Gun Control Act of 1968 explained

Gun Control Act of 1968
Othershorttitles:State Firearms Control Assistance Act
Fullname:An Act to amend title 18, United States Code, to provide for better control of the interstate traffic in firearms.
Acronym:GCA, GCA68
Enacted By:90th
Effective Date:October 22, 1968
Public Law Url:http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-82/pdf/STATUTE-82-Pg1213-2.pdf
Cite Public Law:90-618
Title Amended:18 U.S.C.: Crimes and Criminal Procedure
Sections Amended: § 921
Introducedin:House
Introducedby:Emanuel Celler (DNY)
Introduceddate:June 10, 1968
Committees:House Judiciary
Passedbody1:House
Passeddate1:July 24, 1968
Passedvote1:305-118
Passedbody2:Senate
Passeddate2:September 18, 1968
Passedvote2:70-17, in lieu of S. 3633
Conferencedate:October 10, 1968
Passedbody3:House
Passeddate3:October 10, 1968
Passedvote3:161-129
Passedbody4:Senate
Signedpresident:Lyndon B. Johnson
Signeddate:October 22, 1968
Amendments:

The Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA or GCA68) is a U.S. federal law that regulates the firearms industry and firearms ownership. Due to constitutional limitations, the Act is primarily based on regulating interstate commerce in firearms by generally prohibiting interstate firearms transfers except by manufacturers, dealers and importers licensed under a scheme set up under the Act.

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).

18 USC was first enacted by the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. GCA repealed the Federal Firearms Act of 1938, though many of its provisions were reenacted as part of the GCA, which revised the FFA and its predecessor, the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA).[1]

History

The bill was initially prompted by the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy in 1963.[2] The President was shot and killed with a rifle purchased by mail order from an ad in the magazine American Rifleman.[3] Congressional hearings followed and a ban on mail-order gun sales was discussed, but no law was passed until 1968. At the hearings NRA Executive Vice-President Franklin Orth supported a ban on mail-order sales, stating, "We do not think that any sane American, who calls himself an American, can object to placing into this bill the instrument which killed the president of the United States."[4] [5]

Precursors of the passage of the Gun Control Act were Senate Bill 1975 in 1963, "A Bill to Regulate the Interstate Shipment of Firearms", and Senate Bill 1592 in 1965, "A Bill to Amend the Federal Firearms Act of 1938". Both were introduced by Senator Thomas J. Dodd and met with fierce opposition on the floor but the bills also paved the way for the creation of the Gun Control Act of 1968.[6] [7]

The April 4, 1968, assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., shortly followed by the June 5 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, as well as the shooting at the University of Texas two years previously, compounded by shifting societal attitudes towards gun ownership, renewed efforts to pass the bill.[4] On June 11, 1968, a tie vote in the House Judiciary Committee halted the bill's passage.[8] 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.[9] House Resolution 17735, known as the Gun Control Act, was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on October 22, 1968[10] banning mail order sales of rifles and shotguns and prohibiting most felons, drug users, and people found mentally incompetent from buying guns.[11] [12]

Prohibited persons

The Gun Control Act of 1968 was amended in 1993 by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act which introduced a background check requirement of prospective gun purchasers by licensed sellers, and created a list of categories of individuals to whom the sale of firearms is prohibited:[13] It would also be amended again in 1994 by the Violence Against Women Act to strengthen firearm bans against domestic abusers.[14]

With the following exceptions:[15]

(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.

18 U.S.C 922 (3) imposes punishment for being a drug addict, which was found to be unconstitutional by SCOTUS in Robinson v. California in 1962. While many states upon completion of sentence automatically reinstate rights to vote, sit on a jury, or serve in public office, no states restore gun ownership rights upon completion of sentence.[16] 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 the ATF, holders of state-issued medical marijuana cards are automatically "prohibited people" 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.[17]

Additionally, 18 U.S.C 922 (x) generally prohibits people 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.[18]

The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 created the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to prevent firearms sales to such prohibited people.

The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 strengthened bans against domestic abusers by enforcing domestic violence protection orders which barred people subject to family violence protection orders from having firearms.

Federal Firearms License (FFL) system

See main article: Federal Firearms License.

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.

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.[19]

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 or FedEx) 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 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.[20] [21]

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 gun 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) became a felony offense under the law where previously no serial number was required.

Commentary

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.[22]

In his remarks upon signing the act in October 1968, Johnson said:

Congress adopted most of our recommendations. But this bill—as big as this bill is—still falls short, because we just could not get the Congress to carry out the requests we made of them. I asked for the national registration of all guns and the licensing of those who carry those guns. For the fact of life is that there are over 160 million guns in this country—more firearms than families. If guns are to be kept out of the hands of the criminal, out of the hands of the insane, and out of the hands of the irresponsible, then we just must have licensing. If the criminal with a gun is to be tracked down quickly, then we must have registration in this country. 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.[10]

At the time of its passage in 1968, NRA executive vice president Franklin Orth wrote in American Rifleman that "the measure as a whole appears to be one that the sportsmen of America can live with".[23] [24]

In the May 1993 issue of Guns & Ammo magazine, Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO) compared the GCA to Nazi gun laws.[25] [26]

In a 2011 article noting the death of former U.S. Senator James A. McClure, the NRA called provisions of the GCA "draconian".[27] McClure was cosponsor of the Firearm Owners Protection Act (FOPA) of 1986, also called the McClure-Volkmer Act.[27]

Political scientist Robert Spitzer wrote in 2011 that the Gun Control Act of 1968 "provides an ideal case study to highlight the political processes affecting a direct effort to regulate firearms".[28] He also stated in his book that President Johnson's proposal called for national registration of all guns as well as licensing for all gun carriers,[10] but his influence over the enacted law was small.[28] House Rules Committee chair William Colmer only released H.R. 17735 to the floor after Judiciary Committee chair Emanuel Celler promised to oppose efforts to add licensing and registration provisions.[29]

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Key Congressional Acts Related to Firearms . . May 21, 2012 . smartgunlaws.org . Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence . July 6, 2014 .
  2. Michaud . Jon . April 19, 2012 . The Birth of the Modern Gun Debate . The New Yorker.
  3. Book: Bugliosi, Vincent . 2007 . Reclaiming History: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy . W.W. Norton & Co. . 200 . 978-0-393-04525-3.
  4. News: Rosenfeld . Steven . January 14, 2013 . The NRA once supported gun control . Salon. Salon Media Group . July 7, 2014 .
  5. Book: Davidson, Osha Gray . 1998 . Under Fire: The NRA and the Battle for Gun Control . University of Iowa Press . 30 . 978-1-58729-042-8.
  6. Web site: . 2014 . Sources for Connecticut's role in the gun control debate . University of Connecticut . July 7, 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140707222435/http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/research/gun_control.htm . July 7, 2014.
  7. Web site: Common Sense. 10 June 2016. 7 June 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160607210656/http://jpfo.org/common-sense/cs34.htm. dead.
  8. News: 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 . 1 . New York Times.
  9. News: Finney . John W. . June 21, 1968 . Senate Due To Act Today; House Unit Votes Gun Bill, But Senate Panel Delays It House Committee Vote . 1 . New York Times.
  10. Web site: 553 – Remarks Upon Signing the Gun Control Act of 1968. . Johnson . Lyndon B. . October 22, 1968 . presidency.ucsb.edu . Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. . October 9, 2013 . September 9, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180909202137/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29197 . dead .
  11. News: Dolak . Kevin . November 21, 2013 . Gun Debate Spurred by Kennedy Assassination Rages on Today . ABC News Internet Ventures . July 7, 2014 .
  12. News: . April 13, 2013 . U.S. gun control: A history of tragedy, legislative action . CBS Interactive . July 7, 2014 .
  13. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/922 18 U.S.C. 922 (d)
  14. News: Supreme Court Upholds Law Disarming Domestic Abusers. Nina. Martin. Mother Jones. June 21, 2024. June 21, 2024.
  15. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/921#a_33_B_ii 18 U.S.C. 921 (a)(33)(B)
  16. Web site: October 1996 . Civil Disabilities of Convicted Felons: A State-by-State Survey . Department of Justice.
  17. Web site: 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 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130216212205/http://www.atf.gov/press/releases/2011/09/092611-atf-open-letter-to-all-ffls-marijuana-for-medicinal-purposes.pdf . February 16, 2013.
  18. Web site: 18 U.S. Code § 922 – Unlawful acts . . law.cornell.edu . Legal Information Institute (LII).
  19. Web site: Federal Firearms Regulations Reference Guide 2005 . . 2005. https://web.archive.org/web/20091231162211/http://www.atf.gov/publications/download/p/atf-p-5300-4.pdf . December 31, 2009.
  20. Web site: Defining the type of weapon under review, The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives . 2007-05-10 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080920043945/http://atf.treas.gov/pub/treas_pub/assault_rifles/typscope.pdf . 2008-09-20 . dead .
  21. Web site: Department of the Treasury Study on the Sporting Suitability of Modified Semiautomatic Assault Rifles . . April 1998 . atf.gov.
  22. Book: Knox, Neal . Neal Knox . 2009 . 1966 . The Dodd Bill Both Fact ... and Fantasy . https://books.google.com/books?id=dA3pGSYG2yIC&pg=PA51 . Knox . Chris . The Gun Rights War: Dispatches from the Front Lines . MacFarlane . 9780976863304 .
  23. Book: Waldman . Michael . The Second Amendment: A Biography . 2014 . Simon and Schuster . 978-1-4767-4746-0 .
  24. News: Achenbach . Joel . Higham . Scott . Horwitz . Sari . How NRA's true believers converted a marksmanship group into a mighty gun lobby . 6 July 2014 . The Washington Post . 12 January 2013.
  25. Book: Knox, Neal . Neal Knox . 2009 . 1993 . JPFO Proves Me Wrong . https://books.google.com/books?id=dA3pGSYG2yIC&pg=PA285 . Knox . Chris . The Gun Rights War: Dispatches from the Front Lines . MacFarlane . 9780976863304 . 423586835.
  26. Book: Winkler, Adam . Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America . 2011 . Norton . 9780393077414 .
  27. Web site: Passing of a Legend . Norell . James O. E. . 2011 . nrapublications.org . National Rifle Association . https://web.archive.org/web/20120506212824/http://www.nrapublications.org/index.php/9222/passing-of-a-legend/ . May 6, 2012 . July 5, 2014 .
  28. Book: Spitzer, Robert J. . 2011 . Gun Control: Constitutional Mandate or Myth? . https://books.google.com/books?id=NT50S7-X0jMC&pg=PA175 . Tatalovich . Raymond . Daynes . Byron W. . Moral Controversies in American Politics . 175 . M.E. Sharpe . 9780765627452 .
  29. Book: Spitzer, Robert J. . 2011 . Gun Control: Constitutional Mandate or Myth? . https://books.google.com/books?id=NT50S7-X0jMC&pg=PA176 . Tatalovich . Raymond . Daynes . Byron W. . Moral Controversies in American Politics . 176 . M.E. Sharpe . 9780765627452 .