The history of gun laws in America runs from colonial militia statutes through a series of major federal acts — 1934, 1938, 1968, 1986, 1993, 1994, and 2022 — and, in this century, through a handful of Supreme Court decisions that redefined the Second Amendment as an individual right measured against historical tradition. What follows is the arc: the laws that still shape who can buy a gun, what they can buy, and where they can carry it, along with the cases that set the constitutional limits on all of it.
Colonial Roots and the Second Amendment
Firearm regulation in America is older than the country. Colonial legislatures required able-bodied men to keep firearms for militia service while simultaneously barring enslaved people, Indigenous populations, and in some colonies Catholics from possessing them at all. Broad ownership alongside selective restriction was built in from the start.
The Second Amendment, ratified in 1791, provided the constitutional anchor: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” For most of the country’s history, courts read those 27 words as a limit on federal power only. Kentucky enacted the first statewide concealed-weapons ban in 1813, imposing a fine of at least one hundred dollars on anyone caught carrying a concealed pistol, dirk, or large knife unless traveling on a journey.1Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Moments in Kentucky Legislative History – Concealed Weapons 1813 In 1886, the Supreme Court’s decision in Presser v. Illinois confirmed that the Second Amendment limited only the federal government, leaving states wide latitude to regulate firearms on their own terms.2Library of Congress. U.S. Reports – Presser v. Illinois, 116 U.S. 252 That interpretation held for more than a century.
The National Firearms Act of 1934
The first major federal firearms law grew out of Prohibition-era gang violence and the public image of the Thompson submachine gun. Rather than ban the weapons most associated with organized crime, Congress used its taxing power. The National Firearms Act of 1934 imposed a $200 tax on each transfer of a covered firearm — an enormous sum in the middle of the Great Depression — and required the weapons to be registered with the federal government.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 5811 – Transfer Tax Covered items included machine guns, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and silencers.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. Chapter 53 – Machine Guns, Destructive Devices, and Certain Other Firearms
Violations of the NFA carry a fine of up to $10,000 and a prison sentence of up to ten years.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 5871 – Penalties Ordinary handguns, rifles, and shotguns were left alone.
The Federal Firearms Act of 1938
Four years later, Congress moved on the commercial trade. The Federal Firearms Act of 1938 required manufacturers, importers, and dealers to obtain a federal license before selling firearms, made licensed dealers keep sales records, and barred sales to anyone convicted of a violent felony or fleeing from justice.6Government Publishing Office. Federal Firearms Act of 1938 The requirements were modest, but they set a precedent that outlasted the statute: the federal government could regulate who sold guns and who bought them. The 1938 licensing framework became the direct ancestor of the system in place today.
The Gun Control Act of 1968
The assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. produced the political momentum for a full overhaul. The Gun Control Act of 1968 replaced the 1938 licensing system, created the modern Federal Firearms License (FFL) structure, banned interstate mail-order sales of guns and ammunition, and required in-person purchases from licensed dealers subject to inspection by what is now the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Its most durable contribution was a list of prohibited persons. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), the following groups are barred from shipping, transporting, receiving, or possessing any firearm or ammunition:7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 922 – Unlawful Acts
- Anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison
- Fugitives from justice
- Anyone who uses or is addicted to a controlled substance
- Anyone found mentally defective by a court or committed to a mental institution
- Undocumented immigrants and most nonimmigrant visa holders
- Dishonorably discharged veterans
- Anyone who has renounced U.S. citizenship
- Anyone subject to a domestic violence restraining order
- Anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence
A prohibited person caught possessing a firearm faces up to 15 years in federal prison.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 924 – Penalties The list has been amended and expanded several times since 1968, but its basic structure remains the backbone of federal gun law.
The Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986
By the mid-1980s, gun-rights advocates argued that ATF enforcement had become overzealous. The Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986 narrowed the definition of who qualifies as a firearms dealer, making clear that private individuals selling occasionally from personal collections do not need a federal license.9GovInfo. Public Law 99-308 – Firearms Owners Protection Act It also created a safe-passage provision allowing gun owners to legally transport unloaded, inaccessible firearms through states with restrictive laws, so long as they can lawfully possess the weapons at both origin and destination.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 926A – Interstate Transportation of Firearms
The most consequential piece of the law was an amendment added on the House floor by Representative William Hughes. The Hughes Amendment banned the transfer and possession of machine guns not already registered before May 19, 1986.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 922(o) – Machine Gun Ban Weapons registered before that date remained legal to own under the NFA framework, but no new machine guns could enter the civilian market. Roughly 175,000 registered machine guns became the entire legal supply available to civilians.12Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. National Firearms Act
The Brady Act and Background Checks
The shooting of White House Press Secretary James Brady during the 1981 assassination attempt on President Reagan eventually produced the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, signed in 1993. The Brady Act introduced the first systematic requirement for background checks before commercial firearm sales. As an interim measure, it imposed a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases while law enforcement checked the buyer manually.13Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Brady Law
In 1998, the FBI launched the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which provides near-immediate results for most transactions at licensed dealerships.14Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Brady Permit Chart Every retail sale through a licensed dealer now requires a NICS check. If the system cannot immediately approve or deny a buyer, the dealer may proceed after three business days under what is commonly called the “default proceed” rule.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 922(t) – Background Checks
One gap matters for anyone trying to understand the reach of the law: the Brady Act applies only to sales by federally licensed dealers. Private sales between individuals who are not in the business of selling firearms do not require a NICS check under federal law, though a growing number of states have enacted their own universal background check requirements.
The 1994 Assault Weapons Ban
The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 included a subtitle banning the manufacture and transfer of certain semi-automatic firearms for civilian use. The law named 19 specific firearm models and used a features test — detachable magazines, flash suppressors, folding stocks, and similar characteristics — to cover other semi-automatic rifles, pistols, and shotguns.16National Institute of Justice. Impacts of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban 1994-96 Magazines holding more than ten rounds were also banned from manufacture. Existing owners could keep what they had, and pre-ban weapons continued to circulate on the secondary market.
The law included a ten-year sunset clause. Congress did not renew it, and the ban expired in September 2004. It has not returned.
Gun-Free School Zones
The Gun-Free School Zones Act, originally passed in 1990 and later revised, makes it a federal crime to knowingly possess a firearm within 1,000 feet of a public or private school. Exceptions cover firearms on private property that is not part of school grounds, unloaded firearms in locked containers, individuals licensed by the state to carry, and firearms used in approved school programs.17Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 922(q) – Gun-Free School Zones The original version was struck down by the Supreme Court in United States v. Lopez (1995) as exceeding Congress’s Commerce Clause authority; Congress reenacted the law with a jurisdictional element requiring proof the firearm had moved in interstate commerce. The revised version has survived legal challenges, though post-Bruen litigation has renewed questions about it.
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022
Signed on June 25, 2022, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act was the first major federal gun legislation in nearly three decades. It passed with bipartisan support after mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas.
The law made three significant changes. First, it enhanced background checks for buyers under 21. When a person between 18 and 20 attempts to buy a firearm from a licensed dealer, NICS now has up to ten business days to search juvenile and mental health records before the sale can proceed, compared to the standard three-day window for older buyers.18Congress.gov. S.2938 – Bipartisan Safer Communities Act
Second, it partially closed what had been called the “boyfriend loophole.” Federal law had long prohibited firearm possession by people convicted of domestic violence against a spouse or cohabitant, but not against a dating partner. The 2022 law extended that prohibition to people convicted of violence against someone in a “dating relationship,” defined as a continuing serious relationship of a romantic or intimate nature.18Congress.gov. S.2938 – Bipartisan Safer Communities Act For first-time offenders, the prohibition lasts five years and can be lifted if the person has no subsequent convictions.
Third, the law provided federal funding to encourage states to implement crisis intervention programs, including extreme risk protection orders (commonly called “red flag” laws) that allow courts to temporarily remove firearms from individuals found to pose a danger to themselves or others. The law did not create a federal red flag law; it offered grants to states that established their own, with requirements for due process protections and penalties for abuse of the programs.
Ghost Guns and Bondi v. VanDerStok
The rise of “ghost guns” — firearms assembled at home from parts kits or unfinished frames and receivers — opened a regulatory gap. Because the Gun Control Act defines a “firearm” partly through its frame or receiver, manufacturers had marketed items as “80% complete” frames that technically fell outside federal regulation. Buyers could purchase these kits without a background check, finish them with basic tools, and possess a fully functional, untraceable firearm with no serial number.
In August 2022, the ATF finalized a rule redefining “frame or receiver” to include partially complete components that can readily be converted into functional frames or receivers, particularly when sold with jigs, templates, or instructions.19Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Definition of Frame or Receiver and Identification of Firearms The rule also required federally licensed dealers who take in privately made firearms for servicing to record a serial number on the weapon.
The firearms industry challenged the rule, and the case reached the Supreme Court as Bondi v. VanDerStok. In March 2025, the Court held that the ATF’s rule is not facially inconsistent with the Gun Control Act, reasoning that the statutory definition of “firearm” covers at least some weapon parts kits and partially complete frames or receivers.20Supreme Court of the United States. Bondi v. VanDerStok, No. 23-852 The Court compared certain kits, like Polymer80’s “Buy Build Shoot” package, to starter guns, which the statute already treats as readily convertible. The decision left room for future challenges to specific applications of the rule but confirmed the ATF’s general authority to regulate this space.
The Supreme Court Cases That Reshaped the Second Amendment
For most of American history the Supreme Court said remarkably little about the Second Amendment. That changed in the 21st century.
District of Columbia v. Heller (2008)
Washington, D.C., had effectively banned handgun ownership and required other home firearms to be disassembled or trigger-locked. The Supreme Court struck down both provisions, ruling 5-4 that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess firearms for traditionally lawful purposes like self-defense in the home, independent of any connection to militia service.21Justia. District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008) Justice Scalia’s majority opinion described the right as not unlimited: prohibitions on possession by felons and the mentally ill, bans in sensitive places like schools and government buildings, and regulations on commercial firearm sales were all called “presumptively lawful.”
McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010)
Because D.C. is a federal district, Heller technically applied only to federal enclaves. Two years later, McDonald v. City of Chicago extended that individual right to state and local governments through the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.22Justia. McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742 (2010) Chicago’s handgun ban fell, and no state or city could impose a blanket ban on handgun possession after that.
Caetano v. Massachusetts (2016)
Massachusetts had convicted a woman for possessing a stun gun for self-defense, and its highest court upheld the conviction on the ground that stun guns were not contemplated by the Founders. The Supreme Court reversed in a per curiam opinion, reiterating that Second Amendment protections “extend to arms that were not in existence at the time of the founding.”23Justia. Caetano v. Massachusetts, 577 U.S. 411 (2016) The ruling was brief but foreclosed the argument that the amendment’s protections are frozen in 18th-century technology.
New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022)
Bruen may prove the most disruptive firearms decision in modern history. New York’s concealed-carry licensing regime required applicants to show “proper cause” beyond a general desire for self-defense. The Supreme Court struck down that requirement, holding that the Second Amendment protects a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense, not just within the home.24Supreme Court of the United States. New York State Rifle and Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen
More broadly, the Court replaced the two-step framework lower courts had used with a single test rooted in history. Under Bruen, when a modern law burdens conduct protected by the Second Amendment’s plain text, the government must justify the regulation by showing it is “consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.” Courts can no longer balance public safety interests against Second Amendment rights using the kind of means-ends scrutiny common in other constitutional areas. They must find a historical analogue for the challenged law.
Dozens of federal and state gun laws have since faced Bruen-based challenges. Prohibitions on domestic-violence-related gun possession, ghost gun regulations, and sensitive-place restrictions have all been litigated under the new standard, with outcomes varying sharply across circuits.
The Constitutional Carry Movement
While federal law dominates the headlines, one of the largest recent shifts has happened at the state level. As of 2025, 29 states allow residents to carry a concealed handgun without a government-issued permit, a policy known as constitutional carry or permitless carry. Vermont has always allowed permitless carry; most of the other adopting states passed their laws within the last decade. States with constitutional carry still generally prohibit carrying by people who would be federally prohibited from possessing firearms.
The interplay between this state trend and Bruen is still developing. Bruen struck down discretionary licensing schemes, but several states responded by converting to “shall-issue” systems with objective criteria rather than eliminating permits altogether. The result is a patchwork: some states require no permit, others issue permits to anyone who meets statutory criteria, and a handful still maintain more restrictive systems whose precise boundaries are being tested in court.