Will going to therapy cost me my guns in California?

A: No. Seeing a therapist as an outpatient is not a firearm prohibition in California, and neither is having a diagnosis, nor taking prescribed medication, nor having had these things years ago. There is no registry of therapy clients and no report your therapist files because you booked an appointment. The prohibitions in California law are triggered by specific events, and the list is short enough to print.

The events that actually trigger a prohibition.

• A 5150 that becomes an admission. Being taken into custody under §5150, assessed under §5151, and admitted to a facility as a danger to self or others carries a five-year prohibition — and a second such detention and admission within a one-year period makes it lifetime.¹
• A certification for intensive treatment. A §5250, §5260 or §5270.15 certification carries its own five-year prohibition.²
• A voluntary inpatient stay, while you are in it. If you admit yourself as an inpatient and the treating clinician concludes you are a danger to others, or a danger to self — which for a voluntary patient the statute defines as having "made a serious threat of, or attempted, suicide with the use of a firearm or other deadly weapon" — you may not possess a firearm during that admission.³
• A reported threat. If you communicate a serious threat of physical violence against a reasonably identifiable victim to a licensed psychotherapist, and that therapist reports it to law enforcement, a five-year prohibition follows.⁴ Both halves are required — the threat and the report.
• An LPS conservatorship. A person placed under conservatorship for grave disability under §5350 may not possess firearms, other deadly weapons or ammunition for the duration of the conservatorship, where the court found — at the time of the order or afterwards — that possession would present a danger to the safety of the person or of others.⁵ This one is purely civil, and it lasts as long as the conservatorship does. What a conservatorship involves →

Notice what is not on that list: outpatient sessions, a chart, a diagnosis code on a claim, an SSRI, a hospitalisation for something other than danger, or telling your therapist you feel awful.

Getting rights back is a real process, and which one matters. All three five-year prohibitions have a petition route, and the burden sits in different places:

• On a §8103(f) petition — after a 5150 admission — the people carry the burden of showing you would not be likely to use a firearm safely.¹
• On a §8103(g) petition — after a certification — the court grants relief only if it finds by a preponderance that you would be likely to use a firearm safely, which in practice puts the showing on you.²
• On a §8100(b)(3) petition — after a reported threat — the statute puts the burden on the people: "The people shall bear the burden of showing by a preponderance of the evidence that the person would not be likely to use firearms in a safe and lawful manner."⁴ Read that alongside §8100(b)(1), which states the test the other way round; the petition subdivision is the one that governs the hearing.

That difference is worth naming to a lawyer before you file. The current version of §8103 took effect 1 September 2025, so anything written earlier may describe the old text.¹

Do this: if you are avoiding therapy over this, say so out loud in a consult call — it is a normal question and a good therapist will answer it flatly. If you have had a 5150 in your past and do not know your status, that is a question for a California firearms attorney with your actual records, not for a website. And if the reason you are asking is that having them in the house feels unsafe right now, 988 will talk about that without dispatching anyone.

Sources

1. Welfare & Institutions Code §8103(f) — five-year prohibition following custody under §5150, assessment under §5151, and admission as a danger to self or others; lifetime where a second such detention and admission occurs within one year; §8103(f)(5) hearing request, with the burden sentence in (f)(6), with the burden on the people. Current text operative 1 September 2025 (SB 1025) — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
2. Welfare & Institutions Code §8103(g) — five-year prohibition following certification under §5250, §5260 or §5270.15; §8103(g)(4) petition, with the burden on the petitioner.
3. Welfare & Institutions Code §8100(a) and §8100(f) — prohibition during a voluntary inpatient admission where the clinician deems the person a danger to others, or a "danger to self" as subdivision (f) defines it for a voluntary patient — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
4. Welfare & Institutions Code §8100(b) — five-year prohibition where a serious threat of physical violence against a reasonably identifiable victim is communicated to a licensed psychotherapist and reported to law enforcement; the petition for relief is at §8100(b)(3), and §8100(b)(3)(B) places the burden on the people.
5. Welfare & Institutions Code §8103(e) — firearm, deadly weapon and ammunition prohibition for the duration of a conservatorship under §5350, where the court has made the danger finding — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.

All sections read 17 August 2026. This page describes the statute; it is not legal advice, and firearm status turns on documents only you and a lawyer can see.

Worried about the other records a hold touches? Criminal history, the medical record, the DMV and employers each have a different answer. Does a 5150 go on my record? →

Family watching someone deteriorate in a house with guns? A gun violence restraining order can be sought by an immediate family member, without a hold or a diagnosis. Can I ask a court to take a family member's guns? →

The threat that triggers the five-year ban: Will my therapist warn someone if I threaten them? →