How easy to have a gun for protection in Los Angeles?

Oh, you can have it in your HOME. Chances of getting a carry permit vary by county, and change on the whim of whom ever is in charge at the time in that county.

Own? No problem.

You have to pay a fee and take a quiz to get a "Handgun Safety Card" good for 5 years, and you have to pay a fee to buy a gun, as well as egregious sales tax. Then you have to wait ten days to get your gun, even though you clear the NICS check immediately. Like you said, a PITA, but you can buy and own a gun if you have no felony or other disqualifying dings on your record.

California has state pre-emption of firearms laws. Los Angeles cannot make it harder to own a gun than it is anywhere else, though they have made it harder to buy certain guns in the city. You have to drive to the next city.

Carrying legally outside your property is a whole different question, and is virtually impossible in LA for the average person. A celebrity or a bodyguard can usually get a CCW permit, with more fees.

Easy to own if not one of the many "bad" listed long guns, or "assault weapons", and on the approved handgun list if a handgun. 10 day waiting period, must fill out a 4473.
Many modern handguns do not qualify to be added to the "approved list" but those already on it including many that do not qualify to be added to it before additional restrictions were imposed remain as long as the company pays the yearly extortion fee.

The Handgun Safety Certificate is needed for handguns and many FFLs can give you the test on the spot. It is a multiple question form very much like one takes for a driver's license, and has a small book that is also similar to the one given by the DMV.
The book is nonsense, simple basic instructions but turns the 4 rules into more...overly complicating things beyond the 4 rules and loses the simplicity it should have for new shooters, but is easy to study to take the test.

Acing the test on the first try is easy at this point, though they can change the difficulty at any time.

The biggest annoyance is you have to pay to take the test, pay for the background check and for the transfer.
Which all add up, and some low income individual who is not a gun person only purchasing a single firearm will notice the additional expenses even more.


The state registers and tracks all handguns. But you don't have to register it as it is automatically registered unknown to the purchaser upon sale within the state.


Getting a long gun is as simple as purchasing the gun at the store, completing the 4473, and waiting 10 days before you can come back to pick it up.


So acquiring the firearm is more difficult than in some places, but nothing compared to some portions of the nation requiring a license, or purchase permit, or are at the discretion of the local police to even purchase.

As for carrying it legally? No. Almost no regular person is granted a carry permit in Los Angeles.
Out of a population around 10 million people (more than 42 states in the nation) the number of permits is extremely low, a fraction of a fraction of a percent.
You will not get a permit unless you are a celebrity, well connected individual, or move extremely large amounts of cash on a regular basis.

So there you have it. You can get the firearm, but it can only be loaded at home, at your business, or at a campsight, other residence or temporary residence, non-public property (defined by law which requires certain things to include your own residential property) or while engaged in certain activities (like hunting with a hunting license or shooting at a legal place.)
Few people can legally carry it around in public.

There is many restrictions on transfers, types of firearms, magazine capacity, firearm attributes etc But acquiring a firearm that meets those restrictions through an FFL is pretty straight forward. Now if you want to understand how to work within the "loopholes" and do things like off list lowers turned into legal non "assault weapons" and why different things are legal it gets complicated.

Getting a long gun is as simple as purchasing the gun at the store, completing the 4473, and waiting 10 days before you can come back to pick it up.

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You still have to pay the DROS fee...

Also, you cannot put multiple handguns on a 4473, nor can you buy more than one handgun per 30 days, and a DROS is only good for 30 days, so you have to pay the fee with every single handgun.

If you buy multiple long guns, you can put several on one 4473 and pay a single fee. One person, who shall remain nameless, put long guns on layaway so he could put several on one form/fee, at stores that would allow it.

As I understand it, you don't need a license or permit to open carry, with a loaded magazine on your belt.

That is true, as long as you're nowhere near a school. So in a densely populated area, it is usually not practical.

As I understand it, you don't need a license or permit to open carry, with a loaded magazine on your belt.

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You cannot really "open carry" even an unloaded gun in California on your travels during a typical day. Open carry of even an unloaded firearm is for all intents and purposes banned. This is due to the California Gun Free School Zone Act. The inspiration for the federal version, but unlike the federal version it is quite active.

This means you can open carry if you never go within 1,000 feet of a school, which is wider than virtually all roads.
It is nearly impossible to go through a town without going within 1,000 feet of a school during regular travel.
You would need a route that was a zigzag pattern and well planned out to accomplish this.

Even many rural areas have elementary, middle, and high schools at some point along or near most main roads.

This means you can certainly do it if you spend some time to research specific routes, or for political reasons in places that meet the criteria. But you won't be strapping even an unloaded firearm to your side and going about your regular day. Your typical urban and suburban area has dozens of schools dotting the landscape within 1,000 feet of main roads, highways, and freeways. By the time you will see a well marked public school or notice it you will also normally be within 1,000 feet of its property. You also cannot realistically stop and turn around in traffic if one is coming up in 1,200 feet as you come around a corner and notice it.


So no, open carry even open unloaded carry is not really legal per say. It is but it isn't. You would be arrested traveling in a straight line through almost any urban or suburban area, and breaking the law even in most rural locations.
It is impossible without researching all local schools and plotting a strange course to legally do it.

The groups that do it for political reasons research the location and plan to do it beforehand. They insure it is far from prohibited locations, and take extensive steps to break no laws while doing something that attracts that controversial attention. They get to a location where they can put on their unloaded guns, hang out for a set amount of time, and then take them off before traveling.

Here is a good resource for locating all schools: http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/sd/

For example in just the city of Los Angeles, nevermind the county this lists 23 pages of public schools and 8 Pages of private schools.

In the County of Los Angeles it lists 93 pages of public schools and 36 pages of private schools

About 25 schools to a page!

That would give close to 2325 of just public primary schools and 900 private schools to avoid by at least 1,000 feet at all times.

For a grand total of about 3,225 places you may never drive or walk within 1,000 feet of in the county. Some schools are small and some quite large. So it can be within 1,000 feet of a mile or two long high school.
Simply unrealistic without extensive planning of specific streets. Then what do you do when a street is closed due to a water main burst, flood, debris, or car accident and the closure re-routes you? Most likely break the law.

Hardest part about buying a handgun for me in CA was the proof of residency matching my drivers. Since ive moved every year since i've been 18 my drivers license has my parents address, which doesn't match the electricity bill I used for POR. So I had to involve a trip to the DMV to get my change of address, I don't know if all DMV's are this bad but CA DMV's are such a pain in the ***, seems like every illegal in the state goes on the day I go.

Since ive moved every year since i've been 18 my drivers license has my parents address, which doesn't match the electricity bill I used for POR.

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Oh yeah. I forgot about that. Even if you own a house, you can't just show them the deed. That is not "proof of residency." They want a utility bill or one of a few other things -- in addition to a CA driver's license. I think that some bills were in my wife's name since she made the phone calls to get them switched on, so I had to change them to buy a gun (she didn't have the Handgun Safety Card, and we didn't want to pay another 25 bucks so she could get one).

For a while, you could use a fishing license. I'm not sure if that still works.

Like anyone BUT a CA resident would want to go through the hassle and pay the fees to buy a gun there...

I'm thanking my lucky stars for being born/raised in Alabama. There are FAR too many hoops & fees to jump through in CA just to enjoy your 2A "freedoms"..