Gun Control in the United States

A Comparative Survey
of State Firearm Laws

A project of the Open Society Institute’s

Center on Crime, Communities & Culture
and the Funders’ Collaborative for
Gun Violence Prevention.

April 2000
 This report was written in March 2000.
Please help update this information by notifying
us of any changes in your state or local gun laws.
Design: Spire Integrated Design, Inc. www.spire-id.com

Comments on the report are also welcome.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

II. Summary of Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

III. Scope and Focus of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

GUN CONTROL IN THE UNITED STATES
IV. Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Open Society Institute
400 West 59th Street V. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
New York, NY 10019
[email protected] VI. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
 I. INTRODUCTION Concern about the proliferation of weapons has intensified
over the past year with a series of brutal reminders that
Consider: there is no sanctuary from gun violence – not churches,
schools, restaurants, workplaces or homes. While some inci-
• A 12-year-old in North Carolina needs paren- dents make the cover of Time, most escape our awareness:
tal permission to play Little League Baseball, on average, 85 firearm fatalities occur every day in the U.S.
but not to possess a rifle or shotgun. In
Gun violence in inner cities, disproportionately affecting
Texas and five other states, there is no
communities of color, attracts little media coverage. Suicides,
minimum legal age requirement for gun
which make up more than half of all gun deaths, are even
possession.
less visible.
• In 48 states citizens can legally buy an assault
weapon. In 43 states the purchase requires no Americans constitute one of the most heavily armed societies
license or registration. in the developed world, with 40% of households containing
1
guns. U.S. homicide rates are two to ten times higher than
2
• In 46 states there is no limit on the in other developed countries.
number of guns a person can buy at any one
time. Only four states impose a limit of one Violence is a complex phenomenon that cannot be attributed
handgun per month as a precaution against to any single cause. However, the outcome of a violent inci-
illegal gun trafficking. dent is dramatically influenced by the weapons or methods
used. Whether from assault or self-inflicted injury, the likeli-
Considering the intensity of the debate about gun violence hood of death is especially high when a gun is involved. As
prevention, public knowledge of current gun laws is extreme- criminologists Franklin Zimring and Gordon Hawkins have
ly poor. Notions of tough or loose gun control are frequently pointed out, this is the main reason why the U.S. homicide
mentioned in the media, but the question must be asked: by rate far exceeds those of other comparable Western coun-
what standard? tries: assaults in the United States more often involve guns,
3
and thus more often result in death.
This report attempts to bring some clarity to this question
by providing the first plain-English, comprehensive survey of A breakthrough in understanding gun violence came in
the gun laws in all 50 states. It systematically compares the the mid-1980s with the recognition that it is a public health
gun laws, scoring them on 30 weighted criteria grouped into hazard, a significant and preventable source of suffering
three categories. It concentrates on the states because most and death. As with motor vehicle injuries, tuberculosis and
gun laws are state laws, though federal law also plays an other serious public health problems, prevention is better
important role. than a treatment. A key concept in prevention is an emphasis
on “upstream” solutions — taking action near the source of
The result is the most detailed picture ever of the patchwork the hazard.
quilt formed by the gun laws of the United States. It gives
policy-makers, the media and the public an opportunity to The popular conception of the source of gun violence is
compare their state with others and consider specific reforms a shadowy illegal market, completely divorced from the legiti-
to prevent gun crime – trafficking, robbery, threats, assaults, mate firearms industry. “Criminals will always get guns,” goes
homicides – unintentional injuries and suicides by firearms. the refrain, as though the illegal market exists independently
of the legal market.
Two striking features are immediately apparent. First is the
very low average state score, 9%. Only a handful of states
achieved more than 50% of the 100 available points; the
vast majority of jurisdictions lack even basic laws governing
the sale and ownership of guns. Second is the breadth of the
gun control spectrum across the country: out of a maximum
of 100 for very strict laws, state scores ranged from -10 at
the bottom of the scale (Maine) to over 70 at the top
(Massachusetts and Hawaii).

1 2
Teret SP, Webster DW, Vernick JS et al. Support for new policies to Krug EG, Powell KE & Dahlberg LL. Firearm-related deaths in the United
regulate firearms: results of two national surveys. New England Journal of Medicine States and 35 other high- and upper-middle-income countries. International
1998: 339: 813-818. UN Commission on Crime Prevention & Criminal Justice, Journal of Epidemiology 1998: 27: 214-221
International Study on Firearm Regulation, Vienna: United Nations 1997.
3
Zimring FE & Hawkins G. Crime is Not the Problem – Lethal Violence in America.
New York: Oxford University Press 1997.

A Comparative Survey of State Firearm Laws 1

In fact, the illegal market in guns lies directly “downstream” Whether at state or national levels, elected officials have
from the legal market. Almost without exception, every found it easier to pass laws punishing the misuse of guns
illegal gun in the United States began its life as a legal – laws that apply after violence is committed – rather than
product, manufactured or imported by a company licensed preventing it. In the absence of systematic preventive policies,
by the federal government and sold by a licensed dealer. a variety of “downstream” efforts have been made to reduce
It may enter the illegal market in a number of ways. For gun violence, including voluntary buybacks, metal detectors
example, it may be bought by a “straw purchaser” who hands in public buildings, more resources for police, longer sen-
it over to a prohibited person; or it may be purchased lawfully tences for criminals, lawsuits against the gun industry, and
by an individual who subsequently resells it privately or at a public awareness campaigns. Worthwhile though these may
gun show. No matter how the gun ended up in the wrong be, they cannot substitute for a comprehensive legislative
hands, its origins lie in a legitimate sale (see Figure 1 below). framework to regulate the build-up and movement of guns
The journey is rapid: 30-40% of all crime handguns traced in the community.
by the federal government were sold brand-new by a licensed
4
dealer less than three years earlier. The key to dismantling Public opinion polls indicate that Americans recognize a link
the illegal market is to stop the migration of guns from the between gun violence and easy access to firearms. National
legal domain, by controlling the lawful sources of supply.
5 surveys show consistently high levels of public support – over
70% – for tougher restrictions on the manufacture, sale and
A focus on the illegal market is even less helpful in pre- ownership of guns.6 In this regard the public is far ahead of
venting suicides and unintentional shootings, which together its legislators.
account for the majority of gun deaths. Since no criminal
intent is involved in these injuries, they may appear to be This report reveals how wide the gap is between the public
completely different phenomena from homicides and armed mandate and levels of gun control across the nation. We
robberies. Yet the original source of the agent of injury is the hope these new findings will help drive debate and action
same: the mainstream (legal) gun industry. on this important issue.

INHERITANCE

OR THROUGH AUCTION

LAW ENFORCEMENT
HARDWARE STORE, NATIONAL RETAIL STORE OR
MANUFACTURER, IMPORTER AND DISTRIBUTOR

STRAW PURCHASE GANG ACTIVITY LOCKED AWAY

SOLD OR TRADED IN PRIVATE

TO DEALERS
(KITCHEN TABLE SALE)

SOLD BY
LICENSED GUN SHOP, GUN SHOW,

SELF DEFENSE STATUS SYMBOL SUICIDE

SEIZED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT

SPORTING GOODS STORE.

SOLD OR TRADED

STOLEN
AT GUN SHOW

SPORT / PLINKING CRIMINAL

RECREATION SELF DEFENSE

COLLECTOR CRIMINAL ILLEGAL POSSESSION

LAW ENFORCEMENT
GIFT OR PRIZE CRIMINAL

DESTROYED BY
FAMILY VIOLENCE

POLICE / LAW ENFORCEMENT

Figure 1. How guns move from legal to illegal ownership.

Ovals show how firearm is used. A gun lasts longer than most other consumer products. Federal
law demands that only the first retail sale be recorded. After that,
Bars show how firearm is transferred
from one individual to another. a gun may change hands many times without any documentation
being required. Law-abiding owners can unwittingly contribute
Blue represents legal use. to the illegal market by selling their guns second-hand, or giving
Orange represents illegal or violent use. them away. This diagram gives examples of how a gun can move
from legal to illegal ownership, sometimes being recycled through
the legitimate market again. For law enforcement purposes, the
record of the first retail buyer becomes virtually useless as soon
as he or she transfers the gun to its second owner.

4 5
Department of the Treasury, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms. Youth Cook PJ & Cole TB. Strategic Thinking About Gun Markets & Violence.
Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative, 27 Communities Study. February 1999, p12. Journal of American Medical Association 1996, 275(22): 1765-67. Vernick JS, Webster
DW, Hepburn LM. Effects of Maryland’s law banning Saturday night special
handguns on crime guns. Injury Prevention 1999; 5: 259-263.

6
Teret et al, above.
2 Gun Control in the United States
 II. SUMMARY OF RESULTS • The 20 lowest-ranking states scored less
than zero:
In this survey the states were individually scored on their gun Arizona (-1)
laws out of a maximum possible score of 100%. The higher Indiana (-1)
the score, the tougher the state’s gun laws. Full results are set Kansas (-2)
out on Side 1 of the chart that accompanies this report. The Mississippi (-2)
following provides a summary: Alabama (-3)
Idaho (-3)
General results South Dakota (-3)
West Virginia (-3)
• 42 states scored less than 20% on the study
Oklahoma (-4)
criteria. The average score among all states was
Wyoming (-4)
only 9%.
Arkansas (-5)
• The two highest-ranking states, with strong Georgia (-5)
gun laws, were: North Dakota (-5)
Massachusetts (76) Vermont (-5)
Hawaii (71) Kentucky (-6)
Montana (-6)
• Six states have moderate gun laws: Texas (-6)
California (53) Alaska (-8)
Connecticut (50) Louisiana (-8)
Maryland (43) Maine (-10)
New Jersey (35)
Illinois (35) Specific Regulatory Measures
New York (27)
Licensing and registration
Two core categories of criteria — owner
• 35 states have neither licensing nor
licensing and gun registration — accounted
registration for any type of gun. Only one
for the wide disparity between these states’
state, Massachusetts, has both licensing
scores and the rest.
and registration for all guns. Consequently,
• 22 states scored between zero and 20: Massachusetts is the only state where police
Iowa (18) have the ability to check and reconsider
North Carolina (18) whether changing circumstances affect some-
Rhode Island (18) one’s suitability to own guns.
South Carolina (17)
Background checks
Minnesota (16)
Michigan (15) • 32 states require no background checks
Missouri (15) when a handgun is purchased from a
Washington (8) private seller, whether over the back
Florida (6) fence or at a gun show. Some states that
Nebraska (6) do require background checks have no mech-
Virginia (6) anism for ensuring that they occur.
Colorado (4)
Ohio (4) • 44 states require no background checks
Wisconsin (3) when a rifle or shotgun is bought from
Delaware (2) a private seller.
Pennsylvania (2)
New Mexico (1) • 23 states require only the basic federal
Oregon (1) background checks when a handgun is
Tennessee (1) purchased from a dealer. (The other
Nevada (0) 27 states require checks of state police records
New Hampshire (0) as well.)
Utah (0)

A Comparative Survey of State Firearm Laws 3

Children Safe storage
• Seven states have no legal minimum age for • Only four states have laws requiring guns
a child buying rifles or shotguns from a private to be kept locked or unloaded: California,
seller. 18 states have no minimum age for pos- Connecticut, Hawaii and Massachusetts.
session of these guns, and 13 states have a
minimum age between 12 and 16. • 18 states have a Child Access Prevention
(CAP) law, which punishes parents if their
• Six states have no legal minimum age for gun is used by a child to cause death or injury.
a child to possess handguns. Five states
set the minimum age between 14 and 16. Industry immunity from litigation
(Federal law stipulates a minimum age • 13 states have laws protecting the gun
of 18 to possess handguns, but the survey industry from being sued by local govern-
found that state policy prevails in enforce- ments for negligent design or distribution
ment.) of its products.
Waiting periods Preemption of local ordinances
• 31 states have no waiting period for handgun • 40 states prohibit or restrict municipalities
purchases. 12 states require more than three from enacting local gun laws. Only 10 states
days. allow cities and counties to impose tighter gun
laws.
• 43 states have no waiting period for
purchase of rifles or shotguns.
Gun Laws and Gun Violence
“One-gun-a-month”
The relationship between gun laws and violence is a question
• Only four states have a one-gun-a-month arousing great interest and controversy in the United States.
law: California, Maryland, South Carolina and The issue is complicated by many factors including: demo-
Virginia. In the other 46 states there is no graphics, levels of urbanization, poverty, unemployment,
legal obstacle to prevent illegal gun traffickers organized crime, alcohol and drug use, extent of gun owner-
from buying multiple handguns. ship, predominance of handguns vs. long guns (rifles and
shotguns) in the community, and proximity to other states
“Saturday night specials” or “Junk guns”
with weaker or stronger laws. Other criminal justice, social
• Only seven states have banned cheap, and educational policies also play a role. Gun laws are often
dangerous, “Saturday night specials”, also phased in gradually so their effects take years to be felt;
known as “junk guns”. published injury and mortality data generally lag 2-3 years
behind. Variations in implementation and enforcement can
Assault weapons
mean that ostensibly the same law operates differently in
• 43 states require no license or registration different jurisdictions. Further, gun violence and gun laws
for assault weapons such as AK-47s. The police may have a reciprocal effect which can be difficult to decon-
have no practical way of knowing how many of struct: tightening gun laws can reduce violence, but high
these guns are owned, or whether someone is levels of gun violence make it more likely that gun laws will
stockpiling them. be tightened.
7

• Only two states, California and Connecticut, For all these reasons the relationship between particular
prohibit private sales of assault weapons. (New regulatory measures and violence lies outside the scope of
production of assault weapons was banned by this survey, whose purpose is to analyze and compare the laws
federal law in 1994, but in 48 states pre-1994 themselves. However, the connection between gun laws and
weapons continue to circulate.) Hawaii and gun injury warrants careful research in its own right.
Maryland prohibit private sales of assault pis-
tols only.

7
e.g. California, Illinois and Maryland have tightened their laws
because of high homicide rates in Los Angeles, Chicago, and
Baltimore respectively.

4 Gun Control in the United States

 III. SCOPE AND FOCUS OF THE STUDY One answer to this uneven coverage is a strong federal
gun law. At present the scope of the federal law is
narrowly defined, concentrating primarily on sales by licensed
State vs. Federal Gun Laws
gun dealers:
This report deals with state gun laws, for several reasons. First,
most existing gun laws are state laws, yet clear information • Gun manufacturers, distributors and dealers
on these laws is particularly difficult for ordinary citizens to must hold a Federal Firearms License.
obtain. The scope and structure of the laws vary widely from Manufacturers may not provide new guns
state to state; sometimes the substance of the law can only be directly to anyone who is not a Federal
ascertained through a conversation with police or the state Firearms Licensee (FFL). Other people may
still sell guns as unlicensed sellers, as long as
Attorney General’s office about implementation.
they are not “engaged in the business” of deal-
Second, state legislatures may be more responsive to the ing in firearms.
growing public pressure for reform, since they are smaller
• FFLs must not sell handguns to people
and closer to the community than Congress. The mechanisms
under 21 or long guns (rifles and shotguns) to
for implementation and enforcement – police, courts, health people under 18.
agencies – are primarily the responsibility of state and local
government. The emotional, social and economic impact • Private and unlicensed sellers must not sell
of gun violence is felt at local and state levels: in schools, handguns to people under 18, and no one
neighborhoods, workplaces, battered women’s shelters, wel- under 18 may possess handguns or ammuni-
fare offices, hospitals, police stations, prisons and jails. tion only suitable for a handgun.

One benefit of examining state gun laws is the variety of • Importation of small, poor quality handguns
policy options that they offer. States with highly developed (“junk guns”), and of some overseas assault
systems of firearm regulation can serve as policy-testing sites weapons is banned.
and potentially provide models for other governments to
• Fully automatic machine guns may not
follow.
be manufactured, imported, bought or sold.
The disadvantage of relying on state laws compared with (Pre-1986 weapons can continue to be owned
federal gun laws is their lack of uniformity. A consistent legal and sold.)
framework is crucial for a hazardous product that is easily
• New production of certain assault weapons
transported across state borders. is banned, along with magazines holding more
than 10 rounds of ammunition. (Pre-1994
Very strict gun laws in one state can be undermined by
8 weapons and magazines can continue to be
permissive laws in neighboring states. When adjacent juris-
owned and sold.)
dictions have different levels of gun control, the weaker
law becomes the common standard. This was illustrated • Certain classes of people, like convicted fel-
by Virginia’s one-gun-a-month law in 1993. Handguns are ons, are prohibited from possessing guns.
banned in Washington, D.C., but are routinely trafficked
from adjoining states. For years Virginia was the primary This last point is the most important, since it is the provision
source of crime guns recovered in the nation’s capital. In on which we routinely rely to prevent criminals from buying
July 1993, Virginia passed a law prohibiting multiple sales guns from retailers. The protection is provided when the
of handguns: an individual could not buy more than one gun dealer or police contact the FBI’s National Instant
handgun per month from licensed dealers. After this law Check System (NICS) to find out whether a customer’s
was enacted, the flow of crime guns from Virginia declined, name appears on a list of convicted felons, fugitives from
indicating that the guns had been coming from multiple justice, people subject to certain types of restraining orders
sales by licensed dealers there. Maryland then became the or those convicted of domestic violence. During the first year
main source of crime guns in Washington, D.C., and that of NICS’ operation, some 180,000 “prohibited” persons were
9 10
state too has since enacted a one-gun-a-month law. stopped from illegally buying firearms.

8 10
Weil DS & Knox RC. Effects of Limiting Handgun Purchases on Interstate Department of the Treasury, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms.
Transfer of Firearms. Journal of American Medical Association 1996, 275(22): Commerce in Firearms in the United States. February 2000.
1759-61.

9
Cook PJ & Cole TB. Strategic Thinking About Gun Markets & Violence.
Journal of American Medical Association 1996, 275(22): 1765-67.

A Comparative Survey of State Firearm Laws 5

Despite this success, NICS has very severe limitations. The Opponents of gun control often argue that new or existing
requirement to check NICS only applies to sales by a legislation would be unconstitutional, due to the Second
licensed dealer or FFL. Thus a “prohibited” person who Amendment’s protection of the “right to keep and bear
would be turned away at a gun shop can simply choose to arms.” This is untrue. In fact, no federal court has ever over-
shop elsewhere. Just as car buyers can ignore the authorized turned a state or local gun law — even one that banned all
showroom and shop through the classified ads, nothing stops handguns — for violating the Second Amendment. Indeed,
gun buyers from making their purchase from an unlicensed the Supreme Court has stated that the Second Amendment
13
seller, a neighbor, a gun show, pawnshop or garage sale. does not apply to states. Regarding federal laws, the court
In fact, just under half of all handgun owners acquire their has said that the Second Amendment is closely related to
11
guns in this “secondary” market. As long as the seller is not “the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia.” As
an FFL, no background check is required under federal law. a result, with only one exception currently on appeal, every
Once a gun has entered the unregulated secondary sphere, federal law challenged on Second Amendment grounds has
14
it is equally available to “bad” and “good” people alike. survived.

One federal provision does attempt to cover the secondary

Licensing and Registration
market: private sellers must not sell handguns to people
under 18, and no one under 18 may possess handguns or The wide gulf between the high-ranking and low-ranking
ammunition only suitable for a handgun. However, compli- states in this survey is due primarily to two factors, licensing
ance with this law is effectively optional, since most states of gun owners and registration of guns. These two measures
do not require records of private sales. roughly parallel the licensing and registration system for
motor vehicles, another dangerous consumer product.
Numerous legislative initiatives to broaden and strengthen
the federal gun law have either failed to move out of com- There are 185 million licensed motorists and 130 million
15
mittee or been voted down on the floor of the Senate or registered cars in the United States. Though each state has
House of Representatives. Prospects may be better for reform its own laws, there is an underlying consistency in the regula-
across groups of adjacent states, creating regions of stronger tion of cars across the country. All states require at least three
gun control where each state’s regulatory scheme is enhanced categories of oversight:
by those of the surrounding jurisdictions.
• Registration and insurance of the car
Federal attention tends to focus on punishment for gun mis-
use rather than prevention. For example, Project Exile is a • Training, screening and licensing of
program whose “…strategy is to prosecute in Federal court the driver
all individuals arrested for illegally possessing a firearm, • Safe maintenance and operation under
because of the length of mandatory sentences and pre-trial specific traffic laws
12
detention provisions.” This program combats gun misuse
from the demand side, by jailing some consumers and deter- This system allows cars to be identified, monitored for safety
ring others from acquiring the product. However, it can have and traced. It gives others on the road some degree of confi-
little effect on the supply, because it does not address the dence that each person behind the wheel of a car has passed
flow of guns from the legal to the illegal market. As long as at least a minimal test of competence.
federal legislators concentrate on punishment, responsibility
for prevention will fall on the states. And as long as some
states continue to allow legal guns to feed the illegal market,
the preventive efforts of the other states will be undermined.

11 14
Smith T, National Gun Policy Survey of the National Opinion Research Center: Vernick JS, Teret SP. New courtroom strategies regarding firearms:
Research Findings. NORC, University of Chicago, May 1999. tort litigation against firearm manufacturers and constitutional challenges
to gun laws. Houston Law Review 1999; 36: 1713-1754.
12
Department of the Treasury, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms. Youth
15
Crime Gun Interdiction, 27 Communities Study, February 1999. Why Gun Licensing Works, USA Today, Editorial, February 2, 2000.

13
Presser v. Illinois 116 U.S. 252 (1886)

6 Gun Control in the United States

The system also incorporates preventive mechanisms of enforcement, establishing a chain of accountability that
self-enforcement. In a perfect world, drivers would avoid creates an incentive for each gun owner to help enforce
speeding, illegal turns or drunk driving, simply because they the law. This is especially important given that nearly half
are responsible citizens who value public safety. In reality, the of all gun transfers occur in the secondary market. In the
law recognizes that public safety is too fragile to leave to the absence of registration, nothing prevents a private owner
discretion of individual drivers at any given moment. Thus, from selling, lending or giving away a gun as casually as a
it not only provides speed limits, traffic lights and penalties golf club – “cash and carry” with no questions asked. (In
for violations, but also an underlying framework that ensures most states this is legal.) However, registration discourages
a high degree of compliance. Drivers tend to obey the law this because the original owner knows his or her name will
not only to maintain public safety, but also to avoid costly automatically be associated with any subsequent incident
and inconvenient damage to their car, tickets from the police, involving the gun. When a gun is sold, the seller wants to
points on their driving record, higher insurance premiums make sure the transfer is registered so that the new owner
and the potential loss of their license. (This is an important becomes accountable for the weapon. Since the gun can only
feature of licensing: it allows the privilege of driving to be be registered to a license-holder, the seller is unlikely to
withdrawn preventively from people who break the rules, consider transferring it to an unlicensed person. At the very
even if no one has yet been killed or injured.) Likewise, least, registration means a private owner who gives or sells a
the registration system discourages lending of cars because gun to an unqualified person cannot claim ignorance of the
the same risks accrue to the owner, even if someone else is illegality of the transaction.
driving at the time.
Firearm registration has other benefits, particularly for
A regulatory framework for guns based on licensing and law enforcement. One of the most important benefits is the
registration is roughly similar, though not identical. It ability to trace a gun to its owner. Without registration,
consists of three main categories of oversight: police wishing to trace a recovered crime gun must go to the
manufacturer, ask which distributor the gun was supplied to
• Registration of the gun and then which dealer made the first retail sale. In 40% of
cases the first retail purchaser can be identified, but almost
• Licensing of the gun owner
invariably the trail dries up at that point, since no records
• Regulation of the sale (e.g. waiting periods) exist for subsequent private sales.16 As soon as a gun is resold
once, it disappears from the tracing system. By contrast,
This scheme provides several analogous benefits to the motor registration allows the gun to be linked directly to the last
vehicle regulatory system. Licensing identifies those people legal owner, a far more relevant piece of information for
who have met established minimum standards in terms of investigating crime.
age, training and screening to buy or own a gun. And registra-
tion links each gun with its owner, for police or insurance Registration is also an important tool against gun trafficking,
purposes. because it allows laws against multiple sales to be enforced.
Without registration, one-gun-a-month laws only affect pur-
However, as with cars, the major benefit of gun licensing and chases from licensed dealers, which excludes a very large
registration is to underpin and ensure compliance with other proportion of all gun transfers. If legislators decide that the
gun laws. For example, the federal law bans convicted felons growth of individual arsenals should be restricted to one
and domestic violence offenders from owning handguns. gun per month, then that limit should apply to gun pur-
A NICS background check at the point of purchase prevents chases from any source, including private transactions. In the
such a person from buying a handgun in a gunshop. How- absence of registration, there is no way of knowing when
ever, if an individual with a clean record acquires a gun and a buyer exceeds the monthly limit.
later is convicted of a felony or domestic violence, no alarm
is triggered in NICS to warn the police that this owner’s pos-
session of a gun has become illegal. A licensing and registra-
tion system would allow the privilege of gun ownership to be
IV. METHODOLOGY
withdrawn or curtailed when the owner proves unworthy –
even if no one has been killed.

Registration is the crucial preventive mechanism for self-

16
Commerce in Firearms in the United States, above.

A Comparative Survey of State Firearm Laws 7

The United States’ gun laws do not lend themselves to simple Choice of Criteria
comparisons or categorizations. In many instances the law
This report covers state laws related to ownership, possession,
is applied largely through administrative practice, and it is
sale and transfer of guns. Each state’s gun law was scored on
impossible to tell the legal position simply by reading the
30 criteria, grouped into six categories:
legislation. State laws can be confusing even to those who
enforce them, due to poor drafting, local differences in 1. Registration of firearms
17
interpretation, or simple misunderstandings.
• Registration of assault weapons
The terminology of firearm legislation can be confusing. For
example, the terms “license” and “permit” frequently are • Permit to purchase assault weapons
used interchangeably. And a wide spectrum of regulation from a dealer
may be denoted by one term. Both Hawaii and North • Permit to purchase assault weapons
Carolina require a “permit to purchase” for handguns. Hawaii in private transactions
has a centralized permit system administered by the Honolulu
Police Department, which records each permit issued in the • Registration of long guns (rifles and shotguns)
entire state. This forms the basis for a state-wide handgun
registration system. In contrast, in North Carolina the local • Permit to purchase long guns
sheriff grants permits-to-purchase and keeps a record of each from a dealer
permit for only one year.
• Permit to purchase long guns
In choosing the criteria for this study, judgments were inevi- in private transactions
tably made about the relative significance of different gun
• Registration of handguns
control measures. Determinations were based on a systematic
analysis of current state laws to identify principal compo- • Permit to purchase handguns
nents. These include the major elements of gun control from a dealer
laws in other developed countries, as well as some measures
found only in the U.S. Components were arranged into • Permit to purchase handguns
a hypothetical model law, which was assigned in private transactions
a total of 100 points. The 100 points were then distributed
2. Safety training
among the components. In general, more points were
assigned to “upstream” than to “downstream” measures, to • Safety training required prior to purchase
restrictions on handguns than to long guns, and to
measures that facilitate the enforcement of other laws. 3. Regulation of firearm sales
• Assault weapon ban

• “Junk gun” or “Saturday night special” ban

• Background check in dealer sales of long guns

• Background check in private sales of long guns

• Minimum age for private purchase of long guns

• Waiting period for long guns

• Background check in dealer sales of handguns

• Background check in private sales of handguns

• Minimum age for private purchase of handguns

• Waiting period for handguns

• One-gun-a-month law for handguns

17
For example, New Jersey law provides for a license to possess assault weapons.
The State Police believe assault weapons are effectively banned, saying they
would never issue such a license. However, in law the power to issue an assault
weapons license lies not with the police but with judges. Since the “ban” envis-
aged by the State Police is not codified in the law, New Jersey was scored as not
having an assault weapons ban.
8 Gun Control in the United States
4. Safe storage and accessibility The Research Process

• Safe Storage requirement Information was gathered for this study in three stages:
analysis of primary law; cross-checking with the principal
• Child Access Prevention (CAP) law secondary sources; verification with law enforcement and
state agencies.
5. Owner licensing
• Owner licensing for assault weapons Research in each state began with the published statutes,
many of which are compiled in a publication of the Bureau of
• Owner licensing for long guns 18
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). The ATF’s publica-
tion is produced primarily for firearm dealers, and does not
• Minimum age for possession of long guns include all the laws relevant to this study. Thus, we also
• Owner licensing for handguns consulted the relevant state codes and statutes.

• Minimum age for possession of handguns The second stage was a cross-check with information from
19
secondary sources, including the National Rifle Association,
20 21
6. Litigation and preemption Handgun Control Inc. and the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
• Ban on litigation against the gun industry The final stage was verifying with officials from each state
the local interpretation and application of the law. Typically
• State preemption of municipal gun laws
the person contacted was either a law enforcement officer
These criteria represent gun control measures already with responsibility for firearms, or an official from the state
in place in at least one state. The top-ranking states, attorney general’s office. This process was guided by a set
Massachusetts and Hawaii, achieved high scores on nearly of questions:
all criteria.
• Is a license required to possess a gun?
The list of criteria excludes laws that are under consideration
• Are guns registered to their owners?
but not yet enacted. For example, the Maryland Attorney
General has proposed a state handgun ban, while the New • Does a buyer need a permit to purchase
Jersey Legislature has a bill in committee that would require each gun?
handguns to be “personalized” so they can only be fired by
authorized users. • Are state databases consulted as part of
background checks?
The list also excludes county or municipal laws, which are
often much stricter than the prevailing state law. For exam- • Are background checks required for
ple, Illinois did not receive points for the handgun bans in secondary private sales?
Chicago or Morton Grove, nor did Ohio for Toledo’s ban
• What is the waiting period for the purchase
on “Saturday night specials”. Clark County, Nevada (which
of a gun?
includes Las Vegas), has a mandatory handgun registry, as
do Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Several cities in Kansas impose • Is there a one-gun-a-month law?
waiting periods for the purchase of any firearm. Four Florida
counties have long waiting periods for handgun purchases; • Are assault weapons banned?
while five require background checks on sales at gun shows.
• Are “junk guns” or “Saturday night specials”
Also omitted from the criteria in this survey were laws aimed banned?
at punishing, rather than preventing, gun crime. (Conviction
• Is safe storage mandatory?
for an offense committed with a gun typically results in a
longer sentence than the same offense without a gun.) • Is there a Child Access Prevention (CAP)
law?

• What are the minimum ages for the

possession and purchase of guns?

• Is there any restriction on local govern-

ments’ right to sue the gun industry?

• Are local municipalities preempted from

making laws concerning guns?
18 20
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms. State Laws and Published Ordinances www.handguncontrol.org
– Firearms, 1998.
21
Bureau of Justice Statistics. Survey of State Procedures Related to
19
www.nra.ila.org Firearm Sales. NCJ-173942, 1998.

A Comparative Survey of State Firearm Laws 9

Many of these questions were asked separately in relation Scoring the States
to handguns, long guns and assault weapons. The questions
Each state’s gun laws were scored on 30 criteria, and grouped
also distinguished between private and dealer sales. Special
into six categories: registration of firearms, safety training,
attention was paid to areas where the primary law seemed
regulation of firearm sales, safe storage and accessibility,
to differ from the advice of state officials. In many cases the
owner licensing, litigation and preemption. The top-ranking
local advice was incorrect, suggesting a need for better police
states, Massachusetts and Hawaii, achieved high scores on
training in firearm laws.
nearly all criteria.

Each criterion was assigned a maximum numeric value

between 0 and 7. Licensing and registration had maximum
possible points of 7, reflecting their important role in under-
pinning other measures including the federal ban on prohib-
ited classes of purchasers. Handgun waiting periods could
earn between 0 points (for no waiting period) and 6 points
(more than three days).

On background checks for gun sales, all states are federally

mandated to perform a NICS background check on each
person buying guns from a licensed dealer. However, some
states require more comprehensive checks than this; and
a few require background checks in private gun sales as
well. These states received extra points for their background
check systems, since they exceed the federal standard.

Likewise, points were deducted from states that fell below the
federal standard on the minimum age for gun purchase or
possession. For example, under federal law the minimum age
for posession of a handgun is 18. However, some states have
set lower standards: age 14 in Montana, and age 16 in Alaska,
Georgia, New York and Vermont. Six states have no statutory
minimum age at all for possession of a handgun: Alabama,
Louisiana, New Hampshire, Maine, Texas and Wyoming.

Points were also deducted for state preemption of local ordi-

nances, and for bans on lawsuits against the gun industry.

The accompanying chart shows the range of points available

on each criterion (Side 2, “Description of the Laws Included
in this Study”). The maximum any state could score was a
total of 100 points. The minimum possible score was –10.
Each state’s score is provided in the bar graph on Side 1 of
the chart.

10 Gun Control in the United States

 V. CONCLUSION The very large number of guns already in circulation (some
200 million) poses a daunting challenge for regulators. After
The most striking results of this survey are (a) the lack of all, an older or unregistered gun is just as deadly as a brand-
uniformity in firearm regulation across the country; (b) the new, registered one. Even if gun laws were tightened over-
enormous differential between the top and bottom of the night, how could this have any effect on the existing stock-
spectrum; and (c) the poor scores achieved by most states. pile? The answer lies in the rapid turnover of guns used in
42 states fall below minimum standards for public safety, crime. 30-40% of all traced crime guns are less than three
since they lack basic gun laws such as licensing and regis- years old. Thus a regulatory change that interferes with the
tration. The lowest ranking states have almost no firearm traffic in new guns is likely to have an impact within three
regulation of their own; instead they rely entirely on the years. The guns most likely to be used in violence are pre-
federal government’s NICS background check at point-of-sale cisely the ones most likely to be affected by licensing and
by licensed dealers. registration.

Despite this gloomy verdict, the survey also contains some

Action by State Legislatures
good news. The highest-ranked states prove that comprehen-
sive gun laws can be passed and implemented successfully State governments regulate the sale of firearms in order to
in the United States. This disproves the notion that the protect the safety of their citizens. However, guns are easily
U.S. “love affair” with guns stands in the way of tough gun transported across borders, and an assault weapon bought
regulation. out-of-state is no less dangerous than one obtained locally.

A common refrain heard in the gun control debate is that Ideally, regulation of dangerous products like firearms should
state and federal governments should simply enforce the be uniform across the country. Nonetheless, states need not
current laws instead of generating more. This report reveals wait for the federal government to take the lead. With very
the limited scope of the existing laws. The fact that the aver- high levels of public support for gun control, there now
age score is only 9% shows how little there is to enforce. exists an unprecedented opportunity for governors and state
Across most of the country, state gun control is virtually legislatures to move toward minimum national standards for
non-existent. enforceable firearm regulation.

As a practical matter, enforcing many of the existing gun The development of licensing and registration systems in
laws is almost impossible in the absence of licensing and particular would benefit from a coordinated effort between
registration. These two measures enable other existing laws to the states. Whether verifying an applicant’s background or
achieve their purpose. For example, many states have passed tracing a gun recovered at a crime scene, law enforcement
a law declaring that felons may not own guns. Without licens- agencies need an efficient means of checking licensing
ing and registration, this law becomes largely symbolic, since and registration records interstate. This topic could be
there is no way for the authorities to know whether a person addressed through organizations like the National Governors
being convicted is a gun owner. Association, the Council of State Governments, National
Conference of State Legislators, and the National Association
Recent Developments of Attorneys General.

President Clinton recently proposed a national licensing Meanwhile, there are other steps each state can take to sup-
system for firearm owners. Under the proposal, states would port police and public health efforts to prevent gun-related
issue a license only if an applicant has (a) passed a federal violence and injuries. We hope the information in this report
background check; and (b) shown proof of having completed will help policy-makers and the public to identify and remedy
22
a certified safety course or exam. the weaknesses in their gun laws.

Undoubtedly this system would offer benefits by improving

owners’ understanding of the law and of their responsibilities
for safe gun use and storage. However, on its own it would fall
short of addressing the problem of guns moving from legal to
illegal ownership. Trafficking, straw purchases and backyard
sales would be minimally affected by a licensing system that
was not accompanied by firearm registration.

22
State participation in the licensing system would be optional.
In states that decide not to participate, gun dealers would issue
licenses. Clinton Proposes State Licenses for Handgun Purchases,
U.S. Newswire, January 27, 2000.

A Comparative Survey of State Firearm Laws 11

Recommendations: VI. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

1. Federal firearm laws should be made internally consistent

This report is a project of the Open Society Institute’s Center
by abolishing arbitrary legal distinctions between old vs. new
on Crime, Communities & Culture, in conjunction with the
guns, purchases from licensed vs. unlicensed sellers, and
Funders’ Collaborative for Gun Violence Prevention.
domestic vs. imported weapons:
We received information, assistance and advice from a large
• The minimum age for both purchase and
number of law enforcement officers, government agencies,
possession of handguns should be 21, whether
research centers, community organizations and individuals.
or not the seller is a licensed dealer.
We especially wish to thank the Bureau of Alcohol,
• Background checks should be required in
all gun sales, whether or not the seller is a Tobacco & Firearms, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Center
licensed dealer. to Prevent Handgun Violence, Educational Fund to End
Handgun Violence, Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy
• Pre-1986 machine guns and pre-1994 & Research, National Rifle Association, New Yorkers Against
assault weapons should be banned from Gun Violence, Matthew Fleming, Philip Alpers, Professor
private purchase. Franklin Zimring, Professor Judy Bonderman and
Professor Howard Andrews.
• Domestic “junk guns” or “Saturday night
specials” should be subject to the same
standards as imported models.

2. The federal government should assist and support state

efforts to raise the standard and promote consistency of
state gun laws, along with strengthening implementation and
enforcement.

3. At the very least, all state gun laws should be consistent

with the federal law. At present this would mean a
minimum age limit of 18 for possession of any gun, and 21
for purchase of a handgun from a dealer.

4. All states should move toward consistent regulatory

frameworks based on licensing of firearm owners and
registration of guns. States should implement basic anti-traf-
ficking measures, in particular one-gun-a-month laws.

5. States should close the loopholes between the regulation

of primary and secondary sales, by requiring the same age
limits and background checks for new and used guns.

6. Leading state legislators on the issue of gun violence

prevention from all 50 states should form a national network
to coordinate efforts and develop model legislation.

7. Researchers should conduct well-designed studies to

evaluate various gun laws and assess the role of implementa-
tion and other factors in their effectiveness.

12 Gun Control in the United States

GUN CONTROL IN THE UNITED STATES
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