Approved Rosters

Educational information, not legal advice. Gun laws change often and vary by state, county and city. Check current law where you are and talk to a firearms attorney before acting. Full disclaimer

Last reviewed October 31, 2026

Approved Rosters: Where It Stands in 2026

An approved roster is a state-maintained list of handgun models that licensed dealers are allowed to sell. If a model is not on the list, a dealer generally cannot sell it to an ordinary resident, even if it is legal to own and is sold freely in most of the country. Rosters are usually justified as consumer-safety rules: models must pass drop and firing tests and, in some states, include specific design features. Critics argue that rosters function as a ban on newer handgun designs, because added feature mandates and testing costs keep many current models off the list for years.

As of October 2026, California, Massachusetts and Maryland maintain handgun rosters, and the District of Columbia limits registrable handguns largely to models on those states’ lists. California’s roster, created under the Unsafe Handgun Act, is the most restrictive. For years it required new semi-automatic pistols to have a chamber load indicator, a magazine disconnect mechanism and microstamping, a requirement no manufacturer met, so the list froze around older designs. In Boland v. Bonta, a federal judge preliminarily enjoined all three requirements in March 2023. The Ninth Circuit put the chamber-load and magazine-disconnect requirements back in force while the appeal proceeds but left the microstamping injunction in place, and the case now awaits decision by an 11-judge en banc panel. In July 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice also sued California in federal court, seeking to stop enforcement of the roster as a violation of the Second Amendment.

Massachusetts publishes an Approved Handgun Roster, updated several times a year, and its sweeping 2024 firearms law (Chapter 135 of the Acts of 2024) reorganized its roster system. Maryland’s Handgun Roster Board must approve handguns manufactured after 1985 before they can be sold in the state. Supporters of rosters point to minimum safety and reliability standards; opponents note that the federal government has no such list and that roster-excluded models are among the most commonly owned handguns in America, which they argue makes the restriction hard to square with Heller‘s protection of handguns. Purchase permits and licensing are covered on the License to Purchase page.

Key Facts

California: The Department of Justice roster is limited by the Unsafe Handgun Act; microstamping remains enjoined, and on September 3, 2026, the state added 25 handgun models to the roster.
March 2023: A federal district court preliminarily enjoined California’s microstamping, chamber load indicator and magazine disconnect requirements in Boland v. Bonta; the Ninth Circuit later reinstated the latter two pending appeal.
July 2026: The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit in the Central District of California challenging the handgun roster and a new dealer-sale ban on certain pistols (AB 1127).
Massachusetts: The state’s Approved Handgun Roster was most recently reissued in October 2026.
Maryland: The Handgun Roster Board approves handguns made after 1985 for sale and publishes a separate disapproved list (updated March 2026).
District of Columbia: D.C. Code 7-2505.04 and D.C. regulations tie registrable pistols largely to the California, Maryland and Massachusetts rosters as of 2009.

What Gun Owners Should Know

Rosters generally limit dealer sales, not ownership. New residents who move in with off-roster handguns can usually keep them, but must follow the state’s registration or reporting rules, often within a set number of days.
Private-party transfers of off-roster handguns are allowed in some roster states and banned in others. In California, private-party transfers still go through a licensed dealer but are exempt from the roster.
Exemptions exist for law enforcement, certain single-action revolvers and some competition firearms, but they are narrow. Do not assume a model qualifies without checking the current list.
Roster versions change. Check the state’s current published list on the date of purchase, since models are added and removed during the year.
Pending cases, including Boland and the Justice Department suit, could reshape California’s roster in 2027. Updates appear on the Court Cases page; buying questions can be submitted at Ask Gun Questions.com.