GUN CONTROL
Government regulation of the manufacture, sale,
and possession of firearms.
The SECOND AMENDMENT to the U.S. Con-
stitution is at the heart of the issue of gun con-
trol. The Second Amendment declares that, “A
well regulated Militia, being necessary to the
security of a free State, the right of the people to
keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
To many, the language of the amendment
appears to grant to the people the absolute right
to bear arms. However, the U.S. Supreme Court
has held that the amendment merely protects
the right of states to form a state militia (United
States v. Miller, 307 U.S. 174, 59 S. Ct. 816, 83
L. Ed. 1206 [1939]).
Even before the Miller opinion interpreted
the Second Amendment in 1939, Congress,
state legislatures, and local governing bodies
were passing laws that restricted the right to
bear arms. Kentucky passed the first state legis-
lation prohibiting the carrying of concealed
weapons, in 1813. By 1993, firearms were regu-
lated by approximately 23,000 federal, state, and
local laws.
State and local firearms laws vary widely.
Thirteen states prohibit only the carrying of con-
cealed handguns. At the other end of the spec-
trum, three Chicago suburbs—Morton Grove,
Oak Park, and Evanston—ban handgun owner-
ship outright. Generally, firearms regulations are
more restrictive in large metropolitan areas.
State and local firearms laws and ordinances
include outright bans of certain firearms, prohi-
bitions on the alteration of certain firearms, and
restrictions on the advertising of guns. State
gun-control laws also address the theft of hand-
guns, the inheritance of firearms, the use of
firearms as collateral for loans, the possession of
firearms by ALIENS, the discharge of firearms in
public areas, and the alteration of serial num-
bers or other identifying marks on firearms.
States generally base their power to control
firearms on the police-power provisions of their
constitutions, which grant to the states the right
to enact laws for public safety.
Congress derives its power to regulate
firearms in the COMMERCE CLAUSE, in Article I,
Section 8, Clause 3, of the U.S. Constitution.
Under the Commerce Clause, Congress may
regulate commercial activity between the states
and commerce with foreign countries. In
reviewing federal legislation enacted pursuant to
the Commerce Clause, the U.S. Supreme Court
has given Congress tremendous leeway. Con-
gress may enact criminal statutes regarding
firearms if the activity at issue relates to inter-
state transactions, affects interstate commerce,
or is such that control is necessary and proper to
carry out the intent of the Commerce Clause.
In 1927, Congress passed the Mailing of
Firearms Act, 18 U.S.C.A. § 1715, which banned
the shipping of concealable handguns through
the mail. Congress followed this with the
NATIONAL FIREARMS ACT OF 1934 (ch. 757, 48
Stat. 1236–1240 [26 U.S.C.A. § 1132 et seq.]),
which placed heavy taxes on the manufacture
and distribution of firearms. One year later,
Congress prohibited unlicensed manufacturers
and dealers from shipping firearms across state
borders, with the Federal Firearms Act of 1938
(ch. 850, § 2(f), 52 Stat. 1250, 1251).
In 1968, after the assassinations of President
JOHN F. KENNEDY, CIVIL RIGHTS activists MAL-
COLM X and MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. , and Sen-
ator ROBERT F. KENNEDY, Congress responded
to the public outcry by passing the Gun Control
Act of 1968 (GCA) (Pub. L. No. 90-615, § 102,
82 Stat. 1214 [codified at 18 U.S.C.A. §§ 921–
928]). This act repealed the Federal Firearms Act
