rising to $500 for a second and a misdemeanor for a third, according to the bill’s text. This is on top of the older Penal Code 25100 child-access law, which carries criminal penalties if a minor gains access to a negligently stored gun. Most RSC-rated safes from major brands are DOJ-listed, but California residents should confirm their exact model is on the current roster.
California has the most layered firearm-storage regulation in the country, and 2026 added a genuinely new requirement on top of rules that already existed. This guide breaks down what actually changed, what the older laws still require, and how to confirm a safe actually satisfies the state’s definition of “securely stored” — because a locked safe that isn’t on the DOJ’s list doesn’t legally count.
The three California storage laws, side by side
| Law | Who it applies to | What triggers it | Penalty |
|---|---|---|---|
| SB 53 (new, eff. 1/1/2026) | Every firearm owner in a CA residence | Any firearm not carried or within immediate reach, not DOJ-securely-stored | $250 / $500 / misdemeanor (1st/2nd/3rd+) |
| Penal Code 25100 | Anyone whose firearm a child accesses | Negligent storage a child under 18 is "likely" to access, with actual access and harm | Misdemeanor up to felony, by degree |
| Penal Code 25135 | Residents who live with a prohibited person | Co-resident legally barred from guns can access an unsecured firearm | Criminal exposure, case-specific |
What SB 53 actually requires
SB 53 (authored by Sen. Anthony Portantino) is the first law of its kind nationally: rather than only requiring a safety device at the point of sale, it requires every firearm already in a California home to be securely stored whenever it isn’t on the owner’s person or “readily controlled” — defined as close enough that the owner can prevent an unauthorized person from grabbing it. A firearm locked in an RSC-rated safe in a back closet satisfies the law; the same firearm sitting on a nightstand while the owner showers down the hall does not.
“Securely stored” has a specific legal meaning under SB 53: the firearm must be locked inside, or disabled by, a device that appears on the California DOJ’s Firearm Safety Device (FSD) roster, maintained at oag.ca.gov/firearms/fsdcertlist. The DOJ has published this roster since 2001, originally to enforce the point-of-sale requirement that every firearm sold in California ship with an approved lock or safe — SB 53 reuses that same certified list but extends it to apply to guns already owned, not just new purchases.
Liberty Centurion 24
- Liberty's Centurion line is one of the most common DOJ-roster-listed safes sold through California dealers.
- RSC (Residential Security Container) rating plus a 30-minute fire rating covers both the burglary and fire requirements most buyers look for.
If you’re shopping ahead of a deadline and want a DOJ-roster-eligible safe delivered fast, Amazon Prime ships most gun safes and lock boxes in two days, and you can try it free for 30 days — worth checking before you assume a 1-2 week freight delivery is your only option.
Exemptions
SB 53 does not apply to unloaded antique firearms (as defined under 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(16)) or to firearms rendered permanently inoperable. It also doesn’t require a safe at all if a firearm is being actively carried or is within immediate reach of the owner — the law targets unattended storage, not carrying a gun around your own house.
Penal Code 25100: the older child-access law
Penal Code 25100 predates SB 53 by decades and works differently — it’s not a blanket storage mandate, it’s a liability trigger. It applies when someone keeps a firearm where they know or reasonably should know a child under 18 is likely to gain access, and that child actually gains access with a specified harmful outcome. The statute defines three escalating degrees based on the resulting harm, from a misdemeanor at the low end up to felony-level exposure if a child’s access results in death or great bodily injury. A firearm kept in a locked safe — DOJ-listed or not — is the clearest practical defense against a 25100 charge, since the standard turns on whether access was reasonably foreseeable, not on a specific device list the way SB 53 does.
Penal Code 25135: storage with a prohibited co-resident
Penal Code 25135 adds a separate duty for anyone 18 or older who lives with a person legally barred from possessing firearms — a restraining order subject, a convicted felon, or someone otherwise prohibited under state or federal law. If the firearm owner knows or has reason to know a co-resident is prohibited, every firearm in that home must be secured or kept under the owner’s direct control at all times, not just when children are present.
Is a locked safe automatically “legal” in California?
Not necessarily — this is the detail most general gun-storage advice skips. A heavy steel safe with a good lock satisfies Penal Code 25100’s negligence standard in practice, because it makes child access genuinely unlikely. But SB 53’s secure-storage definition is narrower and more specific: it requires the device itself to be on the DOJ’s certified roster. Most mainstream RSC-rated safes from established brands clear this bar, but a bargain safe from an unlisted or discontinued line may not — the only way to know for certain is to check the model number against the current roster before relying on it for SB 53 compliance.
For a broader walkthrough of what to look for in a first safe regardless of state law, see our best gun safe pillar guide. If fire protection matters alongside the legal requirement, our gun safe fire rating guide explains how to read a UL or ETL rating rather than trusting a marketing number. Buyers specifically weighing quick-access bedside storage against the “readily controlled” exemption should also read our best bedside gun safe guide, since a fast-access safe at arm’s reach can satisfy both the legal requirement and a self-defense use case at once. And if a child in the home is the primary concern driving the purchase, our where to put a gun safe guide covers placement choices that reduce access risk beyond what the lock itself provides.
Is SB 53 being challenged?
Gun-rights organizations, including the NRA, have signaled intent to challenge SB 53 in court, and critics point to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which struck down a D.C. ordinance requiring firearms to be kept unloaded and locked at all times, as a likely basis for a Second Amendment argument. No injunction had blocked SB 53’s enforcement as of this writing, but litigation over in-home storage mandates has moved quickly in other states before. Treat this page as a plain-language starting point, not legal advice — confirm current enforcement status and consult an attorney for anything case-specific, since a law this new can still change.
The bottom line
If you own a firearm in California, confirm your safe or lock is on the DOJ’s current Firearm Safety Device roster by model number, not just by brand reputation — SB 53 ties legal compliance to that specific list, not to a general sense that a safe is “good enough.” A DOJ-listed, RSC-rated safe like the Liberty Centurion satisfies the new storage mandate and the older child-access standard at the same time — the single purchase covers both legal bases most California gun owners need to clear.