Firearms & Tactical

California Bans Gift Cards for Online Gun, Ammo, Tobacco and Vape Purchases in 2027

California AB 2076, signed September 30, 2026, bars online sellers from accepting gift cards or store credit for firearms, ammunition, tobacco, e-cigarettes and nitrous oxide starting January 1, 2027, keeps existing ID rules, and raises penalties for large companies.

E-commerce 4 Internet Marketers Editorial

Through the window of a brick-front city shop on a rainy autumn afternoon, a clerk in a bow tie holds a customer's identification card up to the light while a young man waits at the counter beside wrapped parcels, the kind of age check California already requires before guns, tobacco or vapes change hands.

California will stop online sellers from taking gift cards or store credit for firearms, ammunition, tobacco, electronic cigarettes and several other age-restricted products on January 1, 2027. Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2076, authored by Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, on September 30, 2026, and it was filed as Chapter 920 of this year’s statutes. Like most bills signed in a regular session, it takes effect on the first day of the new year.

The bill rewrites Civil Code section 1798.99.1, the core of the Parent’s Accountability and Child Protection Act (PACPA). That 2018 law already requires any business selling a minor-restricted product in or into California to take reasonable steps to confirm the buyer is of legal age. AB 2076 adds nitrous oxide to the covered list, closes the gift card route, and sets a firmer penalty schedule with a much higher ceiling for large companies.

Which products fall under the gift card ban

PACPA sorts covered products into two groups. The gift card and store credit ban applies only to the second group, listed in subdivision (c) of the amended section:

  • firearms and handguns
  • BB devices
  • ammunition and reloaded ammunition
  • tobacco, cigarettes, cigarette papers, blunt wraps, other tobacco preparations and smoking paraphernalia
  • electronic cigarettes
  • less lethal weapons
  • nitrous oxide, as defined in Penal Code section 381c

The new text says “an online seller shall not allow a purchaser to use a gift card or store credit” for those products. The first group, which covers items such as aerosol spray paint, etching cream, dangerous fireworks and dietary supplements with ephedrine group alkaloids, keeps its existing age rules and is not part of the tender ban.

The Penal Code definition of nitrous oxide that the bill borrows excludes nitrous oxide sold inside food products as a propellant, according to the Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee analysis. Smoke shops and online stores that sell large flavored chargers and canisters are the sellers the bill’s supporters described.

The ID check rules for guns, tobacco and vapes stay the same

Age verification itself is not new for the second group. Under existing law, and again under AB 2076, a seller of those products can meet the reasonable steps standard in two named ways. The buyer or recipient can input, scan, provide or display a government-issued identification, or the seller can ship the product to a person who is of legal age.

Two shortcuts allowed for the first group do not count for guns, ammunition, tobacco or e-cigarettes. Requiring a nonprepaid credit card and blocking accounts flagged as minor accounts remain options only for products such as spray paint and fireworks. Consent obtained through the minor never counts, and a seller’s good faith reliance on bona fide evidence of age remains an affirmative defense.

The law also limits what a store can do with the data it collects. Information gathered to verify age may be retained, used or disclosed only to comply with this section, other California law or a court order, or to demonstrate that compliance.

Penalties rise for large sellers

Before AB 2076, a public prosecutor could seek a civil penalty of up to $7,500 per violation. The amended section sets the penalty at $7,500 for each violation. If the business had annual gross revenues above $25 million in the preceding calendar year, a court may raise the penalty to as much as $250,000 per violation when it finds that a higher amount is needed to deter future violations.

Prosecutors can now also ask for injunctive relief and recover reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. The section names public prosecutors as the parties who bring these cases. The committee analysis notes that earlier versions of the bill carried a $1.5 million penalty and provisions aimed specifically at large online marketplaces, and that those were removed after opposition from retail and technology groups.

The bill was co-sponsored by the Children’s Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego School of Law and the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office. According to the committee analysis, a 2025 report by the institute said one large online platform had permitted payment with prepaid cards and gift cards for restricted items and had stopped asking for age verification after a single transaction.

What the gift card rule means at checkout

A gift card or store credit block has to be tied to the product, not the whole store. A sporting goods site that sells holsters, targets and ammunition can still accept a gift card for the holster. The same card cannot pay for the ammunition in an order shipped into California, and a mixed cart needs a way to split tender or reject the gift card for the covered lines.

For developers, that usually means tagging covered SKUs, checking the shipping state, and suppressing gift card and store credit redemption when both conditions are met. Store credit issued as a refund or loyalty balance falls under the same sentence in the statute, so a returns workflow that pays out credit rather than a card refund deserves a second look.

Tender controls often depend on what the gateway and processor allow, not only on cart plugins. A firearms or ammunition retailer that works with a specialty acquirer through Blue Payment Agency can ask whether the gateway can decline a gift card on specific products before January 1. E-cigarettes were already subject to PACPA’s ID rules, so for online vape stores, including shops on high-risk merchant accounts arranged through Tower Payments, the 2027 change is mostly about how a buyer pays rather than how age is checked.

Firearm sales in California also have their own dealer transfer rules, which this bill does not change. EC4IM’s earlier guide to FFL transfer and age rules for online firearm sales covers that layer.

Seven weeks to change payment rules for California orders

AB 2076 leaves California’s ID and adult-delivery requirements for guns, ammunition, tobacco and e-cigarettes where they were and adds nitrous oxide to the same list. What it changes is payment: from January 1, 2027, an online seller cannot let a buyer use a gift card or store credit for any of those products. Penalties become a flat $7,500 per violation, with up to $250,000 possible for companies above $25 million in revenue. Stores shipping covered products into the state have until the end of December to tag those SKUs and switch off gift card and store credit tenders for them.

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