California Codes

Cal. Penal Code § 12022.5 (2026)

✓ current as of May 2026
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(a)Except as provided in subdivision (b), any person who personally uses a firearm in the commission of a felony or attempted felony shall be punished by an additional and consecutive term of imprisonment in the state prison for 3, 4, or 10 years, unless use of a firearm is an element of that offense.

(b)Notwithstanding subdivision (a), any person who personally uses an assault weapon, as specified in Section 30510 or 30515, or a machinegun, as defined in Section 16880, in the commission of a felony or attempted felony, shall be punished by an additional and consecutive term of imprisonment in the state prison for 5, 6, or 10 years.

(c)The court may, in the interest of justice pursuant to Section 1385 and at the time of sentencing, strike or dismiss an enhancement otherwise required to be imposed by this section. The authority provided by this subdivision applies to any resentencing that may occur pursuant to any other law.

(d)Notwithstanding the limitation in subdivision (a) relating to being an element of the offense, the additional term provided by this section shall be imposed for any violation of Section 245 if a firearm is used, or for murder if the killing is perpetrated by means of shooting a firearm from a motor vehicle, intentionally at another person outside of the vehicle with the intent to inflict great bodily injury or death.

(e)When a person is found to have personally used a firearm, an assault weapon, a machinegun, or a .50 BMG rifle, in the commission of a felony or attempted felony as provided in this section and the firearm, assault weapon, machinegun, or a .50 BMG rifle, is owned by that person, the court shall order that the firearm be deemed a nuisance and disposed of in the manner provided in Sections 18000 and 18005.

(f)For purposes of imposing an enhancement under Section 1170.1, the enhancements under this section shall count as one single enhancement.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 581 cases (112 in the last 5 years), 1970–2026 · leading case: Danilo Mairena v. William Barr, 917 F.3d 1119 (9th Cir. 2019).
Danilo Mairena v. William Barr, 917 F.3d 1119 (9th Cir. 2019). · cites it 5× “Compare Cal. Penal Code § 12022.5 (b)(1) (2010), with id.”
People v. King, 851 P.2d 27 (Cal. 1993). · cites it 6× “In addition, Penal Code section 12022.5 provides for a sentence enhancement when a person uses a firearm in the commission or attempted commission of a felony.”
People v. Wolcott, 665 P.2d 520 (Cal. 1983). · cites it 4× “It imposed the upper term of five years, plus two years enhancement for use of a firearm (Pen. Code, § 12022.5) and three years *98 for service of a prior prison term for a violent felony (Pen.”
People v. Cooks, 141 Cal. App. 3d 224 (Cal. Ct. App. 1983). · cites it 5× “Code, § 213), and that Cooks used a firearm in committing each offense against Richard and Quita Hague (Pen. Code, § 12022.5). Defendants Moore and Simon were both accused of the murders of Tana Smith and Jane Holly on January 28, 1974 (Pen.”
Victor v. Nebraska, 511 U.S. 1 (1994). · cites it 2× “Cal. Penal Code Ann. § 12022.5 (West 1992) and Cal.”
People v. Chi Ko Wong, 557 P.2d 976 (Cal. 1976). · cites it 3× “(Pen. Code, § 12022.5.) 19 As the penalty mandated for that conviction is life imprisonment a finding pursuant to Penal Code section 12022.”
People v. Rivera, 441 P.3d 359 (Cal. 2019). “) Here, the jury found, upon proper instruction, that Rivera personally used a firearm in violation of *389 Penal Code section 12022.5, subdivision (a)(1), which required a finding that Rivera "intentionally displayed a firearm in a menacing manner, intentionally fired it, or…”
People v. Epps, 18 P.3d 2 (Cal. 2001). · cites it 2× “The information also alleged firearm enhancements (Pen.Code, §§ 12022.5, subds.(a), (d) [use of a firearm re assault counts], 12022, subd.”
People v. Wardell, 162 Cal. App. 4th 1484 (Cal. Ct. App. 2008). · cites it 3× “Code, §§ 236, 237), and the jury again found true that he had personally used a firearm in the commission of each offense (Pen. Code, §§ 12022.5, subd. (a), 12022.53, subd.”
Monge v. California, 524 U.S. 721 (1998). · cites it 2× “Cal. Penal Code § 12022.5 (1982) is typical: "[A]ny person who personally uses a firearm in the commission or attempted commission of a felony shall .”
People v. ARZATE, 2003 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 10814 (Cal. Ct. App. 2003). · cites it 5× “Penal Code section 12022.5, subdivision (a) provides for a sentence enhancement where a defendant uses a firearm in the commission of the offense, “unless use of a firearm is an element of that offense.”
People v. Rodriguez, 726 P.2d 113 (Cal. 1986). · cites it 2× “The jury found that appellant had personally used a firearm in both murders (Pen. Code, § 12022.5) [1] and, as special circumstances justifying the death penalty, that he was convicted of more than one murder (§ 190.”
— Cal. Penal Code § 12022.5(A)(1) — 1 case
— Cal. Penal Code § 12022.5(A)(D) — 1 case
— Cal. Penal Code § 12022.5(a) — 15 cases
Jonathan C. Shaw v. Cal Terhune, 380 F.3d 473 (9th Cir. 2004).
Singh v. Curry, 689 F. Supp. 2d 1250 (E.D. Cal. 2010).
Abeyta v. Giurbino, 607 F. Supp. 2d 1123 (C.D. Cal. 2009).
Gomez v. Pliler, 212 F. App'x 687 (9th Cir. 2006).
United States v. Heflin, 195 F. Supp. 3d 1134 (E.D. Cal. 2016).
— Cal. Penal Code § 12022.5(a)(1) — 6 cases
United States v. Gottlieb, 140 F.3d 865 (10th Cir. 1998).
Bovarie v. Giurbino, 558 F. Supp. 2d 1030 (C.D. Cal. 2008).
(HC) Larshin v. Kibler (E.D. Cal. 2021).
(HC) Sisounthone v. Neuschmid (E.D. Cal. 2022).
(HC) Sisounthone v. Neuschmid (E.D. Cal. 2023).
— Cal. Penal Code § 12022.5(b)(1) — 1 case
Danilo Mairena v. William Barr, 917 F.3d 1119 (9th Cir. 2019). “Compare Cal. Penal Code § 12022.5 (b)(1) (2010), with id.”
— Cal. Penal Code § 12022.5(c) — 4 cases
Drawn v. Nueschid (N.D. Cal. 2019).
Botello v. Neuschmid (N.D. Cal. 2020).
(HC) Love v. Warden (E.D. Cal. 2025).
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.