State Parks and Lands (2024)

Highlights

​State Park/Forest special restrictions

4332 PRC. Whenever it is necessary in the interests of public peace or safety, the director, with the consent of the Governor, may order closed to camping, hunting, trapping, or the use of firearms, any area in any state park or state forest. The director shall post and enforce such closure order in such area.

California State Parks

Generally, firearms are prohibited in State Parks unless you are there to hunt. 14 CCR § 4313(c) seems to imply the prohibition on (a) would not apply if locked in your vehicle or kept at your campsite. Licensees may carry concealed.

14 CCR § 4313 (a) No person shall carry, possess or discharge across, in or into any portion of any unit any weapon, firearm, spear, bow and arrow, trap, net, or device capable of injuring, or killing any person or animal, or capturing any animal, or damaging any public or private property, except in underwater parks or designated archery ranges where the Department of Parks and Recreation finds that it is in its best interests.
(b) Nothing herein contained shall be construed in derogation of the use of weapons permitted by law or regulation and to be used for hunting in any unit, or portion thereof, open to hunting.
(c) Firearms not having a cartridge in any portion of the mechanism, other unloaded weapons or devices such as traps, nets, and bows and arrows may be possessed within temporary lodging or mechanical mode of conveyance when such implements are rendered temporarily inoperable or are packed, cased, or stored in a manner that will prevent their ready use.

A firearms law forum has a copy of an email supposedly sent circa 2007 by a State Parks employee that states the following (archived post):

The California Department of Parks and Recreation through its legal section, has determined that CCR 4313 exempts the following:

1) California Peace Officers who are otherwise permitted to carry firearms
2) Honorably retired California Peace Officers with concealed weapons privileges
3) Citizens with concealed firearms privileges

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Adrian E. Itaya
Superintendent of Public Safety Services, California State Parks, Public Safety Division
California State Parks
Public Safety Division

Handgunlaw.us was sent the following email by Todd Thames, Superintendent of the Law Enforcement & Emergency Services Divisions, California State Parks:

Exceptions to this regulation are granted in the California Penal Code Section 25900 pertaining to law enforcement and retired law enforcement personnel and PC Section 26010 for citizens with Carry concealed Weapon permits. CCR 4313 is regulatory, whereas the California Penal Code is Statutory. Regulations give way to activities specifically granted in Statute. However, any restrictions placed on the CCW by the issuing agency would also be applicable in California State Parks. For example, if the CCW is only valid in the CCW holder’s City of residence or County, it would not be valid in a State Park Unit located outside the City or County of the holder.

​Concealed and loaded open carry is permitted at a campsite per 25550 and 26055, however it may generate considerable interest from rangers and your neighbors.

Department of Fish and Wildlife/Fish and Game Code

​10500 FGC. Except under a permit or specific authorization, it is unlawful to do any of the following: [only firearm sections included]
(b) To use or have in possession in a game refuge, a firearm, BB device as defined in Section 16250 of the Penal Code, crossbow, bow and arrow, or a trap or other contrivance designed to be, or capable of being, used to take birds or mammals, or to discharge a firearm or BB device or to release an arrow or crossbow bolt into a game refuge.
(d) To take or possess a bird, discharge a firearm or BB device, or release an arrow or crossbow bolt, within or into a waterfowl refuge.

150 yard unsafe discharge zone for hunters (anywhere in the state)

​3004 FGC. (a) It is unlawful for a person, other than the owner, person in possession of the premises, or a person having the express permission of the owner or person in possession of the premises, while within 150 yards of an occupied dwelling house, residence, or other building, or within 150 yards of a barn or other outbuilding used in connection with an occupied dwelling house, residence, or other building, to either hunt or discharge a firearm or other deadly weapon while hunting. The 150-yard area is a “safety zone.”
(b) It is unlawful for a person to intentionally discharge a firearm or release an arrow or crossbow bolt over or across a public road or other established way open to the public in an unsafe and reckless manner.

No shooting in/near campgrounds

14 CCR § 1413
(a) No Person shall discharge any firearm, air or gas weapon, or bow and arrow in the vicinity of a Designated Camping Area, residence sites, recreation grounds and areas, and over lakes or other bodies of water adjacent to or within such areas, whereby any Person is exposed to injury as a result of such discharge.
(b) Without limiting the foregoing, no Person shall discharge any of the above named weapons or any other weapon while within 150 yards (137.20 m) of any Designated Camping Area.

Discharge prohibited

14 CCR § 550 (cc)(2) Possession, discharge, and use of firearms or archery equipment is prohibited on department lands except within department-designated hunting areas or shooting sites, or with a permit issued by the department, or as authorized for dog training in a designated area, or when fishing with bow and arrow tackle as defined in subsection 550(b)(11) and allowed in subsection 550(h), or when dispatching a trapped animal per subsections 465.5(g)(1) and 550(ee) of these regulations. This prohibition includes air or gas operated devices or guns and all other propulsive devices.

10506 FGC. Nothing in this code prohibits the possession of firearms, BB devices as defined in Section 16250 of the Penal Code, crossbows and bolts, or bows and arrows by persons when traveling through any game refuges when the firearms are taken apart or encased and unloaded and the bows are unstrung or stored separately from any arrow or bolt. When the traveling is done on a route other than a public highway or other public thoroughfare or right of way, notice shall be given to the department at least 24 hours before that traveling. The notice shall give the name and address of the person intending to travel through the refuge, the name of the refuge, the approximate route, and the approximate time when that person intends to travel through the refuge.

Legal concealed carry okay

​14 CCR § 551(o) Designated Closures and Restrictions on Wildlife Areas: Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit the lawful possession of a concealed firearm as provided in subsection 550(cc)(1) of these regulations.

14 CCR § 550 (cc)(1) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the lawful possession of a concealed firearm by an active peace officer listed in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code or a retired peace officer in lawful possession of an identification certificate issued pursuant to Penal Code Section 25455 authorizing the retired officer to carry a concealed firearm. Nor shall this section prohibit the lawful possession of a concealed firearm pursuant to a concealed carry permit issued pursuant to Penal Code Section 26150 or 26155.

​4370 FGC. (a) In every area in which deer may lawfully be taken during the general open season there is an archery season for the taking of deer with bow and arrow. The season for each area shall be as the commission may prescribe, with a minimum interposing interval of three days immediately preceding the regular open season on deer in that area. Except as provided in subdivision (b), a person taking or attempting to take deer during such archery season shall neither carry, nor have under his or her immediate control, any firearm of any kind.
(b) A peace officer listed in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code, whether active or honorably retired, may carry a firearm capable of being concealed on his or her person while engaged in the taking of deer with bow and arrow in accordance with subdivision (a), but shall not take or attempt to take deer with the firearm.

Other hunting

​14 CCR § 354 (h) Archers may not use or possess a firearm while in the field engaged in archery hunting during an archery season or while hunting during a general season under the provisions of an archery only tag except as provided in subsections (h)(1) or (h)(2).
(1) An archer may carry a firearm capable of being concealed on his or her person while engaged in the taking of big game other than deer with a bow and arrow in accordance with subdivision (h), but shall not take or attempt to take big game with the firearm.
(2) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the lawful possession of a firearm capable of being concealed on his or her person by an active peace officer listed in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code or a retired peace officer in lawful possession of an identification certificate issued pursuant to Penal Code Section 25455 authorizing the retired officer to carry a concealed firearm.

Discharge on private property prohibited

2016 FGC. It is unlawful to enter land for the purpose of discharging a firearm or taking or destroying a mammal or bird, including waterfowl, on that land, without having first obtained written permission from the owner, the owner’s agent, or the person in lawful possession of that land, if either of the following is true:
(a) The land belongs to or is occupied by another person and is either under cultivation or enclosed by a fence.
(b) There are signs of any size and wording forbidding trespass or hunting or both displayed along all exterior boundaries of the land, at intervals not less than three to the mile, and at all roads and trails entering the land, including land temporarily inundated by water flowing outside the established banks of a river, stream, slough, or other waterway, which fairly advise a person about to enter the land that the use of the land is so restricted.

Other local districts

​Two specific statutes apply to local districts.33211.5 PRCallows the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to ban the use and possession of "dangerous weapons."71660 WATallows a municipal water district to ban the "possession or discharge of firearms" at its facilities. Water districts often have lakes and associated park/wildlands within their jurisdiction. Generally, it can be assumed that sub-municipalities (generally one of California’s many types of local districts) has some level of rulemaking procedure that it can apply, but the penalties are usually backed up generic laws like trespassing if one refuses to comply.

Most Likely Scenarios

​State Park: you bring an unloaded and locked up firearm in your vehicle, for self-defense at your campsite, and carry it only within your campsite. Someone calls the park ranger and a lively discussion about the legality of carrying a firearm in your campsite ensues.

You are going hunting and you bring an unloaded and locked up firearm in your vehicle and only load it when you are in the area where you are hunting, then unload it and put it away when you come back to your vehicle.

State Wildlife Reserve: you bring your unloaded and locked up firearms in your vehicle. You have your shotgun or rifle and a pistol for defense against mountain lions. You carry the weapons unloaded between your car/campsite and the hunting area.