California bans the sale of firearms it classifies as assault weapons.
You cannot sell firearms California classifies as assault weapons into that state. There is no federal assault weapons ban — the 1994 law expired in 2004 — so this prohibition sits at state level and applies to part of your catalog only. Federal law already requires every firearm sale to route through a licensed dealer, but that control does not override state law on which products are legal to sell. The rest of this page covers which products fall under California's ban, how to identify them in your catalog, and what an acquirer makes of a store that ships firearms into the state without knowing the difference.
California bans the sale of firearms it classifies as assault weapons. There is no federal ban — the 1994 law expired in 2004 and was never renewed — so this is a state-level prohibition on part of your catalog.
Federal law already routes every firearm sale through a licensed dealer, so the question in California is not how you ship but which of your products may be sold there at all.
Source: Gun Laws by State — assault weapons ban states (2026) · as of 2026-07. Rules in this area change, and this is not legal advice — verify the current position for every state you ship into before you rely on it.
What this means for your store
If you sell any rifle, shotgun or handgun model that California classifies as an assault weapon, you must block sales into California entirely for that product. You cannot ship it there, cannot accept payment for it there, and cannot suggest the buyer work around the rule by using a licensed dealer or a neighbouring state. Your fulfillment and payment systems must refuse the order at checkout based on the customer's address. For any other firearm in your catalog, federal law applies: all sales route through a licensed dealer, and you can legally ship into California provided your gateway and processor accept firearms as a category. The cost of getting this wrong is significant. Shipping a banned firearm into California, whether by accident or design, flags your store as a compliance risk to any payment processor. You lose processing immediately and face difficulty moving to a new gateway for months.
The control that actually enforces it
You must build a per-product shipping profile in Shopify that excludes California for every model your supplier or legal counsel identifies as banned under California law. A note in a spreadsheet or a manual review at checkout is not a control — it will fail under volume and under dispute. Shopify allows you to set shipping rates and availability by product, region and market. Use this to block California checkout for the specific SKUs that fall under the ban. Test by creating a test customer address in California and verifying that banned products disappear from the cart. For all other firearms, your standard Shopify shipping and payment setup applies; you are not creating a special flow.
Why an underwriter cares
An acquirer reviewing your firearms account will pull your Shopify product feed and check shipping profiles. If they see a firearm model known to be banned in California available for shipping into that state, they will assume systematic non-compliance and cut you off. If they see a per-product block in place, they will treat it as evidence of control. This is independent of processor approval of firearms as a category. A processor may accept firearms generally but require proof that you do not ship into states that prohibit specific models. The shipping profile is that proof.
Frequently asked
Can I sell any firearms into California?
Yes, but only models that California does not classify as assault weapons. Federal law routes all firearm sales through a licensed dealer — that is separate from California's state-level ban on specific models. If your product is a rifle, shotgun or handgun model banned under California law, you cannot sell it into that state at all. If it is not on California's banned list, you can ship it provided you have payment processing approval for firearms generally.
How do I know which of my products are banned in California?
You and your legal counsel must review each product against California's assault weapons classification. Shopify does not maintain this list. The source for California's rules is public, but classification can be model-specific and occasionally disputes arise. Once your counsel identifies which of your SKUs fall under the ban, build a shipping profile that excludes California for those products only. Do not guess. Wrong classification is what triggers processor cutoff.
What happens if I ship a banned firearm into California by mistake?
Your payment processor will flag the shipment during underwriting review or dispute, assume non-compliance, and cut off your processing. You will also expose yourself to state enforcement. Recovery takes months and requires proof of a new control in place. This is not a fine you can pay — it is termination of your ability to process at all until you can demonstrate systematic change.
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