Federal gun control bills fall into two groups: the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022, which is the law, and a set of proposals on assault weapons, universal background checks, ghost guns, magazine capacity, bump stocks, and safe storage that have been introduced in Congress but not passed. Most of those proposals are stuck at the same procedural wall, and a 2022 Supreme Court decision has added a constitutional test that any new restriction will have to survive.
Why Most Federal Gun Bills Do Not Pass
The U.S. Senate requires 60 votes to end debate on most legislation through a procedure called cloture. With neither party consistently holding 60 seats, any gun bill that draws opposition from a significant minority effectively dies without reaching a final vote.1U.S. Senate. About Filibusters and Cloture Universal background check and assault weapon bills are reintroduced at the start of each Congress, collect co-sponsors, and sit in committee. Federal firearm policy has therefore moved through narrow bipartisan deals rather than sweeping legislation, with executive-branch rulemaking filling some gaps and facing its own legal challenges.
What the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act Actually Did
Signed on June 25, 2022, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) was the first major federal gun law in nearly three decades.2Senator John Cornyn. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act It did not restrict which firearms can be sold. It changed several rules around who can buy them, how sales are processed, and what happens after a conviction.
Enhanced Background Checks for Buyers Under 21
Before the BSCA, a buyer under 21 went through the same background check as any other purchaser. The law now requires the FBI’s system to search juvenile justice and mental health adjudication records for buyers under 21. If the initial check flags a potential disqualifier within the standard three-business-day window, the FBI gets up to ten additional business days to investigate before the sale can proceed.3United States Department of Justice. Fact Sheet – Two Years of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act This enhanced review provision is set to expire on September 30, 2032.2Senator John Cornyn. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act
The Dating Partner Prohibition
Federal law has long prohibited anyone convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor from buying or possessing firearms, but only if the victim was a spouse, co-parent, or cohabitant. The BSCA expanded that prohibition to cover convictions for domestic violence against a dating partner. Someone convicted under this expanded definition automatically gets their firearm rights restored after five years if they commit no further violent offenses.2Senator John Cornyn. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act
A Federal Straw Purchasing Crime
A straw purchase happens when someone who can pass a background check buys a firearm on behalf of someone who cannot. Before 2022, no standalone federal statute addressed this, and prosecutors relied on paperwork violations and conspiracy charges with modest penalties. The BSCA created 18 U.S.C. § 932, a dedicated federal offense. Knowingly buying a firearm for a prohibited person or to illegally traffic weapons now carries a sentence of up to 15 years in federal prison, with steeper penalties when the buyer knew the firearm would be used in a violent crime or drug trafficking offense.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 932 – Straw Purchasing of Firearms A companion provision, 18 U.S.C. § 933, targets firearms trafficking more broadly.
Violence Prevention Funding
The BSCA authorized $1.4 billion between 2022 and 2026 for violence prevention and intervention programs, including state crisis intervention courts, school security grants, community violence intervention initiatives, and grants to help states set up their own extreme risk protection order (red flag) programs.3United States Department of Justice. Fact Sheet – Two Years of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act The law did not create a federal red flag statute.
Universal Background Check Proposals
Federal law requires licensed firearms dealers to run every buyer through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) before completing a sale.5eCFR. 28 CFR 25.6 – Accessing Records in the System NICS screens against nine categories of prohibited persons, including anyone convicted of a felony, anyone subject to certain domestic violence restraining orders, people who have been involuntarily committed to a mental institution, and unlawful drug users.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 922 – Unlawful Acts
The NICS requirement applies only to sales by federally licensed dealers. Private sales between individuals who are not in the business of selling firearms have no federal background check requirement. Universal background check proposals would close this gap by requiring private sellers to route every transaction through a licensed dealer, who would run the NICS check before the transfer. About 22 states and the District of Columbia have already enacted their own versions.
A related proposal targets what advocates call the “Charleston loophole,” after the 2015 church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, in which the gunman obtained his weapon through a sale that proceeded during a background check delay. Under current federal law, if NICS does not return a definitive result within three business days, the dealer may proceed with the sale. Pending bills would eliminate that default proceed provision and require the background check to be completed before any transfer.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 922 – Unlawful Acts
The Assault Weapons Ban of 2025
S.1531, introduced in the 119th Congress, would make it a crime to import, sell, manufacture, or possess a defined category of semi-automatic weapons and large-capacity ammunition feeding devices.7Congress.gov. S.1531 – Assault Weapons Ban of 2025 The bill uses a feature test rather than a blanket prohibition on semi-automatic rifles. A semi-automatic rifle that accepts a detachable magazine and has at least one listed military-style feature falls within the ban. Listed features include a pistol grip, a folding or telescoping stock, a threaded barrel, or a grenade launcher, among others.
Magazine capacity restrictions are a separate but related proposal. The most common approach caps magazines at ten rounds, though a handful of states have set different limits. The constitutional viability of these caps is now in doubt. In March 2026, a District of Columbia appellate court struck down that jurisdiction’s ban on magazines holding more than ten rounds, finding that such magazines are in “common and ubiquitous use” by law-abiding citizens and that no historical tradition supports banning arms so widely owned.8DC Courts. Benson v United States
Ghost Gun Legislation
A ghost gun is a firearm built by a private individual rather than a licensed manufacturer. These weapons typically lack serial numbers, making them untraceable if recovered at a crime scene. In 2022, the ATF finalized a rule redefining what counts as a firearm “frame or receiver” to bring unfinished parts kits under federal regulation. Under this rule, a privately made firearm that passes through a licensed dealer must be serialized before the dealer can transfer it.9Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Definition of Frame or Receiver and Identification of Firearms
Legislative proposals would go further. They would require serial numbers on all privately made firearms at the point of completion, not just when the weapon enters a dealer’s inventory, and some would ban the sale of unfinished frames and receivers to unlicensed individuals entirely.
Bump Stock Bills After Garland v. Cargill
A bump stock replaces a rifle’s standard stock and uses the gun’s recoil to help the shooter fire rounds in rapid succession. After the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, the ATF classified bump stocks as “machineguns” under federal law, effectively banning them. In June 2024, the Supreme Court reversed that classification.
In Garland v. Cargill, the Court held that a semi-automatic rifle with a bump stock does not fire “automatically more than one shot by a single function of the trigger,” which is the statutory definition of a machinegun. Because the shooter must maintain forward pressure and the trigger resets between each shot, the device does not convert the weapon into a machinegun under the existing statute.10Supreme Court of the United States. Garland v Cargill The ruling did not say Congress lacks power to ban bump stocks. It said the ATF exceeded its authority by treating them as machineguns without a new law. Federal bills to prohibit bump stocks by statute have been introduced, and several states have enacted their own bans.
Safe Storage and Child Access Bills
No federal law currently requires gun owners to lock up their firearms at home. The Safe Storage Saves Lives Act, introduced in the 119th Congress, would require every firearms seller to provide a compatible gun lock with each sale. Other proposals go further, creating criminal liability for gun owners who fail to secure weapons that a minor then accesses. State child access prevention laws already vary widely, from penalties triggered only when a child causes injury to statutes that make negligent storage itself the offense.
The Bruen Standard Hanging Over Everything
The Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen changed how courts evaluate gun laws. The old two-step test balanced the government’s public safety interest against the burden on gun rights. The Court rejected that approach.11Supreme Court. New York State Rifle and Pistol Association Inc v Bruen
Under the new standard, if the Second Amendment’s text covers the person’s conduct, the right is presumptively protected. The government can justify a restriction only by proving it is “consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.” No balancing of interests. The government must point to historical analogues from the founding era or the Reconstruction period that are relevantly similar to the modern law being challenged.11Supreme Court. New York State Rifle and Pistol Association Inc v Bruen
Historical analogues exist for some restrictions, such as prohibitions on carrying weapons in government buildings or laws disarming people deemed dangerous. There is no 18th-century equivalent of a magazine capacity limit or a ghost gun serialization requirement. Courts have split. The D.C. appellate court’s 2026 decision struck down a magazine ban, while five federal circuit courts have upheld similar bans under the same standard.8DC Courts. Benson v United States Until the Supreme Court resolves the split, the constitutional status of most gun control proposals varies by jurisdiction.
Penalties Under Current Federal Gun Law
Someone who illegally possesses a firearm as a prohibited person under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) faces up to 15 years in federal prison. A prohibited person with three or more prior convictions for violent felonies or serious drug offenses faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 924 – Penalties The straw purchasing statute added by the BSCA carries its own penalty of up to 15 years.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 932 – Straw Purchasing of Firearms
State penalties add another layer. Possessing a banned weapon or carrying without a required permit can range from a misdemeanor with modest fines to a felony with multi-year prison terms, and a firearm legally purchased in one state can become the basis for a serious charge in another.