By the The Bulldog Law Criminal Defense Team • Reviewed by a licensed California criminal defense attorney
Penal Code § 29800 makes it a STRAIGHT FELONY - 16 months, 2, or 3 years - for anyone previously convicted of a felony (any felony, from any state or federal court, however old) to OWN, PURCHASE, RECEIVE, POSSESS, or have CUSTODY OR CONTROL of any firearm; and California's ban is LIFETIME, with parallel 10-YEAR bans for specified violent misdemeanors (§ 29805 - including domestic battery, § 273.5, stalking, and brandishing) and separate prohibitions for narcotic addiction and certain mental-health holds.
Three facts define how these cases actually happen: “possession” includes CONSTRUCTIVE possession - dominion and control, not just a gun in your hand - which is how a spouse's lawfully owned pistol in a shared bedroom closet becomes YOUR felony; expungement does NOT restore gun rights - the most dangerous myth in this field, because a § 1203.4 dismissal leaves the firearm ban fully intact; and the federal shadow runs alongside - 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) prosecutes the identical conduct in federal court with heavier exposure and armed-career-criminal enhancements for repeat records. This guide from The Bulldog Law's firearm offenses practice covers who is actually prohibited, how possession gets proven and attacked, the shared-household reality, and the only restoration paths that genuinely work.
Who Is Actually Prohibited - the Full Map
- Lifetime (§ 29800): any felony conviction California, another state, or federal; wobblers convicted AS felonies count, and out-of-state priors get classified by California's rules (a classification fight worth having when the foreign offense wouldn't be a California felony). Also lifetime: specified violent offenses and anyone addicted to narcotics under the statute's terms.
- Ten years (§ 29805): a long list of misdemeanors most people never suspect - domestic battery (§ 243(e)(1)), corporal injury (§ 273.5), stalking, criminal threats, brandishing (§ 417), assault, battery, and more - the reason ‘just a misdemeanor' pleas quietly cost a decade of gun rights, and a fact that belongs in every plea discussion BEFORE signing.
- Other lanes: juvenile adjudications for serious offenses (bans until age 30 in specified cases), mental-health prohibitions (§ 8103 holds and findings, with their own petition-for-relief procedures), and active restraining orders civil harassment and DV orders both impose surrender-and-ban regimes for their duration.
- What does NOT restore rights: expungement (§ 1203.4), the passage of time on felonies, moving states, or a ‘clean record since.' What DOES: the two paths below and nothing else short of them.
“Possession”: The Shared-Home Trap and How the Element Is Fought
The prosecution must prove (1) a qualifying prior, (2) that you possessed, owned, or controlled a firearm, and (3) that you KNEW of its presence and the second element's reach is the trap: constructive possession means DOMINION AND CONTROL, so the gun in the shared closet, the nightstand on “her side,” the safe whose combination you know, the car you were driving with a pistol under the seat can each support the charge without the gun ever touching your hands.This is where prohibited people living in gun-owning households get charged - probation and parole searches, DV calls, and traffic stops supply the discoveries - and it's also where the defenses live: dominion is not PROXIMITY (access alone, without control, is contested territory; the spouse's exclusively controlled firearm, stored where you lack access, is HER possession, not yours), knowledge is an element (the borrowed car, the roommate's bag, the storage unit's contents), momentary possession for disposal or disarming is a narrow but real doctrine, and - as in every gun case - the SEARCH comes first: suppression motions end more § 29800 prosecutions than trials do.
For prohibited people in mixed households, the protective protocol is worth stating plainly: the lawful owner's firearms belong in a safe the prohibited person cannot open, ammunition included, with the separation documented - because when officers arrive for anything else, the closet is what converts a visit into a felony. Sentencing reality: 16 months / 2 / 3 per firearm, routinely stacked with carry and loaded-in-public counts, with federal referral (and its mandatory-minimum architecture) reserved for the records that trigger it and for non-citizens, firearm offenses are an independent deportability ground that must shape any resolution.
The Only Real Ways Back: 17(b) and the Pardon
- The § 17(b) reduction for wobbler priors: if your felony was a WOBBLER (an offense chargeable either way), a court can reduce it to a misdemeanor and a reduced wobbler is a misdemeanor “for all purposes,” which removes the FELONY-based lifetime ban going forward. Timing and offense-type limits apply (some offenses carry their own bans regardless), and the motion's quality matters but for eligible priors this is the practical, achievable path, often combined with the 1203.4 dismissal in one motion for the record-cleaning benefits the reduction alone doesn't give.
- The Governor's pardon for straight felonies: a full pardon (typically reached through the Certificate of Rehabilitation pathway) can restore California firearm rights EXCEPT where the conviction involved a dangerous weapon, and always subject to the federal overlay, which recognizes state restorations only on its own terms. It's a years-long, merits-based process - and the only door for non-wobbler felonies.
- Everything else is a myth: expungement doesn't do it, time doesn't do it, out-of-state moves don't do it, and ‘the gun was for protection' isn't a defense it's a confession with a motive attached. Anyone prohibited who wants rights back should pursue the lawful paths WITH counsel, and until then, live by the separation protocol above because § 29800 is the easiest felony in the code to prove once a firearm and a prior share an address.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a felon ever own a gun again in California?
Through exactly two doors: a § 17(b) reduction (if the felony was a wobbler reduced to a misdemeanor ‘for all purposes,' the felony ban lifts, subject to offense-specific exceptions) or a Governor's pardon (for straight felonies, usually via the Certificate of Rehabilitation route, excluded where a dangerous weapon was involved, and layered against federal law). Expungement does NOT restore gun rights the most consequential myth in this area and neither does time, relocation, or a clean record. If restoration matters to you, have counsel classify your prior and file the right vehicle; owning a firearm on a myth is a 3-year felony.
Can I be charged if the gun belongs to my wife or roommate?
Yes through constructive possession: dominion and control over the firearm, proven by access, shared spaces, knowledge, and circumstances. The shared bedroom closet, the nightstand, the safe you can open are the classic charging facts; the defense is the mirror image exclusive control by the lawful owner, storage you cannot access, and the knowledge element. The protective protocol for mixed households is non-negotiable: the lawful owner keeps firearms and ammunition in a container the prohibited person cannot open, and that separation is documented. It protects the family's rights and the prohibited person's liberty at the same time and it's the first question any defense of these cases asks.
Do misdemeanors take away gun rights?
Some do for ten years under § 29805: domestic battery (243(e)(1)), corporal injury (273.5), stalking, criminal threats, brandishing (417), assault, battery, and a longer list most defendants never hear about until the plea is entered. Federal law adds its own lifetime bar for misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence. This is why the firearm consequence belongs in every misdemeanor plea discussion in advance a ‘minor' DV-adjacent plea quietly disarms hunters, security professionals, and gun owners for a decade - and why charge-selection (a 415 disturbing-the-peace outcome versus a 243(e)) is worth real negotiation. Already convicted? The ban runs from conviction; violating it is its own crime; and counsel can confirm your exact status and dates.
What's the difference between the state charge and federal 922(g)?
Same conduct, different courts, different stakes. California's § 29800 carries 16 months to 3 years in county-realignment custody. Federal § 922(g) carries up to 10 years - 15-to-life under the Armed Career Criminal Act with three qualifying priors with federal detention rules and sentencing guidelines. Federal adoption follows the record and the context: serious priors, gangs and trafficking overlays, task-force arrests. Which forum a case lands in changes everything about defending it, and dual-exposure cases need counsel fluent in both - including the federal definitions of ‘restored rights,' which don't always match California's. If federal agents appear anywhere in a firearm case, treat it as the emergency it is.
Section 29800 is the code's simplest equation - a prior plus a firearm plus an address - and its defenses live in the details: what ‘possession' really was, how the gun was found, what the prior actually is, and which restoration door your history fits. Get the details examined before the equation gets written for you. The Bulldog Law's firearm defense team handles § 29800, § 922(g), and rights-restoration matters across California. Contact the firm online or call (888) 928-1609 - 24/7.