<P> The right to keep and bear arms is protected by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution . </P> <P> Most federal gun laws are found in the following acts: </P> <Ul> <Li> National Firearms Act ("NFA") (1934): Taxes the manufacture and transfer of, and mandates the registration of Title II weapons such as machine guns, short - barreled rifles and shotguns, heavy weapons, explosive ordnance, silencers, and disguised or improvised firearms . </Li> <Li> Federal Firearms Act of 1938 ("FFA"): Requires that gun manufacturers, importers, and persons in the business of selling firearms have a Federal Firearms License (FFL). Prohibits the transfer of firearms to certain classes of persons, such as convicted felons . </Li> <Li> Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (1968): Prohibited interstate trade in handguns, increased the minimum age to 21 for buying handguns . </Li> <Li> Gun Control Act of 1968 ("GCA"): Focuses primarily on regulating interstate commerce in firearms by generally prohibiting interstate firearms transfers except among licensed manufacturers, dealers and importers . </Li> <Li> Firearm Owners Protection Act ("FOPA") (1986): Revised and partially repealed the Gun Control Act of 1968 . Prohibited the sale to civilians of automatic firearms manufactured after the date of the law's passage . Required ATF approval of transfers of automatic firearms . </Li> <Li> Undetectable Firearms Act (1988): Effectively criminalizes, with a few exceptions, the manufacture, importation, sale, shipment, delivery, possession, transfer, or receipt of firearms with less than 3.7 oz of metal content . </Li> <Li> Gun - Free School Zones Act (1990): Prohibits unauthorized individuals from knowingly possessing a firearm at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone . </Li> <Li> Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (1993): Requires background checks on most firearm purchasers, depending on seller and venue . </Li> <Li> Federal Assault Weapons Ban (1994--2004): Banned semiautomatics that looked like assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices . The law expired in 2004 . </Li> <Li> Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (2005): Prevent firearms manufacturers and licensed dealers from being held liable for negligence when crimes have been committed with their products . </Li> </Ul> <Li> National Firearms Act ("NFA") (1934): Taxes the manufacture and transfer of, and mandates the registration of Title II weapons such as machine guns, short - barreled rifles and shotguns, heavy weapons, explosive ordnance, silencers, and disguised or improvised firearms . </Li>

When was the last federal gun law passed