The California Rifle & Pistol Association (CRPA), founded in 1875, is a nonprofit membership and donor supported organization with tens of thousands of members and dozens of chapters throughout California. We need you! California saw over 1 million new gun owners in 2020. These are people that choose to defend those they love, themselves, or take up a new hobby like hunting or competitive shooting.

CRPA’s membership is comprised of a diverse cross-section of the general public including believers in the right to choose to own a gun to defend yourself and your family, competitive and recreational shooters, hunters, conservationists, gun safety experts, students, new shooters, women, police, prosecutors and defense attorneys, judges, firearm history and technology experts, coaches and trainers, Olympians, families, and loving parents.

CRPA works tirelessly and relentlessly to defend the civil and constitutional rights of individuals to choose to responsibly own and use firearms. Every dollar that CRPA receives from its members and donors stays and works in California to support your hunting and Second Amendment rights and the fight back against politicians, elitists, and bureaucrats who would deprive individuals of those rights.

Through its Sacramento and local legal and political advocates, CRPA works in the state capital, in regulatory agencies, and in city halls throughout California to promote laws that protect these rights, and to oppose laws that infringe on these rights.

Through its legal team, CRPA fights in the courts to challenge unconstitutional and illegal gun bans and ill-conceived gun control laws, and provides guidance to California gun owners regarding their legal rights and responsibilities. Our legal team has the expertise and decades of fighting for 2A rights which set our legal challenges apart from others. Our members support those legal challenges and get us across the finish line.

CRPA works to preserve the traditional and historic role of the individual citizen to hunt and to conserve and preserve California’s natural resources. We understand that your rights “shall not be infringed” and we fight to protect your use of firearms for lawful purposes.

CRPA promotes the recreational shooting sports, and hosts hundreds of “fun shoots” and competitive shoots annually. CRPA works with special interest shooting programs and promotes the shooting sports to the next generation.

CRPA provides safety, education, and skills training, and makes gun safety information available. We host an on-site training center, take education across the state, and provide video training in specific topics. (Check out our virtual learning that is FREE- CLICK HERE)

CRPA organizes and sanctions competitive shooting matches for both adult and junior shooters, including Olympic training programs and state championships. CRPA sanctions state championship matches in many shooting disciplines. CRPA is proud to say that many CRPA competitors are among the best in the world.

Many of CRPA’s efforts are funded through grants from the CRPA’s affiliated organization, The CRPA Foundation (CRPAF). CRPAF is a 501(c)(3) organization, so contributions to the CRPAF are tax deductible and are used in California for 501(c)3 permissible purposes and to fund litigation in the furtherance of the mission.

CRPA’s political efforts are often coordinated through the CRPA’s political action committee, the CRPA-PAC.

We Support:

CRPA has an independent Board of Directors. All money from memberships and donations stays and works in California to offer programs to gun owners, fight legislation in Sacramento, and continue the battle against unconstitutional laws in the courts. CRPA is not funded from outside organizations. We take great pride in our financial practices and always keep a watchful eye out for the use of funds to further the purposes of the CRPA.