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Handout 6 - Timeline of Gun Control Laws
Handout 6 - Timeline of Gun Control Laws
On Dec. 15, 1791, ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution — eventually known as
the Bill of Rights — were ratified. The second of them said: “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.”
1934
The first piece of national gun control legislation was passed on June 26, 1934. The
National Firearms Act (NFA) — part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “New
Deal for Crime“— was meant to curtail “gangland crimes of that era such as the St.
Valentine’s Day Massacre.”The NFA imposed a tax on the manufacturing, selling,
and transporting of firearms listed in the law, among them short-barrel shotguns
and rifles, machine guns, firearm mufflers and silencers. Due to constitutional flaws,
the NFA was modified several times. The $200 tax, which was high for the era, was
put in place to curtail the transfer of these weapons.
1938
The Federal Firearms Act (FFA) of 1938 required gun manufacturers, importers, and
dealers to obtain a federal firearms license. It also defined a group of people,
including convicted felons, who could not purchase guns, and mandated that gun
sellers keep customer records. The FFA was repealed in 1968 by the Gun Control Act
(GCA), though many of its provisions were reenacted by the GCA.
1939
In 1939 the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case United States v. Miller, ruling that
through the National Firearms Act of 1934, Congress could regulate the interstate
selling of a short barrel shotgun. The court stated that there was no evidence that a
sawed off shotgun “has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or
efficiency of a well regulated militia,” and thus “we cannot say that the Second
Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear such an instrument.”
Handout 6 – Timeline of Gun Control Laws
1968
Overall the bill banned importing guns that have “no sporting purpose,” imposed
age restrictions for the purchase of handguns (gun owners had to be 21), prohibited
felons, the mentally ill, and others from purchasing guns, required that all
manufactured or imported guns have a serial number, and according to the
ATF, imposed “stricter licensing and regulation on the firearms industry.”
1986
In 1986 the Firearm Owners Protection Act was passed by Congress. The law mainly
enacted protections for gun owners — prohibiting a national registry of dealer
records, limiting ATF inspections to once per year (unless there are multiple
infractions), softening what is defined as “engaging in the business” of selling
firearms, and allowing licensed dealers to sell firearms at “gun shows” in their state.
It also loosened regulations on the sale and transfer of ammunition.
The bill also codified some gun control measures, including expanding the GCA to
prohibit civilian ownership or transfer of machine guns made after May 19, 1986,
and redefining “silencer” to include parts intended to make silencers.
1993
The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 is named after White House
press secretary James Brady, who was permanently disabled from an injury suffered
during an attempt to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. (Brady died in 2014). It
was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The law, which amends the
GCA, requires that background checks be completed before a gun is purchased from
a licensed dealer, manufacturer or importer. It established the National Instant
Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which is maintained by the FBI.
Handout 6 – Timeline of Gun Control Laws
1994
Tucked into the sweeping and controversial Violent Crime Control and Law
Enforcement Act, signed by President Clinton in 1994, is the subsection titled Public
Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act. This is known as the assault
weapons ban — a temporary prohibition in effect from September of 1994 to
September of 2004. Multiple attempts to renew the ban have failed.
The provisions of the bill outlawed the ability to “manufacture, transfer, or possess a
semiautomatic assault weapon,” unless it was “lawfully possessed under Federal law
on the date of the enactment of this subsection.” Nineteen military-style or “copy-
cat” assault weapons—including AR-15s, TEC-9s, MAC-10s, etc.—could not be
manufactured or sold. It also banned “certain high-capacity ammunition magazines
of more than ten rounds,” according to a U.S. Department of Justice Fact Sheet.
2003
The Tiahrt Amendment, proposed by Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), prohibited the ATF from
publicly releasing data showing where criminals purchased their firearms and
stipulated that only law enforcement officers or prosecutors could access such
information.“The law effectively shields retailers from lawsuits, academic study and
public scrutiny,” The Washington Post wrote in 2010. “It also keeps the spotlight off
the relationship between rogue gun dealers and the black market in firearms.” There
have been efforts to repeal this amendment.
2005
In 2005, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act was signed by President
George W. Bush to prevent gun manufacturers from being named in federal or state
civil suits by those who were victims of crimes involving guns made by that
company. The first provision of this law is “to prohibit causes of action against
manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and importers of firearms or ammunition
products, and their trade associations, for the harm solely caused by the criminal or
unlawful misuse of firearm products or ammunition products by others when the
product functioned as designed and intended.” It also dismissed pending cases on
October 26, 2005.
Handout 6 – Timeline of Gun Control Laws
2008
From: http://time.com/5169210/us-gun-control-laws-history-timeline/