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Summary of State Firearm Transfer Laws, December 31, 2013

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Summary of State Firearm Transfer Laws, December 31, 2013 The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and prepared the following final report: Document Title: Summary of State Firearm Transfer Laws, December 31, 2013 Author(s): Ronald J. Frandsen Document No.: 248657 Date Received: February 2015 Award Number: 2011-BJ-CX-K017 This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this federally funded grant report available electronically. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Summary of State Firearm Transfer Laws December 31, 2013 Prepared by Ronald J. Frandsen Regional Justice Information Service 4255 West Pine Boulevard St. Louis, Missouri 63108 February, 2015 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Contents Introduction iii Background iii Glossary iv Topics included in the summaries vi Jurisdictional summaries 1 Index to Tables and Appendix 109 Summary of State Firearm Transfer Laws, December 31, 2013 ii This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Introduction This report describes laws that regulate transfers of firearms and were in effect as of December 31, 2013. Summaries are included for the United States (federal law), the 50 states, and the District of Columbia. Topics covered include permits, background checks, waiting periods, prohibited persons, and other types of firearm transfer laws. A series of tables categorizes the laws in effect on December 31, 2013, and summarizes firearm transfer laws enacted in 2012 and 2013. Information for this report was compiled by the Regional Justice Information Service (REJIS) as part of the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ Firearm Inquiry Statistics (FIST) program. To ensure the accuracy of the information as of December 31, 2013, a draft of each jurisdiction's summary was sent to the agency that enforces or provides information on firearm laws for the jurisdiction. The final version of each summary, as contained in this report, was compiled after review by the appropriate agency. The summaries prepared for this publication should be used for general informational and educational purposes only. These summaries do not (and are not intended to) constitute legal advice. As such, readers are on notice that they should not rely on the information in the summaries as an alternative to legal advice from a qualified attorney. If you have questions regarding the subject matter covered by these summaries, you are advised to consult the state websites listed in the report and contact an appropriately qualified professional. Statistics on firearm background check activities conducted by federal, state, and local agencies may be found in the Background Checks for Firearm Transfers series (http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbse&sid=13). Summaries of firearm transfer laws in effect between 1996 and 2005 may be found in the Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales series (http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbse&sid=53). Background Prior to 1968, various state laws authorized firearm transfer permits and established categories of persons who were prohibited from receiving or possessing a firearm. In 1968, the federal Gun Control Act (GCA), 18 U.S.C. Chapter 44, established nationwide categories of prohibited persons. Over the next 25 years, several states enacted statutes that required a background check by a law enforcement agency on a person who attempted to obtain a firearm. In 1993, the permanent provisions of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Act), 18 U.S.C. 922(t), amended the GCA to provide a nationwide system for blocking transfers to prohibited persons. Existing state permit and background check laws remained in effect. The Brady Act established the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which began operations in 1998 and contains data on persons who are prohibited from receiving or possessing a firearm under federal or state law. Each state government determines the extent of its involvement in the NICS process. The NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 (NIAA), Pub. L. 110-180, amended the Brady Act to enhance federal agency reporting of records to NICS and provide incentives to states to submit complete information on persons prohibited from receiving or possessing firearms. In addition, many states have enacted statutes that authorize state agencies to participate in and contribute records to the NICS. Additional details on the GCA, the Brady Act, the NIAA, and similar state laws are provided in the jurisdictional summaries. Summary of State Firearm Transfer Laws, December 31, 2013 iii This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Glossary Assault weapon A semiautomatic firearm with a large-capacity magazine and special features common to military weapons. Antique firearm A firearm manufactured in or before 1898 or a replica thereof, provided it is not designed for using rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition; or any muzzle loading rifle, shotgun or pistol, which is designed to use black powder, or a black powder substitute, and which cannot use fixed ammunition. Curio or relic A firearm manufactured at least 50 years prior to the current date or certified by the curator of a municipal, State, or Federal museum, or that derives a substantial part of its monetary value from the fact that it is novel, rare, bizarre, or associated with some historical figure, period, or event. Firearm Any weapon that is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive. Handgun A firearm that has a short stock and is designed to be held and fired by the use of a single hand, such as a pistol or revolver. Long gun A firearm with a barrel extended to about 30 inches to improve accuracy and range, and commonly with a shoulder butt, designed to be fired with two hands, such as a rifle or shotgun. Machine gun (automatic firearm) A firearm that shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one bullet, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger. NICS Index A computerized database used exclusively for NICS checks which contains records of persons who are prohibited by federal or state law from receiving or possessing a firearm. Pistol A weapon originally designed, made, and intended to fire a projectile from a barrel when held in one hand, and having a chamber as an integral part of, or permanently aligned with, the bore, and a short stock designed to be gripped by one hand and at an angle to and extending below the line of the bore. Revolver A projectile weapon, of the pistol type, having a breech loading chambered cylinder so arranged that the cocking of the hammer or movement of the trigger rotates it and brings the next cartridge in line with the barrel for firing. Rifle A weapon, designed, made, and intended to be fired from the shoulder; and designed and made to use the energy of an explosive in a fixed metallic cartridge to fire only a single projectile through a rifled bore for each single pull of the trigger. Semi-automatic firearm A firearm that utilizes a portion of the energy of a firing cartridge to extract the fired cartridge case and chamber the next round, and which requires a separate pull of the trigger to fire each cartridge. Short-barreled rifle A rifle having one or more barrels less than 16 inches in length, and any weapon made from a rifle, whether by alteration, modification, or otherwise, if such weapon, as modified, has an overall length of less than 26 inches. Short-barreled shotgun A shotgun having one or more barrels less than 18 inches in length, and any weapon made from a shotgun, whether altered or modified, if such weapon has an overall length of less Summary of State Firearm Transfer Laws, December 31, 2013 iv This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. than 26 inches. Shotgun A weapon designed, made, and intended to be fired from the shoulder, and designed and made to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed shotgun shell to fire through a smooth bore either a number of ball shot or a single projectile for each pull of the trigger. Unsafe handgun (“Saturday night special” or “junk gun”) A handgun with a barrel length under 4 inches that is easily concealable and not effective for sporting or self-defense purposes due to its poor quality of construction, inaccuracy, and lack of essential safety features. Definitions are from or adapted from Federal and State Codes (a jurisdiction’s laws should be consulted for its specific definitions) Summary of State Firearm Transfer Laws, December 31, 2013 v This document is a research report submitted to the U.S.
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