---
type: "Bill"
title: "Firearms: open carry."
description: "Existing law prohibits, with certain exceptions, openly carrying an unloaded handgun outside a vehicle while in or upon a public place or public street of an incorporated city or city and county or while in or upon a public place or public street within a prohibited area, being defined as any area in which it is unlawful to discharge a firearm."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 7"
citation: "California AB 7 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Firearms: open carry."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Gipson"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 27
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2016-12-05"
last_action: "2017-10-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a0d51f0c-41fb-49d0-841f-d6dc5ec42a07"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB7"
source_hash: "f1f093c8c06cbf1ef99922115869af08b2f8761668cae971fb3e9d6065e76de8"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 7 (20172018) — Firearms: open carry.

Existing law prohibits, with certain exceptions, openly carrying an unloaded handgun outside a vehicle while in or upon a public place or public street of an incorporated city or city and county or while in or upon a public place or public street within a prohibited area, being defined as any area in which it is unlawful to discharge a firearm.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **12/05/16 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB7&version=20170AB799INT)
2. **02/27/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB7&version=20170AB798AMD)
3. **03/28/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB7&version=20170AB797AMD)
4. **09/07/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB7&version=20170AB796AMD)
5. **10/13/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB7&version=20170AB794CHP)
6. **AB7** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB7)
7. **09/15/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB7&version=20170AB795ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- AB 7 Gipson Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **43–32** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB7 Gipson et al. By Portantino — **24–14** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Gipson — primary (person)
- Portantino — coauthor (person)
- Wiener — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2016-12-05** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2016-12-06** From printer. May be heard in committee January 5.
- **2017-02-23** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-27** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-02-28** Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-21** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (March 21). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-03-28** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-03-29** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-05** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 11. Noes 6.) (April 5). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-04-06** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-04-20** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 44. Noes 29. Page 1141.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-04-20** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2017-05-10** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-13** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2017-06-20** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (June 20). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-07-10** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2017-09-01** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (September 1). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-09-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-07** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2017-09-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-12** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 24. Noes 14. Page 2770.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-09-13** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 15 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2017-09-13** Assembly Rule 77(a) suspended. (Ayes 54. Noes 25. Page 3255.)
- **2017-09-13** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 43. Noes 32. Page 3329.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2017-09-20** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2017-10-13** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-10-13** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 734, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a0d51f0c-41fb-49d0-841f-d6dc5ec42a07`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).