# I can open carry a holstered, unloaded handgun in most places in California without a carry permit? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 19, 2011, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-open-carry-a-holstered-unloaded-handgun-in-most-places-in-california-without-a-carry-permit/582426 "2011-05-19T06:06:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-open-carry-a-holstered-unloaded-handgun-in-most-places-in-california-without-a-carry-permit/582426/1 "2011-05-19T06:06:55Z")
I found this interesting. I had not expected to see a law like this approved in CA. [Per this article](http://www.ehow.com/facts_6814819_california-gun-holster-law.html?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=test16) I can open carry a gun in CA in most areas as long as i have the ammo in my pocket and not in the gun. > **[californiaopencarry.org](http://www.californiaopencarry.org/)** > > This domain may be for sale! > [@](#): > > California state law has different handgun restrictions for handgun owners and those with concealed carry handgun license. As of July, 2010, any person can carry a handgun as long as it is not loaded. Concealed carry license holders can carry loaded handguns. > > Restrictions > California law prohibits open carry and conceal carry weapons in certain places. Public schools grade k to 12, libraries, the governor’s mansion, post offices and other state and local government offices are the major restrictions > > Open Carry Laws > As long as it is not loaded, handguns can be carried anywhere except restricted areas. Carrying a gun in a holster is legal if the holster is in open sight. The gun owner can carry ammunition for the gun on her person, just not in the gun’s firing chamber or magazine. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-open-carry-a-holstered-unloaded-handgun-in-most-places-in-california-without-a-carry-permit/582426/2 "2011-05-19T14:39:36Z")
As your cited link notes, **astro** , > [@](#): > > You may also have encounters with law enforcement officers. You must be prepared for this. Know all the laws. Carry the flyers and memos with you. Many Open Carriers carry personal voice recorders to record their police encounters. You may be detained. You legally must allow police officers to inspect your firearm to ensure that it is unloaded (where applicable per 12031). You may even be arrested. This shouldn’t happen if you follow all the laws, but from many of the experiences shared on the [OpenCarry.org](http://OpenCarry.org) forums, it appears that many police officers do not know or do not understand the law. Remain patient, and if you can, share with them what you know. If however you are placed under arrest, immediately stop talking. > > If you are unwilling to accept this risk of false arrest, or are unable to bear the significant financial burden for your legal defense, then don’t Open Carry in California. “Loaded firearm” definition, from CA Penal Code section 12031(g): > [@](#): > > A firearm shall be deemed to be loaded for the purposes of this section when there is an unexpended cartridge or shell, consisting of a case that holds a charge of powder and a bullet or shot, in, or attached in any manner to, the firearm, including, but not limited to, in the firing chamber, magazine, or clip thereof attached to the firearm; Despite your link, and scanning the bill, I’m still not fully sure that open carrying a firearm with an empty chamber, an empty magazine, but with full magazines on your person is legal, given _[People v. Clark](http://www.hoffmang.com/firearms/People-v-Clark-(1996).pdf)_. (PDF warning) (Aside, as I read section 12031(g), you can’t carry a shotgun with shells in a shell carrier attached to the stock, even if the chamber and magazine are empty.) I know they claim at the linked site and discussion forums that an empty revolver with full speed-loaders at hand is fine, and so you’d _think_ the same logic with apply with semi-autos, but still… I guess you could claim, if you were the prosecution, that the speedloaders aren’t part of the firearm when the firearm is ready to be fired, but that loaded mags are. And then there was the discussion of whether the loaded magazines also had to be open carried. Of course, even assuming everything is _de jure_ legal, you get to play Rosa Parks with the officer called out because someone “saw a crazy with a gun on hir hip.” I can see a whole lot of ways that a vindictive D.A. can interpret this law, unfortunately. But it’s still better than it was before, for firearms activists. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-open-carry-a-holstered-unloaded-handgun-in-most-places-in-california-without-a-carry-permit/582426/3 "2011-05-19T14:54:55Z")
Why the hell would anyone want to carry an unloaded weapon? ---
**Author:** ![llcoolbj77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb9ed0/32.png) [@llcoolbj77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llcoolbj77)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-open-carry-a-holstered-unloaded-handgun-in-most-places-in-california-without-a-carry-permit/582426/4 "2011-05-19T15:09:51Z")
We used to get a dozen plus calls a day about various states’ open-carry policies when I worked at the NRA. One of my specific duties (I was a 3L, working in their legislative department), was speaking to these people, and directing them to our state-by-state pamphlets. But the message to drive home was, “why do you need to open-carry; please don’t do it just to make a point; you may be inadvertantly hurting our cause.” At the NRA, we called these folks “squirrels.” ---
**Author:** ![llcoolbj77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb9ed0/32.png) [@llcoolbj77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llcoolbj77)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-open-carry-a-holstered-unloaded-handgun-in-most-places-in-california-without-a-carry-permit/582426/5 "2011-05-19T15:11:47Z")
I guess I should expand on this and say that I am referring to folks who wanted to strap up and walk around the grocery store, just to prove that they could. That kind of behavior was generally discouraged.