WomensLaw serves and supports all survivors, no matter their sex or gender.

Legal Information: California

Statutes: California

View all
Updated: 
January 5, 2024

18150. Petition by immediate family member, employer, coworker, teacher, or law enforcement officer, roommate, or individual who has dating relationship or child in common

(a)(1) Any of the following individuals may file a petition requesting that the court issue an ex parte gun violence restraining order enjoining the subject of the petition from having in their custody or control, owning, purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm or ammunition:

(A) An immediate family member of the subject of the petition.

(B) An employer of the subject of the petition.

(C) A coworker of the subject of the petition, if they have had substantial and regular interactions with the subject for at least one year and have obtained the approval of the employer.

(D) An employee or teacher of a secondary or postsecondary school that the subject has attended in the last six months, if the employee or teacher has obtained the approval of a school administrator or a school administration staff member with a supervisorial role.

(E) A law enforcement officer.

(F) A roommate of the subject of the petition.

(G) An individual who has a dating relationship with the subject of the petition.

(H) An individual who has a child in common with the subject of the petition, if they have had substantial and regular interactions with the subject for at least one year.

(2) For purposes of this subdivision, “dating relationship” has the same meaning as in paragraph (10) of subdivision (f) of Section 243.

(3) For purposes of this subdivision, “immediate family member” means any spouse, whether by marriage or not, domestic partner, parent, child, any person related by consanguinity or affinity within the second degree, or any person related by consanguinity or affinity within the fourth degree who has had substantial and regular interactions with the subject for at least one year.

(4) For purposes of this subdivision, “roommate” means a person who regularly resides in the household, or who, within the prior six months, regularly resided in the household, and who has had substantial and regular interactions with the subject for at least one year.

(5) This chapter does not require a person described in paragraph (1) to seek a gun violence restraining order.

(b) A court may issue an ex parte gun violence restraining order if the petition, supported by an affidavit made in writing and signed by the petitioner under oath, or an oral statement taken pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 18155, and any additional information provided to the court shows that there is a substantial likelihood that both of the following are true:

(1) The subject of the petition poses a significant danger, in the near future, of causing personal injury to the subject of the petition or another by having in their custody or control, owning, purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm as determined by considering the factors listed in Section 18155.

(2) An ex parte gun violence restraining order is necessary to prevent personal injury to the subject of the petition or another because less restrictive alternatives either have been tried and found to be ineffective, or are inadequate or inappropriate for the circumstances of the subject of the petition.

(c) An affidavit supporting a petition for the issuance of an ex parte gun violence restraining order shall set forth the facts tending to establish the grounds of the petition, or the reason for believing that they exist.

(d) An ex parte order under this chapter shall be issued or denied on the same day that the petition is submitted to the court, unless the petition is filed too late in the day to permit effective review, in which case the order shall be issued or denied on the next day of judicial business in sufficient time for the order to be filed that day with the clerk of the court.

(e) This section shall become operative on September 1, 2020.