Ammunition |
Laws regulating the manufacture, sale, purchase or possession of ammunition. |
Background Checks |
Laws regulating the background check process used to identify persons who are not legally permitted to purchase or possess firearms. Criminal and other records are checked to determine if the potential buyer has been disqualified under federal and/or state law. |
Ballistic Identification |
Laws regulating the process through which bullets and shell casings recovered at crime scenes are linked to the firearms that fired them. The traditional ballistic identification process requires test-firing of firearms so that an image of the markings left on the bullet or casing may be stored in a database for later comparison. |
Carrying Weapons |
Laws regulating the carrying of firearms, including the concealed weapon permitting process and the open carrying of firearms. |
Child Access Prevention |
Laws imposing liability on adults who leave firearms accessible to children or otherwise allow children access to firearms. |
Crime Data Collection / Reporting |
Laws requiring the collection of law enforcement data on gun use and crime. These laws generally require a task force or state agency to collect and review the data and make a recommendation to the legislature for ways to reduce gun violence. |
Dealer Regulations |
Laws that require firearms dealers to be licensed and that impose other requirements on their operations such as recordkeeping, security practices, or employee background checks. |
Design and Safety Standards |
Laws requiring that firearms meet design and construction standards to reduce the risk of unintentional death and injury. Includes laws requiring that firearms be equipped with personalization technology allowing them to be fired only by an authorized user. |
Disarming Prohibited Persons |
Laws that facilitate or require relinquishment of firearms by prohibited persons and removal of firearms from prohibited person by law enforcement. |
Domestic Violence |
Laws that seek to keep firearms out of the hands of domestic violence perpetrators due to the particular threat posed to victims of domestic violence when batterers have access to firearms. |
“Firearms Freedom Act” |
Laws declaring that firearms manufactured, sold and possessed in a particular state are exempt from federal law. |
Gun Crime Penalties |
Laws that increase or decrease the penalty associated with gun crimes. |
Gun Offender Registries |
Laws pertaining to a database maintained by law enforcement used to identify and monitor persons who have been convicted of firearms offenses. |
Gun Shows |
Laws regulating events dedicated to the display and sale of firearms and firearm-related accessories. Examples of these laws include background checks for all sales, restrictions on admittance by minors not accompanied by an adult, and law enforcement presence at the event. |
Guns in Vehicles |
Laws pertaining to firearms in cars and other vehicles, including laws forcing land owners to allow guns in vehicles parked in their parking lots. |
Guns on Campus |
Laws regulating the carrying of firearms on university and college campuses. |
Interstate Long Gun Sales |
Laws that affect purchase or sale of long guns across state lines. |
Licensing |
Laws that require an individual to obtain a license or permit authorizing him or her to purchase and/or possess a firearm. These laws frequently include a requirement that the licensee pass a test proving knowledge of firearms laws and firearms safety. |
Locking Devices/
Safe Storage |
Laws regulating sale and/or use of a wide range of disabling devices designed to keep unauthorized users from gaining access to guns, and to reduce the risk of unintentional death and injury. |
Machine Guns |
Laws regulating firearms that are fully automatic, i.e., they continue to fire bullets as long as the trigger is depressed and ammunition is available. |
Mental Health Reporting |
Laws seeking to ensure that federal and state databases will include all relevant mental health records so that firearm purchaser background checks will reveal persons who are disqualified from firearm purchase due to mental illness. |
Microstamping |
Laws requiring firearms to transfer an array of characters onto a cartridge case when the firearm is fired. This enables law enforcement to match a cartridge case retrieved at a crime scene to the gun that fired it. |
Military-style Weapons |
Laws regulating and/or banning certain classes of weapons, such as assault weapons and fifty caliber firearms, which are designed with military features and unsuitable for civilian use. |
Minimum Age Requirements |
Laws governing the minimum age to purchase, possess, or use firearms with the goal of limiting access to firearms by persons who are underage. |
Multiple Purchases or Sales |
Laws restricting the number of firearms that may be purchased by an individual within a given time frame. The intent of these laws is to help limit illegal weapons trafficking. |
Preemption |
Laws regulating the authority of local governments to enact measures that regulate firearms in their jurisdictions. |
Private Sales |
Laws regulating firearms sales made by persons who are not licensed by the federal government to sell firearms. Federal law requires only federal licensed dealers to conduct background check and complete and maintain records of sales. |
Prohibited Persons |
Laws establishing categories of persons deemed ineligible to purchase or possess firearms. Most states supplement federal prohibited person categories with additional categories of persons who may not purchase or possess firearms. |
Registration |
Laws requiring gun owners to record the ownership of their firearms with a designated law enforcement agency. Conversely, several states prohibit laws requiring gun owner registration. |
Reporting of Lost or Stolen Firearms |
Laws that require individuals to report the loss or theft of their firearms within a specified period of time. |
Shoot First |
Laws that alter traditional self-defense principles such as a presumption that the use of deadly force was reasonable or repeal of the traditional requirement to flee prior to the use of deadly force. These laws affect the ability of prosecutors to bring charges in intentional shooting cases in which the shooter claims self-defense. |
State Right to Bear Arms |
State constitutional provisions or statutes relating to a “right to bear arms.” |
Trafficking |
Regulation aimed at reducing the diversion of firearms from the lawful to unlawful market via illegal practices such as straw purchasing (straw purchasing occurs when an individual buys a firearm on behalf of a person who would not be legally permitted to do so him or herself due to a criminal or other record). |
Waiting Periods |
Requirements that a specified number of days elapse between the time a firearm is purchased and the time it is physically transferred to a purchaser |
