Only if the court grants an exemption. A California protective order’s firearm surrender duty covers a firearm you carry for work, and the only way to keep one specific firearm for your job is a narrow exemption the court may include in its relinquishment order after making specific findings.

The relinquishment duty covers your work firearm too

Once served with a protective order, the restrained person has 24 hours to give up every firearm and all ammunition in their immediate possession or control. Under a domestic violence restraining order, the surrender is immediate if the officer serving it requests the firearms. The duty reaches civil protective orders, including civil harassment orders, workplace violence orders, postsecondary school violence orders, and elder or dependent adult abuse orders (Code of Civil Procedure section 527.9), and a domestic violence restraining order (Family Code section 6389). Criminal protective orders are covered too, since Penal Code section 136.2 requires relinquishment “pursuant to Section 527.9 of the Code of Civil Procedure.” None of these statutes makes an automatic exception for a firearm you carry for work. The only exception is the court-granted exemption below.

Two narrow paths to an exemption

As part of the relinquishment order, the court may grant an exemption for a particular firearm or ammunition, but only if you are not otherwise prohibited from owning, possessing, controlling, or purchasing a firearm and ammunition under any other state or federal law, and only on one of two tracks (Code of Civil Procedure section 527.9(f); Family Code section 6389(h)).

Sworn peace officers. If you are currently employed as a sworn peace officer required to carry a firearm as a condition of continued employment, and your employer cannot reassign you to a position where a specified firearm is unnecessary, the court may allow you to keep carrying that specific firearm on duty or off duty. Before making its findings, the court must require a psychological evaluation by a licensed mental health professional with domestic violence expertise; it must consider the results and may require counseling or another remedial treatment program. It can then grant the exemption only if it finds, by a preponderance of the evidence and in writing or on the record, both that your personal safety depends on carrying that firearm outside scheduled work hours and that your access to it does not pose an additional threat of harm to a protected party or the public.

Other employees. If you are not a peace officer but must carry a specific firearm during scheduled work hours as a condition of continued employment, and your employer cannot reassign you to a position where it is unnecessary, the court may allow you to possess that firearm only during scheduled work hours. It must first find, by a preponderance of the evidence and in writing or on the record, that your access to it during those hours does not pose an additional threat of harm to a protected party or the public. The court may, but does not have to, order a psychological evaluation to help it decide.

The exemption can change

If the court grants an exemption while a temporary order is pending, it must review the exemption and make a new finding, in writing or on the record, when it issues the order after hearing. If the order is later renewed at a party’s request, the court must again decide whether the exemption remains appropriate. The court can modify or end the exemption at any time if you need a different specific firearm authorized, no longer meet the requirements, or otherwise violate the order (Code of Civil Procedure section 527.9(g); Family Code section 6389(i)).

What an exemption does not cover

An exemption covers only the specific firearm or ammunition the court names. For an employee who is not a peace officer, the order must state that the firearm may be in your physical possession only during scheduled work hours and that the exemption does not authorize any other firearm or ammunition. Every other firearm and all other ammunition remain subject to the surrender deadlines. Knowingly owning or possessing a firearm that a protective order prohibits is a separate crime under Penal Code section 29825, covered on the unlawful possession of firearms page.

Practical steps

  • Raise the exemption with the court as early as you can, as part of the relinquishment order. Until the court grants it in writing or on the record, the surrender deadline applies to the work firearm too.
  • Be ready to show, through your employer, that carrying that firearm is a condition of your continued employment and that no reassignment is available.
  • If you are a peace officer, expect a mandatory psychological evaluation before the court can rule.
  • When the order is issued after a hearing or renewed, or your assignment changes, ask your lawyer whether the exemption needs to be reviewed or modified.

The Law Offices of David S. Chesley can review your order, your job’s requirements, and whether a work-related firearm exemption is realistically available in your case. Call (800) 755-5174 to discuss your situation.