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Gun Control Act of 1968

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Firearm legal topics of the
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The Gun Control Act of 1968, Pub. L. No. 90-618, 82 Stat. 1213 (also known as GCA or GCA68, and codified as Chapter 44 of Title 18, United States Code) is a federal law in the United States that broadly regulates the firearms industry and firearms owners.

The GCA was enacted after several years of contentious debate, and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. It primarily focuses on regulating interstate commerce in firearms by generally prohibiting interstate firearms transfers except among licensed manufacturers, dealers and importers.

FFL System

The Gun Control Act prohibited the direct mail order of firearms (except antique firearms) by consumers and mandated that anyone who wants to buy a gun from a source other than a private individual must do so through a Federally licensed firearms dealer. The Act also banned unlicensed individuals from acquiring handguns outside their state of residence, although long guns (rifles and shotguns) may (under Federal law) be acquired from federally licensed firearms dealers located in other States, provided this is allowed by both the state of purchase and the state of residence.

Private sales between residents of two different states are also prohibited without going through an FFL, except for the case of a buyer holding a Curio & Relic license purchasing a firearm that qualifies as a curio or relic.

Private sales between residents of the same state are allowed under federal law.

Current law mandates that a background check be performed if the seller has a federal firearms license. However, two private parties living in the same state may buy and sell firearms without going through an FFL in 24 states.

A person who does not have a Federal Firearms License may not sell or buy guns from other people for the purpose of being in the trade. They must be buying for or selling from their own personal collection.

States that do not allow private sales: California, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York. Additionally in Florida, the state constitution was amended to make this a county option for sales transacted at gun shows. (Private sales between private individuals outside gun shows remain legal throughout Florida.) The densely populated counties of Florida now require either a NICS check at gun shows for private transactions (all FFL transactions require this by federal law), or that the buyer must possess a CCW license, in which case this allows the buyer to take possession immediately upon purchase without any NICS check, paperwork, or 3 day delay. Rural and less densely populated counties in Florida have elected not to control private sales between individuals at gun shows.

States that require an FFL for handguns only: Connecticut, Michigan, North Carolina, Rhode Island.

Gunsmith and Factory Repair Exception

While the Gun Control Act prohibits the direct mail-ordering of firearms, a person may ship a gun via contract carrier (UPS or FedEx usually) to a gunsmith (who always has an FFL) or the gunmaker's factory for repairs or modification. After the repair work is done, the gunsmith or the factory can ship the weapon directly back to the customer.

Marking Requirements

The law also required that all newly-manufactured firearms produced by licensed manufacturers in the United States and imported into the United States bear a serial number. (Firearms manufactured prior to the requirement remained exempt from the requirement to have a serial number.) Defacement or removal of the serial number (if present) is a felony offense. The purpose of the serial number is to connect a person to a firearm when a firearm is recovered from a crime scene or during a criminal investigation. A law enforcement agency makes a request to the BATFE to run what is called a "trace" and then the BATFE contacts the manufacturer of the firearm in question. The manufacturer then uses the serial number to determine which gun store or distributor the weapon was sold to. The gun store the firearm is traced to is then called for a copy of the 4473 that matches the firearm in question and then the purchaser on the 4473 is contacted.

Prohibited Persons

The original GCA prohibits firearms purchase and ownership by certain broad categories of individuals thought to pose a threat to public safety. However, this list was in contradiction between the House and the Senate versions of the bill, and led to great confusion. This list was later augmented, modified, and clarified in the Firearms Owners' Protection Act of 1986. The 1986 list is:

  1. Anyone who has been convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding 1 year, excluding crimes of imprisonment that are related to the regulation of business practices.
  2. Anyone who is a fugitive from justice.
  3. Anyone who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance.
  4. Anyone who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to a mental institution.
  5. Any alien illegally or unlawfully in the United states or an alien admitted to the United states under a nonimmigrant visa.
  6. Anyone who has been discharged from the US Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions.
  7. Anyone who, having been a citizen of the United states, has renounced his or her citizenship.
  8. Anyone that is subject to a court order that restrains the person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner or child of such intimate partner.
  9. Anyone who has been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. (See the Lautenberg Amendment.)
  10. Anyone who is under the age of 18 for a shotgun or rifle, or under age 21 for a handgun. (See 18 U.S.C. § 922 (b)(1).)

A person who is under indictment or information for a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year cannot lawfully receive a firearm. Such person may continue to lawfully possess firearms obtained prior to the indictment or information.

The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 created a national background check system to prevent firearms sales to such "prohibited persons."

Controversy

Various organizations have expressed opposition to some or all of the GCA's provisions. Other provisions of the bill, such as those forbidding firearms ownership by convicted criminals and the mentally ill, were not and have not been opposed by the National Rifle Association.

Opponents argue that the act is excessively restrictive on law-abiding gun owners, while failing to prevent crime.

In addition, the GCA created what is commonly known as the "sporting purposes" standard for all imported firearms, declaring that they must "be generally recognized as particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes," excluding surplus military firearms.

The gun rights advocacy group Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership claims in its booklet Gun Control: Gateway to Tyranny that the GCA was inspired by the earlier National Weapons Law of Nazi Germany, which was used to strip opposition groups, dissidents, Jews, and other undesirables from their ability to defend themselves or conduct an effective underground resistance movement. According to the JPFO, Senator Thomas J. Dodd, the author of GCA68, requested that the Library of Congress translate a copy of the National Weapons Law (which he most likely obtained while serving as a war-crimes prosecutor at Nuremberg). A side-by-side comparison of the two laws is alleged to show several similarities with the Nazi-era law, including the concepts of 'sporting use' and 'prohibited persons'. It should be noted that the GCA was written long before the translation was made in June 1968. The reason for the translation is unknown, as Dodd's personal papers have not been made public.

Further reading

See also

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