Gun laws in the United States

SIGNIFICANCE: The numbers of federal, state, and local criminal laws and regulations pertaining to firearms increased substantially during the late twentieth century.

The constitutional basis for gun ownership in the United States lies in the Second Amendment to the Constitution, whose origins can be found in English common law. It uses language that is clear but general, and there is considerable disagreement as to how it should be interpreted. Firearms are controversial, and gun laws are reflective of a polarization of opinion between pro- and antigun views among the electorate.

Many gun laws—for example, those that prohibit felons and people with mental illness from buying guns—serve logical purposes. The polarization of the gun debate, however, has resulted in many inconsistencies. For example, from 1994 to 2004, federal law banned assault weapons because of their lack of sporting purpose, although the Second Amendment makes clear reference to the military purpose of firearms ownership, and certain state laws make it a felony to carry a tear gas sprayer while it is a misdemeanor to carry a gun.

During the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries, many gun laws were created for explicitly racist or classist reasons, prohibiting or preventing African Americans and immigrants from having guns. During the late twentieth century, many federal, state, and local gun laws were passed, which—like three-strikes criminal laws, zero-tolerance drug laws, and laws against selling alcohol on Sunday—have been criticized as having more emotional than practical appeal. Few people, after all, have been willing to challenge in public debate a law against carrying a gun at or near a school.

In contrast, in 1987, Florida liberalized its concealed carry law, and other states later followed suit, leading to an increase in concealed weapons among ordinary citizens. It is a reflection of the polarization of the firearms controversy that as laws instituting waiting periods, background checks, bans, and stiffer sentences for criminal use of guns went into effect, various states began to allow average citizens to carry guns. What these two contrary trends have in common is public fear of criminal violence.

The rate of firearm ownership in the US dramatically increased throughout the early twenty-first century, and the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) reported that 21.5 million concealed handgun permits were issued to US citizens in 2021 (up from 8 million in 2011, according to Government Accountability Office estimates). A separate study conducted by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) examined the demographics of those who made purchases at gun stores during the first half of 2020 and found an increase in sales to those who identified as Black by 58.2 percent, those who identified as White by 51.9 percent, those who identified as Hispanic by 49.4 percent, and those who identified as Asian by 42.9 percent when compared to the previous year. That same time period saw gun stores report an average sales increase of 95 percent.

Supreme Court Cases

In Cruikshank v. United States (1876), the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment did not oblige the state of Louisiana to allow two lynching victims to defend themselves with guns. In Miller v. Texas (1894), the Supreme Court declined to decide whether the Second Amendment applied to states. In Miller v. United States (1939), which challenged the ban established by the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934 on shotguns with barrels less than eighteen inches long, the Court declined to make a broad ruling on the application of the Second Amendment to the states, instead focusing on whether a short-barreled shotgun was of much use as a military weapon and hence deserving of legal protection. The Court ruled that a short-barreled shotgun was of no military use and that the government could therefore legally ban such a weapon.

In Verdugo-Urquidez v. United States (1990), the Court ruled that private individuals have the right to keep and bear arms. In Printz v. United States (1994) and Mack v. United States (1994), the Court ruled unconstitutional a portion of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (1993), a federal law mandating that chief law-enforcement officers conduct background checks on all purchasers of handguns in the officers’ jurisdictions. A nationwide, computerized background check system, a provision of the Brady law that became operational in November 1998, does not impose the same federally mandated burden on local law enforcement as did the part of the Brady law that was ruled unconstitutional.

Two later cases, Heller et al. v. District of Columbia (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010), overturned municipal handgun bans in the federally administered District of Columbia and in Chicago, Illinois. The court thus affirmed both that individuals have a right to keep and bear arms, at least for self-defense at home, and that lower levels of government may not infringe upon that right. It did leave open the possibility of some governmental gun regulation. In 2016, Peruta v. San Diego Country decided that there was not a guaranteed right to carry concealed firearms in public. The same year, the Supreme Court ruled in Caetano v. Massachusetts that the Second Amendment extended to all, including new, bearable arms.

A 2022 Supreme Court decision further expanded the Second Amendment by declaring a New York state law that required applicants to provide an acceptable reason for gun ownership as being unconstitutional. The case, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, challenged an existing law in New York that required applicants to provide "proper cause," or a condition that distinguishes themselves from the average citizen, as to why they required a license to conceal a firearm. The Supreme Court's decision, which ultimately argued that possession of handguns in public was a constitutional right, was interpreted by many to open the door to a further expansion of the Second Amendment in the US. (In its decision, the Supreme Court argued that the "shall-issue" system of state firearm license, which provides firearm licenses to those that meet certain criteria, should be the standard in which firearm licenses are granted and that the system of "may-issue," a system that many states use for issuing firearm licenses that allows local authorities a degree of agency in whether firearm licenses are issued to candidates, could be interpreted as an infringement upon the Second Amendment.

Federal Laws

The federal agency charged with the enforcement of federal firearms laws is the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). This agency has its origins during the early days of the federal government, when federal agents pitted themselves against traders in illegal whiskey and tobacco who defended their shipments with firearms.

The first wide-reaching federal gun law, the National Firearms Act (NFA), arose out of public reaction to the gangster violence of the Prohibition era. The NFA banned, with few exceptions, civilian ownership of fully automatic guns (which continue to fire as long as the trigger is held), silencers, shotguns with barrels less than eighteen inches long, and rifles with barrels less than sixteen inches long. The Federal Firearms Act of 1938 regulated interstate commerce of firearms, notably by requiring licenses for manufacturers and dealers in firearms. Those who wish to buy wholesale, sell guns, make guns, or ship them across state lines must have a federal firearms license (FFL). Those with FFLs must also keep detailed records of their transactions involving firearms. It is a crime to misuse or steal an FFL, and FFL holders are required to comply with federal, state, and local regulations regarding the sale and transfer of guns. The serial numbers of guns are recorded when they are transferred, allowing a gun recovered from a crime to be traced back to its last legal owner.

The 1968 Gun Control Act is the primary federal gun control law. It prohibits convicted felons, fugitives, persons who have been ruled "mentally defective" or been committed to a mental institution, persons dishonorably discharged from the armed services, illegal aliens, and persons who have renounced their US citizenship from owning guns. The act also schedules FFL license fees, prohibits mail-order sales of firearms, and allows persons to buy handguns only in the states in which they reside.

The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 banned assault weapons. This act specifically lists various guns as assault weapons and describes features that qualify other weapons not on the list as assault weapons. A firearm may be classified as an assault weapon if it is semiautomatic and has two or more of the following features: a folding stock, a pistol grip (on a long gun), a magazine attachment point outside the grip (on a handgun), a threaded barrel, or a bayonet lug. This act also banned magazines with a capacity greater than ten rounds. Continued ownership and trade in banned weapons and magazines that were in existence before the ban was imposed are permitted. Federal gun laws have generally allowed people to keep guns made illegal by new laws. For example, persons who legally owned magazines in 1994 with a capacity greater than ten rounds did not have to surrender them in 1995.

In 2021, President Joe Biden urged Congress to pass stricter gun laws in light of the numerous mass shootings that had occurred across the United States in the 2010s. Specifically, he advocated for universal background checks. Following a continuation of mass shootings into the 2020s, President Biden signed into law a bipartisan gun safety bill in June 2022 after it was initially passed by Congress. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act--which was written after twenty-one people died at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022, in the third-deadliest school shooting in US history--provided resources for school, mental health, and crisis intervention programs intended to halt gun violence and unsafe firearm ownership. The bill also added juvenile criminal records to the national background check database.

State Laws

In addition to federal gun laws, all fifty US states have their own gun laws. Some federal laws deal with hunting, especially on federal land, but most hunting laws pertaining to firearms have been enacted by the states. Typical hunting laws specify hunting seasons, require persons to purchase hunting licenses, impose ammunition capacity limitations on firearms used in hunting, and establish rules about the use of bait, aiming devices, and clothing. Guns may not be used in traps, and guns used for poaching may be confiscated.

Vermont, along with a handful of other states, allows concealed carry of a firearm without a permit. By 2024, just twenty-one states required permits to carry concealed weapons in public. Concealed carry on college campuses is a special case. Some states give discretion to individual institutions, others permit faculty with licenses to carry weapons on campus but may not permit students to do so. In some states, weapons are banned in specific areas of campuses, such as dorms. By 2024, eighteen states prohibited campus carry. A number of states have become known as “shall issue” states, because local law-enforcement heads routinely issue concealed carry permits to applicants who meet the requirements. A smaller number of states are known as “may issue” states, because local law-enforcement heads may (or, more likely, may not) issue concealed weapons permits to applicants.

States often do not honor one another’s permits. Thus, people who may be able to carry guns legally in one state may not be able to carry their guns legally in another state. Sworn police officers are generally exempt from laws against concealed carry of firearms. Private security guards, while on duty and in uniform, generally may carry exposed firearms, but they typically must pass firearms safety tests and background checks. In some states it is legal for civilians to carry guns exposed.

In most jurisdictions, it is illegal to carry a firearm in an automobile. It may be legal, however, to transport a firearm in a vehicle if the gun is fully unloaded and locked in a container (other than the glove compartment) that is inaccessible to the driver (in the trunk, for example). Loaded or unloaded guns may not be carried, for example, in purses or briefcases next to the driver.

In the beginning of the twenty-first century, states have also begun attempting to circumvent federal control over firearms laws. In 2009, Montana passed a law known as the Firearms Freedom Act making guns manufactured and kept in the state exempt from federal regulations; Kansas has instituted legislation rendering federal attempts to enforce laws on guns made within the state a felony while Wyoming has made these attempts a misdemeanor crime. Idaho followed suit in 2014. By that same year, a large percentage of the fifty US states had introduced federal firearm nullification laws.

Following the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 that led to the deaths of twenty young students and six adults—considered one of the worst school shootings in American history—states such as Connecticut, Colorado, and New York passed new comprehensive and more restrictive gun legislations that included stipulations such as limits upon magazine sizes and background check requirements. Meanwhile, attempts to enact new gun laws at the federal level were halted amid a partisan debate in Congress, shifting the responsibility even more to the individual states.

In the November 2016 elections, four states voted whether to increase gun restrictions. Maine narrowly shot down a law to implement universal background checks for gun purchases. Washington voted in favor of a measure to allow judges to seize firearms from someone deemed a danger to themselves or others. Nevada passed a law to expand background checks, while California placed increased restrictions on ammunition purchases and possession.

The mass shooting of hundreds of Las Vegas concert-goers in October 2017 spurred bipartisan congressional bills to ban bump stocks, a firearm accessory that increases the firing speed of a semiautomatic rifle. Some Republican legislators, including Speaker Paul Ryan, called for the ATF to instead review existing rules and definitions that might apply to bump stocks. The US Supreme Court invalidated the ATF's bump stock ban in March 2024, writing in its decision that a bump stock did not meet the definition of a machinegun. Bump stocks remained illegal in sixteen states and the District of Columbia. By 2024, localities in thirty-nine states had begun enacting so-called Second Amendment sanctuary laws to pre-emptively bypass tighter gun control measures suggested by the Biden administration.

In June 2021, Texas governor Greg Abbott signed into law several pieces of legislation that both protected and expanded gun rights in the state. Most notably, the new state laws allowed for the carrying of handguns without a license and prevented state agencies from enforcing new federal gun laws. Additional measures included the removal of holster requirements, the ability to store guns in hotel rooms, and the loosening of restrictions surrounding the manufacturing and possession of firearm suppressors. The new laws, which were controversial upon their introduction, became the subject of renewed controversy following the 2022 mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

In the early twenty-first century, the availability of 3D printers enabled individuals to easily manufacture parts and assemble handguns that were untraceable. Between 2016 and 2020, law enforcement recovered almost twenty-four thousand of these do-it-yourself weapons, known as ghost guns. Several states passed legislation requiring such guns to be sold with serial numbers and background checks. By 2024, fourteen states regulated ghost guns.

Other Laws

Hunting is well established as a lucrative form of tourism, and hunting tours to almost any country can be arranged. It is illegal simply to transport guns across national borders; those engaging in hunts need to obtain all necessary permits before leaving the United States.

Guns may be checked as baggage on commercial air flights as long as they are unloaded, in a locked case, and kept in a storage compartment not accessible to passengers. Additionally, a person transporting a firearm on a commercial flight must inform the carrier of its presence.

Federal law stipulates that those under twenty-one may not purchase handguns, and those under eighteen may not purchase long guns. Many state and federal laws further restrict the access of minors to guns and ammunition. Often, minors may not shoot guns except under the direct supervision of an adult. Parents may be held liable under civil law, and in some cases criminal law, if their children cause harm with a gun.

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