Gun Control Act

The Gun Control Act (GCA) of 1968 is a US federal law that regulates interstate and foreign commerce in firearms, including importation, “prohibited persons”, and licensing provisions.

The 1968 US Supreme Court decision in Haynes v. United States made the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934 unenforceable. In this case, the Court held that the registration requirement of the NFA violated the United States Constitution’s Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. What was happening is when a possessor of an NFA defined firearm registered with the Federal Government, the Feds could tell the State Government and the States could then prosecute the possessor of the NFA defined firearm for violating State law. Thus, in effect making them tell on themselves. 1

In order to ‘fix’ the NFA, on 22 Oct 1968, the Gun Control Act (GCA) of 1968 was approved.  The Title II amendment of the GCA removed the requirement for possessors of unregistered NFA firearms to register and added a provision prohibiting the use of any information from an NFA application/registration as evidence against the person in a criminal proceeding. In the 1971 US Supreme Court case United States v. Freed the Court held that the GCA cured the Constitutional defect in the NFA. 2

The GCA also amended the NFA definition of a firearm by adding destructive devices and expanding the definition of a machinegun. 3

More information regarding the GCA is available in the Federal Firearms Regulations Reference Guide which is available by free download (.PDF) from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) website.

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footnotes/sources:

  1. National Firearms Act Handbook. ⇒ U.S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Office of Enforcement Programs and Services, 2009. p. 1.
  2. National Firearms Act Handbook. ⇒ U.S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Office of Enforcement Programs and Services, 2009. p. 1.
  3. National Firearms Act Handbook. ⇒ U.S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Office of Enforcement Programs and Services, 2009. p. 2.

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