---
type: "Bill"
title: "Firearms."
description: "Existing law generally requires ammunition to be sold only to a person whose information matches an entry in the Automated Firearms System and who is eligible to possess ammunition, to a person who has a current certificate of eligibility issued by the Department of Justice, or to a person who purchases or transfers the ammunition in a single ammunition transaction, as specified. Existing law imposes a per transaction fee not to exceed $1 on ammunition purchasers and transferees and requires that this money be deposited in the continuously appropriated Ammunition Safety and Enforcement Special Fund. Existing law requires a person or business to have a valid ammunition vendor license to sell more than 500 rounds of ammunition in any 30-day period. Existing law generally requires the sale or transfer of firearms to be conducted through a licensed firearms dealer."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 879"
citation: "California AB 879 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill", "appropriation"]
subjects: ["Firearms."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Gipson"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 22
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2019-02-20"
last_action: "2019-10-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ec320ead-43f7-42a9-8c30-92f39700309e"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB879"
source_hash: "1ddc1c0de9429fd41cad3214b4d7482a6cd186b1a56a1b0b500298442ad80f49"
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 879 (20192020) — Firearms.

Existing law generally requires ammunition to be sold only to a person whose information matches an entry in the Automated Firearms System and who is eligible to possess ammunition, to a person who has a current certificate of eligibility issued by the Department of Justice, or to a person who purchases or transfers the ammunition in a single ammunition transaction, as specified. Existing law imposes a per transaction fee not to exceed $1 on ammunition purchasers and transferees and requires that this money be deposited in the continuously appropriated Ammunition Safety and Enforcement Special Fund. Existing law requires a person or business to have a valid ammunition vendor license to sell more than 500 rounds of ammunition in any 30-day period. Existing law generally requires the sale or transfer of firearms to be conducted through a licensed firearms dealer.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/20/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB879&version=20190AB87999INT)
2. **05/16/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB879&version=20190AB87998AMD)
3. **06/17/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB879&version=20190AB87997AMD)
4. **10/11/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB879&version=20190AB87995CHP)
5. **AB879** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB879)
6. **09/11/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB879&version=20190AB87996ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–1** (pass) · upper
- AB 879 Gipson Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **52–21** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended. — **13–5** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB879 Gipson By Portantino — **27–11** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **5–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **6–2** (pass) · lower
- AB 879 Gipson Assembly Third Reading — **45–21** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Gipson — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-20** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2019-02-21** From printer. May be heard in committee March 23.
- **2019-03-04** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-02** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 2.) (April 2). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-24** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-16** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 13. Noes 5.) (May 16). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-05-16** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-05-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-05-28** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 45. Noes 21. Page 2045.) `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-05-29** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2019-06-06** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-17** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-06-25** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (June 25). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-07-08** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2019-08-30** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (August 30). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-08-30** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-04** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 27. Noes 11. Page 2508.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-09-05** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 7 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2019-09-09** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 52. Noes 21. Page 3104.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-09-13** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2019-10-11** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-10-11** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 730, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ec320ead-43f7-42a9-8c30-92f39700309e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).