The Impact of Gun Violence in California: In August 2023, Attorney General Bonta released the first-ever report from the Office of Gun Violence Prevention. The report provides a comprehensive review of gun violence data in California and throughout the nation to help guide policy and strategy discussions related to reducing gun violence. A copy of this report is available here.
Domestic Violence Involving Firearms: Released in November 2023, this data report provides an in-depth look at the ties between domestic violence and firearms. The report examines data illustrating the impact of firearms-related domestic violence, including both family and intimate partner-related violence with firearms. A copy of this report is available here.
Pathways to Safety: California’s Nine Court Protection Orders to Prevent Gun Violence: Released in June 2024, this report provides an in-depth look at California’s uniquely broad array of nine court protection order processes that can prevent gun violence by restricting a violent, abusive, or dangerous individual’s access to firearms. The report provides a guide to the unique features and differences between each type of protection order available in California to help stakeholders understand the full range of options available to protect survivors and the public from gun violence. The report also provides new data to document the important role each of these processes plays in preventing gun violence in our state. A copy of this report is available here.
- California's Fight Against the Ghost Gun Crisis (Oct. 2024): This report provides an in-depth look at the impact and origins of the ghost gun crisis and California’s response. It documents a dramatic increase in the number of ghost guns recovered from different types of crime from 2013-2021 and documents how California has made substantial progress against ghost guns since 2022 through a comprehensive enforcement, litigation, and legislative response. The report warns of emerging threats and shifts in the ghost gun industry and includes a California Ghost Gun Laws Reference Guide to provide a quick reference summary of new laws and policies designed to address these threats in order to promote compliance, accountability, and enforcement.
- A copy of this full report is available here.
- OGVP’s California Ghost Gun Laws Reference Guide (revised December 2025) is available here.
- Gun Violence Restraining Order (GVRO) Reports and Resources: In March 2026, the Office of Gun Violence Prevention published a set of reports and resources focused on supporting use and implementation of the GVRO to prevent mass shootings, hate and terror-related shootings, suicide, and other gun violence incidents. The GVRO process empowers law enforcement, family members, and other eligible community members to proactively prevent gun violence by presenting evidence to a court that another person poses a significant danger of harming themselves or others with firearms. If the court receives sufficient evidence of dangerousness and necessity, the court may issue an order that suspends the individual’s ability to keep, possess, and acquire firearms and related items, and prevents them from passing firearm-related background checks for a temporary period. These resources include:
- A Model GVRO Policy for California Law Enforcement Agencies. This Model GVRO Policy includes comprehensive guidance about the GVRO process, including information about the types of circumstances in which officers should consider requesting GVROs or other safety interventions; the types of evidence courts may consider in GVRO cases; and the process required to obtain, document, serve, and enforce all three types of GVROs.
- A GVRO 10-Year Progress Report: Data and Recommendations for Improved Implementation. Marking 10 years since California’s GVRO law first took effect in 2016, this report analyzes data and research on the GVRO to assess our state’s progress and leading challenges with implementing the GVRO to prevent gun violence. The report provides demographic and trends data about GVROs issued in our state, documents significantly increased utilization of this process since 2021, and spotlights the successful impact of some local GVRO programs. The report also identifies three priority recommendations for improving implementation of the GVRO. A central recommendation is for law enforcement agencies to designate GVRO coordinators and develop streamlined processes for city attorneys, county counsel, or other legal counsel to advise and represent law enforcement agency petitioners in GVRO matters, especially for managing the court form filing and hearing process to obtain longer-term GVROs that last for up to five years instead of expiring within 21 days.
- A GVRO Implementation Guide. This resource provides a comprehensive desk reference and training resource about the GVRO process. It includes explanatory background, GVRO process flow charts, and best practice checklists to help law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders navigate common barriers, develop GVRO cases informed by behavioral threat assessment strategies, evaluate additional and alternative safety interventions to address dangerous firearm access when targeted victims are in danger, and successfully request, serve, document, and enforce GVROs to protect public safety.
