Gun Control Act of 1968
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| Other short titles | State Firearms Control Assistance Act |
|---|---|
| Long title | An Act to amend title 18, United States Code, to provide for better control of the interstate traffic in firearms. |
| Acronyms(colloquial) | GCA, GCA68 |
| Enacted by | the 90th United States Congress |
| Effective | October 22, 1968 |
| Citations | |
| Public Law | 90-618 |
| Statutes at Large | 82 Stat. 1213-2 |
| Codification | |
| Titles amended | 18 U.S.C.: Crimes and Criminal Procedure |
| U.S.C. sections amended | 18 U.S.C. ch. 44 § 921 |
| Legislative history | |
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| Major amendments | |
The Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA or GCA68) is a U.S. federal law that regulates the firearms industry and firearms owners. It primarily focuses on regulating interstate commerce in firearms by generally prohibiting interstate firearms transfers except among licensed manufacturers, dealers and importers.
The GCA was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on October 22, 1968, and is Title I of the U.S. federal firearms laws. The National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) is Title II. Both GCA and NFA are enforced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Contents
History
Passage of the Gun Control Act was prompted by the assassinations of: U.S. President John F. Kennedy in 1963; Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X in 1965; the 1966 University of Texas mass shootings, Martin Luther King, Jr. in April 1968; and U.S. SenatorRobert F. Kennedy in June 1968. President Kennedy was shot and killed with a rifle purchased by mail-order from an ad in anNational Rifle Association (NRA) publication. Congressional hearings followed and a ban on mail-order gun sales was discussed, with support from the NRA, but no law was passed.[1][2][3][4][5]
The deaths of Robert Kennedy and King occurred after the Act’s introduction as a bill, but before it had been passed by either the House or Senate. On June 11, 1968, a tie vote in the House Judiciary Committee halted the bill’s passage.[6] On reconsideration nine days later, the bill was passed by the committee. The Senate Judiciary Committee similarly brought the bill to a temporary halt, but as in the House, it was passed on reconsideration.[7]
H.R. 17735, the Gun Control Act of 1968, was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on October 22, 1968.[8]
Precursors of the Gun Control Act of 1968 were 1963’s Senate Bill 1975, “A Bill to Regulate the Interstate Shipment of Firearms,” and 1965’s Senate Bill 1592, “A Bill to Amend the Federal Firearms Act of 1938.” Both were introduced by Senator Thomas J. Dodd and both died in committee.[9]
Prohibited persons
Under the GCA, selling of firearms to certain categories of individuals is prohibited. As quoted from 18 U.S.C. 922 (d):
It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or otherwise dispose of any firearm or ammunition to any person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that such person— (1) is under indictment for, or has been convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year; (2) is a fugitive from justice; (3) is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)); (4) has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution; (5) who, being an alien— (A) is illegally or unlawfully in the United States; or (B) except as provided in subsection (y)(2), has been admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa (as that term is defined in section 101(a)(26) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 (a)(26))); (6) who [2] has been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions; (7) who, having been a citizen of the United States, has renounced his citizenship; (8) is subject to a court order that restrains such person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner of such person or child of such intimate partner or person, or engaging in other conduct that would place an intimate partner in reasonable fear of bodily injury to the partner or child, except that this paragraph shall only apply to a court order that— (A) was issued after a hearing of which such person received actual notice, and at which such person had the opportunity to participate; and (B) (i) includes a finding that such person represents a credible threat to the physical safety of such intimate partner or child; or (ii) by its terms explicitly prohibits the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against such intimate partner or child that would reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury; or (9) has been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
Exceptions as quoted from 18 U.S.C. 921 (a)(33)(B):
(ii) A person shall not be considered to have been convicted of such an offense for purposes of this chapter if the conviction has been expunged or set aside, or is an offense for which the person has been pardoned or has had civil rights restored (if the law of the applicable jurisdiction provides for the loss of civil rights under such an offense) unless the pardon, expungement, or restoration of civil rights expressly provides that the person may not ship, transport, possess, or receive firearms.
Many states automatically reinstate gun ownership rights upon completion of sentence.[citation needed] Some states reinstate rights depending on the crime convicted of, and others have a petition process. Those convicted of a federal offense must contact the Office of the Pardon Attorney, Department of Justice, to receive a presidential pardon. Under the Department’s rules governing petitions for executive clemency, 28 C.F.R. §§ 1.1 et seq., an applicant must satisfy a minimum waiting period of five years before he becomes eligible to apply for a presidential pardon of his federal conviction.
According to a 21 Sep 2011 “Open Letter to All Federal Firearms Licensees” from ATF, holders of state-issued medical marijuana cards are automatically “prohibited persons” under 18 U.S.C 922 (g)(3) and “shipping, transporting, receiving or possessing firearms or ammunition” by a medical marijuana card holder is a violation.[10]
Additionally, 18 U.S.C 922 (x) generally prohibits persons under 18 years of age from possessing handguns or handgun ammunition with certain exceptions for employment, target practice, education, and a handgun possessed while defending the home of the juvenile or a home in which they are an invited guest.[11]
The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 created the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to prevent firearms sales to such prohibited persons.
Federal Firearms License (FFL) system
The Gun Control Act mandated the licensing of individuals and companies engaged in the business of selling firearms. This provision effectively prohibited the direct mail order of firearms (except antique firearms) by consumers and mandated that anyone who wants to buy a gun in an interstate transaction 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. The interstate purchase of long guns (rifles and shotguns) was not impeded by the Act so long as the seller is federally licensed and such a sale 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 a licensed dealer, 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 unlicensed individuals who are residents of the same state are allowed under federal law so long as such transfers do not violate the other existing federal and state laws. While current law mandates that a background check be performed if the seller has a federal firearms license, private parties living in the same state are not required to perform such checks under federal law. However, state laws can prohibit such sales.
A person who does not have a Federal Firearms License may not be in the business of buying or selling firearms. Individuals buying and selling firearms without a federal license must be doing so from their own personal collection.
Under the Gun Control Act, a federally licensed importer, manufacturer, dealer or collector shall not sell or deliver any rifle or shotgun or ammunition for rifle or shotgun to any individual less than 18 years of age, nor any handgun or ammunition for a handgun to any individual less than 21 years of age. [12]
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 (such as United Parcel Service-UPS, United States Postal Service orFedEx) to a gunsmith (who 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 gun directly back to the customer.
Import restrictions
The 1968 Gun Control Act added a “sporting purpose” test which barred imports of military surplus rifles (a goal of many domestic gun makers) and a “points system” for imported handguns which barred from importation handguns based on penalizing features (short barrels, small caliber, short overall length or height, non-adjustable sights, etc.) believed to define the Saturday night special class of handgun.
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 Gun Control Act and firearms manufactured by non-FFLs remain exempt from the serial number requirement. Defacement or removal of the serial number (if present) is a felony offense.
Criticism
In his remarks upon signing the act in October 1968, Johnson said: “The voices that blocked these safeguards were not the voices of an aroused nation. They were the voices of a powerful lobby, a gun lobby, that has prevailed for the moment in an election year.”[8]
In a June 1966 essay, Neal Knox wrote that what was then called the Dodd Bill was opposed by outdoorsmen and conservationists Harry R. Woodward, C. R. Gutermuth of the Wildlife Management Institute, Richard H. Stroud of the Sport Fishing Institute, Howard Carter Jr. of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, E. C. Hadley of the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute, Robert T. Dennis of the Izaak Walton League, “and countless other sportsmen, and sportsmen and industry groups” because it would have a far-reaching and damaging effect on the hunting and shooting sports, while failing to reduce crime.[13]
The NRA opposed some of the Act’s restrictions, while supporting others such as those forbidding the selling of firearms to convicted criminals and the mentally ill.[citation needed] The NRA’s Executive Vice President, Franklin Orth, wrote in the The American Rifleman that “the measure as a whole appears to be one that the sportsmen of America can live with”.[14][15] In a 2011 article noting the death of former U.S. Senator James A. McClure, the NRA called provisions of the GCA “draconian.”[16] (McClure was cosponsor of the Firearm Owners Protection Act(FOPA) of 1986, also called the McClure-Volkmer Act.)[16]
The GCA created what is known as the “sporting purposes” standard for imported firearms, saying that they must “be generally recognized as particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes.” GCA sporting purposes includes hunting and organized competitive target shooting, but does not include “plinking” or “practical shooting” (which the ATF says is closer to police/combat-style competition and not comparable to more traditional types of sports), nor does it allow for collection for historical or design interest.[17][18]:16-18 Hence, foreign made assault rifles and machine guns such as the AK-47, the FN FAL or the Heckler & Koch MP5 could no longer be imported into the United States for civilian ownership (however, semi-automatic models of the same guns were permitted until the definition of sporting purpose was further tightened in 1989). The fact that domestic production and sale of guns identical to those prohibited from import remains legal under 18 U.S.C. 922(r), without any need to conform to the sporting purposes standard, has also led to criticism that the GCA is more a matter of economic protectionism for the benefit of U.S. firearms industry than a genuine effort to curtail gun violence.[citation needed]
Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO) compared the GCA to Nazi gun laws.[19][20]
See also
References
- Jump up^ Bugliosi, Vincent (2007). Reclaiming History: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy. W.W. Norton & Co. p. 200. ISBN 978-0-393-04525-3. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
- Jump up^ Michaud, Jon (April 19, 2012). “The Birth of the Modern Gun Debate”. The New Yorker(Condé Nast). Retrieved July 6, 2014.
- Jump up^ Rosenfeld, Steven (January 14, 2013). “The NRA once supported gun control”. Salon(Salon Media Group). Retrieved July 7, 2014.
- Jump up^ “U.S. gun control: A history of tragedy, legislative action”. CBS Interactive. April 13, 2013. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
- Jump up^ Dolak, Kevin (November 21, 2013). “Gun Debate Spurred by Kennedy Assassination Rages on Today”. ABC News Internet Ventures. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
- Jump up^ Finney, John W. (June 12, 1968). “Gun Control Bill Blocked In House; Panel Deadlocks on Johnson Plan to Curb Rifle Sales – New Vote Is Scheduled”. New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved March 16, 2011.
- Jump up^ Finney, John W. (June 21, 1968). “Senate Due To Act Today; House Unit Votes Gun Bill, But Senate Panel Delays It House Committee Vote”. New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved March 16, 2011.
- ^ Jump up to:a b Johnson, Lyndon B. (October 22, 1968). “553 – Remarks Upon Signing the Gun Control Act of 1968.”. presidency.ucsb.edu. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project.
- Jump up^ “Sources for Connecticut’s role in the gun control debate”.http://doddcenter.uconn.edu. University of Connecticut. 2014. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
- Jump up^ Herbert, Arthur (September 26, 2011). “Open Letter to All Federal Firearms Licensees”.atf.gov. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Archived from the original on February 16, 2013.
- Jump up^ “18 U.S. Code § 922 – Unlawful acts”. law.cornell.edu. Legal Information Institute (LII).
- Jump up^ “Federal Firearms Regulations Reference Guide 2005”. 2005. Archived from the original on December 31, 2009.
- Jump up^ Knox, Neal (2009) [1966]. “The Dodd Bill Both Fact … and Fantasy”. In Knox, Chris. The Gun Rights War: Dispatches from the Front Lines. MacFarlane. ISBN 9780976863304.
- Jump up^ Waldman, Michael (2014). The Second Amendment: A Biography. Simon and Schuster.ISBN 9781476747460. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
- Jump up^ Achenbach, Joel; Higham, Scott; Horwitz, Sari (12 January 2013). “How NRA’s true believers converted a marksmanship group into a mighty gun lobby”. The Washington Post. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
- ^ Jump up to:a b Norell, James O. E. (2011). “Passing of a Legend”. nrapublications.org. National Rifle Association. Archived from the original on May 6, 2012. Retrieved July 5, 2014.
- Jump up^ Defining the type of weapon under review, The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives
- Jump up^ “Department of the Treasury Study on the Sporting Suitability of Modified Semiautomatic Assault Rifles”. atf.gov. April 1998. Retrieved July 5, 2014.
- Jump up^ Knox, Neal (2009) [1993]. “JPFO Proves Me Wrong”. In Knox, Chris. The Gun Rights War: Dispatches from the Front Lines. MacFarlane. ISBN 9780976863304.OCLC 423586835.
- Jump up^ Winkler, Adam (2011). Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America. Norton. ISBN 9780393077414.
Further reading
- Zimring, Frank (1968). “Is Gun Control Likely to Reduce Violent Killings?”. The University of Chicago Law Review 35 (4): 721–737. doi:10.2307/1598883. JSTOR 1598883.OCLC 65016157.
- Hahn, Robert A.; Bilukha, Oleg; Crosby, Alex; Fullilove, Mindy T.; Liberman, Akiva; Moscicki, Eve; Snyder, Susan; Tuma, Farris et al. (2005). “Firearms laws and the reduction of violence”. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 28 (2): 40–71. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2004.10.005. PMID 15698747.
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