A Short History of Our Nation’s Federal Gun Laws

National Firearms Act

Prior to 1968, there were only minimal federal controls to prevent the sale of firearms to criminals. In 1934, Congress enacted the first major federal firearms law, the National Firearms Act, which regulated fully automatic machine guns, sawed-off and other short-barreled long guns, and silencers. In 1938, Congress enacted the Federal Firearms Act, which required gun manufacturers and dealers to be federally licensed and made it unlawful for fugitives and violent criminals to possess firearms.

Gun Control Act of 1968

In the 1960’s, our Nation suffered the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Senator Robert F. Kennedy by gunfire. The Congress responded by enacting the landmark Gun Control Act of 1968.

The Gun Control Act established categories of prohibited gun purchasers and possessors including convicted felons, fugitives from justice, minors, individuals with a history of mental illness, anyone dishonorably discharged from the military, and illegal aliens. The law also banned the mail-order sales of all firearms and ammunition, such as the rifle used by Lee Harvey Oswald to shoot President John F. Kennedy. The law set standards for gun dealers and age guidelines for gun purchasers.

The Gun Control Act of 1968 has become the foundation for our current Federal gun laws, and has been instrumental in the ongoing fight against gun violence in America. But, until the implementation of the Brady Law in 1994, gun sales operated on an “honor system.” A prospective firearm purchaser merely had to sign a statement attesting that he or she was not legally forbidden from purchasing a firearm. In most states, no background checks were conducted to make sure the statements were true. Thus, convicted criminals and other prohibited purchasers could simply provide false information on their firearm applications and purchase a firearm despite being legally forbidden from doing so.

The Brady Law changed this “lie-and-buy” system to a “background check-then-buy” system by requiring that every retail sale of a handgun be referred to law enforcement for a background check.

Firearm Owners’ Protection Act

By the mid-1980’s, the NRA had gined the upper hand in Congress and launched an all-out assault on gun law enforcement, working to roll back many of the enforcement provisions of the Gun Control Act. Those efforts succeeded in 1986, when Congress enacted the Firearm Owners’ Protection Act (FOPA). The FOPA dramatically weakened law enforcement’s ability to enforce federal gun laws. Gun violence prevention advocates succeeded, however, in attaching amendments to the FOPA banning the importation of gun parts for Saturday Night Specials and banning production of machine guns for civilians.

The FOPA repealed important components of Federal gun laws, making it easier for criminals to buy weapons and more difficult for law enforcement to prosecute gun sellers who supply the criminal market. Three major changes severely handcuffed federal gun law enforcement. The FOPA:

1. Set an extraordinarily high burden of proof to prosecute violations of federal gun laws and revoke federal firearm licenses, requiring the government to show that a defendant “willfully” violated federal law;
2. Severely restricted the ability of ATF to conduct inspections of the business premises of federally licensed firearms dealers;
3. Allowed unlicensed individuals to sell their firearms as a “hobby” without a federal firearms license, thus avoiding meaningful regulations

Click here to read more about the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act in the Brady Center report, "The NRA: A Criminal’s Best Friend."

The Brady Law

The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Law) was enacted in 1993 and took effect the following year. It allowed law enforcement to run a background check on gun buyers at licensed dealers to ensure that buyers are not prohibited from purchasing guns. The Brady Law thus strengthened enforcement of the Gun Control Act, which barred gun sales to felons and other dangerous persons.

The Brady Law initially gave law enforcement up to five days to conduct background checks for handgun purchases from licensed gun dealers and authorized $200 million per year to help states upgrade their computerization of criminal records. The Brady Law further provided that, in 1998, the five-day background check period for handgun sales would be replaced by the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). This instant check system applies to all firearms bought from licensed dealers, not just handguns, and gives law enforcement a maximum of three days to conduct a search to determine if a buyer is prohibited from purchasing firearms. Today, nearly all Brady background checks take only seconds to complete.

By any measure, the Brady Law has enhanced enforcement of the federal prohibitions on gun sales to felons and other high-risk purchasers. Through 2007, it had blocked approximately 1.6 million criminals, juveniles and other prohibited buyers from purchasing firearms from licensed gun dealers. Gun crimes dropped dramatically following enactment of the Brady Law, dropping more than 60% since 1993.

Click here to learn more about the Brady Law.

Assault Weapons Ban

The Federal Assault Weapons Ban was enacted on September 13, 1994, as part of a larger crime bill – the Federal Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. It made it unlawful to “manufacture, transfer or possess a semiautomatic assault weapon,” as well as large capacity ammunition magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds. Assault weapons and large capacity magazines legally possessed on the effective date of the Act remained legal under a “grandfather clause.” Banned weapons included the AK-47, Uzi, Colt AR-15, and Street Sweeper, as well as copies or duplicates of these firearms, and any weapons with two or more of a list of military features, such as flash suppressors or grenade launchers. The Act also specifically exempted by name 661 sporting rifles.

The Assault Weapons Ban was highly successful at reducing the use of assault weapons in crime. After the law’s enactment, assault weapons made up only 1.61% of the guns traced to crime – a drop of 66% from the pre-ban rate. The ban had a 10-year sunset provision, requiring Congress and the President to renew the ban by 2004. President Bush did not act to renew the ban, and it expired in 2004.

Click here to learn more about assault weapons.

Domestic Violence Offender and Stalker Gun Bans

In 1994, Congress protected the public from dangerous stalkers and domestic violence abusers by barring anyone subject to a domestic violence, harassment or stalking restraining order from possessing firearms. In 1996, Congress further strengthened Federal gun laws by enacting a ban on gun possession by anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

Click here for more information about domestic violence and firearms.

“Tiahrt” Appropriations Riders

The Tiahrt Appropriations Riders (named after their chief sponsor Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KA) consist of language slipped into appropriations legislation funding the Justice Department. These riders place severe limits on the disclosure of crime gun trace data by the Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). This data previously had been made public by the ATF to aid in the fight against gun trafficking by identifying gun dealers most responsible for diverting firearms to criminals. The riders have appeared in appropriations bills in various forms since fiscal year 2004.

The crime gun trace information affected by the Tiahrt Riders is a database of over 2 million ATF traces of crime guns. Each crime gun trace tells the sales history of the gun involved, allowing law enforcement to identify the dealer who sold the gun and other information indicating whether the gun may have been trafficked out of the gun shop.

The data has been an invaluable resource for ATF, other law enforcement agencies and the public in determining the sources of crime guns. For example, the trace data has established that 57% of crime guns originate with only about 1% of gun dealers, showing that the illegal gun problem is largely due to the conduct of a small minority of licensed dealers.

Click here for more information about the Tiahrt Riders.

The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Improvement Amendments Act of 2007

On January 8, 2008, the President signed the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Improvement Amendments Act of 2007. The NICS system was first implemented in 1998, as required by the Brady Law. This legislation was passed in response to the Virginia Tech massacre. The shooter was able to arm himself because the court order that should have blocked his gun purchase was not reported to the national Brady background check system.

Many states fail to supply thousands of records of prohibited gun buyers to the national Brady background check system. That means felons, domestic violence abusers, and those who are dangerously mentally ill can walk into a gun store and buy weapons without being stopped.

The NICS Improvement Act helps fix the records gap problem by helping to encourage states to provide records of prohibited persons to NICS, and will require federal agencies to do so. The Act assists states by supplying grants and imposing financial penalties for failure to supply records.  For more information on the NICS Improvement Act, click here.