Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law Saturday that will make most Californians sit through a four-hour class with live fire before they can buy a gun. Read the final text of Senate Bill 948 and you find what the coverage skipped: every buyer has to pass a shooting test on a range, and the Legislature never wrote down what a passing score is.

Newsom Signed 10 Gun Bills on a Saturday

The governor's office announced the package on September 26. It lists 10 bills, from a 3D printer "blocking technology" mandate in Assembly Bill 2047 to Senate Bill 948 by Sen. Jesse Arreguín of Berkeley, titled "Firearms: safety certificates." Newsom's release said the laws help "keep firearms out of dangerous situations."

The timing did not go unnoticed. Bearing Arms pointed out that the signing landed while the Gun Rights Policy Conference was underway in Dallas. CalMatters called the package Newsom's last gun control push as governor and quoted him saying he "couldn't be more proud" of it.

SB 948 is now Chapter 465 of the Statutes of 2026, according to the bill history. It passed the Assembly 56-19 on August 24, and the Senate signed off on the final version 28-12 the next day.

Today a Gun Buyer Takes a $25 Written Test

Under current law, you need a Firearm Safety Certificate to buy almost any gun in California. Getting one means scoring at least 23 out of 30 on a true-or-false and multiple-choice test, usually at the gun counter. The state Department of Justice caps the fee at $25, and the card is good for five years.

SB 948 keeps the test and adds a class on top of it. Starting January 1, 2029, the new Penal Code section 31640.5 says anyone applying for a certificate must have finished a training course "within the prior year." The course must run at least four hours and include live fire, taught by a DOJ-certified instructor.

The course covers safe storage and California's use-of-force law. It also has to teach "techniques for conflict resolution," which is a strange line item for a class you must pass before you can buy a deer rifle.

The Shooting Test Nobody Defined

Here is the line the headlines missed. The enrolled text says the live-fire portion "shall include a demonstration by the applicant of safe handling of firearms and basic firearm shooting proficiency." That is a marksmanship test, and passing it is now a condition of buying a gun in California.

The law never says what "basic firearm shooting proficiency" means. It sets no distance, target or number of hits. It hands that job to the Department of Justice, which "may promulgate regulations" to carry the section out. Whoever runs that office in 2029 will decide how well a Californian has to shoot before the state lets him own a gun.

The Legislature also dropped its own floor on range time. The May 14 version of the bill required "at least one hour of live shooting." The final version just says the four hours must include "live-fire shooting exercises," with no minimum. So the state now requires a proficiency test and no longer guarantees any real practice time before it.

What Will the Class Cost? The Bill Doesn't Say

The written test has a legal price ceiling of $25. The new class has none. SB 948 lets the Dealers' Record of Sale Special Account pay for the state's own implementation costs, but nothing in the text limits what an instructor may charge a buyer for four hours of teaching and range time.

Gun rights groups told CalMatters in May that a certified instructor would add at least $400 to the cost of a gun, with ammunition and range fees on top. That is their estimate, not a state figure. The California Rifle and Pistol Association calls the class another tax on gun ownership, and Adam Wilson of Gun Owners of California called the plan "an insurmountable barrier to exercising a constitutional right."

A Lapsed Card Means Taking the Class Again

This is not a one-time hurdle. A certificate expires after five years, and the class must be completed within the year before you apply. The new section makes no exception for renewals, so a lawful owner whose card has lapsed has to sit through the class again before the next purchase.

The state Senate's own analysts spelled out how that works. Their committee analysis notes that "once an FSC expires, an individual is not required to obtain a new one unless they purchase or receive a new firearm." Under SB 948, that next purchase now comes with four hours of class and a range test.

Carry permit holders are exempt, along with anyone who finished concealed carry training in the last three years. California already requires 16 hours of training for a first carry permit. The practical effect is that the state's most heavily trained gun owners skip the class, and the first-time buyer who wants a shotgun for the house does not.

The Senate's Own Analysts Flagged the Constitutional Problem

The committee analysis, prepared for the March 17 hearing of the Senate Public Safety Committee that Arreguín chairs, did not wave the Second Amendment away. It said the requirement "may face constitutional challenges" because a safety certificate is needed to buy any gun at all.

The analysis pointed to Maryland Shall Issue v. Moore, where the full Fourth Circuit upheld Maryland's handgun license and its four-hour safety course. That is the precedent California will lean on. But Maryland's license covers handguns. SB 948 reaches rifles and shotguns too, for anyone without a hunting license, and it layers a shooting test on top of the class.

The same analysis quoted the Bruen footnote warning that permit schemes can be challenged when "exorbitant fees deny ordinary citizens" their rights. An uncapped class fee that repeats every five years is the kind of fact a challenger will put in front of a judge.

New Arrivals Get Hit First, in 2028

The Justice Department's own FAQ still tells newcomers they "do not need an FSC to move into California" with a gun. SB 948 ends that. Starting January 1, 2028, a person who moves in and keeps a firearm must report it within 180 days and certify "under penalty of perjury" that he holds a valid safety certificate or an exemption. Missing the certificate is an infraction.

That gives new residents one year under the old written test before the class and shooting test kick in. The NRA's lobbyist, Clay Kimberling, told senators in March that an estimated 115,000 gun owners move to California each year, and he listed new military assignments among the reasons people come.

Some coverage got the scope wrong. Bearing Arms described SB 948 as a training mandate for people who move into the state. The text is broader. Section 31640.5 applies to every applicant for a certificate, lifelong Californians included.

What Happens Before 2029

Nothing in the class requirement takes effect for more than two years, which gives gun rights groups time to sue and DOJ time to write the proficiency rules. Those regulations will matter as much as the statute. A standard that most first-time shooters can meet is one thing. A standard set high enough to fail a nervous new owner is something else entirely.

Newsom leaves office in January. The law he signed Saturday will be enforced by his successor, and the definition of passing will be written by an agency that does not answer to voters. For California gun buyers, the right to keep a firearm in the home now depends on a test whose answer key has not been written yet.