Criminal Law & Procedure: Criminal Offenses: Weapons: Trafficking

There are several federal laws that regulate firearms traffic into, from, and within the United States. Those federal laws include the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA), the National Firearms Act (NFA), and the Arms Export Control Act (AECA). The Department of the Treasury has the authority to administer and to enforce these laws. The Secretary of the Treasury has delegated responsibility for the enforcement of the GCA and the NFA to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). The Secretary has delegated responsibility for the enforcement of the AECA to the United States Customs Service (UCSC).

The GCA was enacted in order to keep firearms from persons who are not legally entitled to possess firearms. Such persons include those who are juveniles, who have been convicted of a criminal offense, or who are incompetent. The GCA was also enacted in order to make state firearms laws more effective by requiring interstate commerce in firearms to go through firearms dealers who are federally licensed and by requiring intrastate firearms transactions by unlicensed persons to be regulated by state law.

The GCA was amended in 1993 by the Brady Law. The Brady Law provided that a five-day waiting period was required for the transfer of a handgun by a federal firearms licensee to a nonlicensee. The five-day waiting period was enacted in order to provide state and local law enforcement officials with an opportunity to perform a criminal background check on the nonlicensee before the handgun was sold to the nonlicensee. The five-day waiting period under the Brady Law expired in 1998. The waiting period was replaced with a national instant-check system (NICS). The NICS is now used in all transactions involving firearms sales.

The NFA requires makers, manufacturers, and importers of firearms to register certain types of firearms. Such firearms include machine guns, short-barrel rifles, short-barrel shotguns, silencers, and destructive devices. Destructive devices include explosives, incendiaries, poison gas, bombs, and grenades. The NFA also imposes taxes on transactions involving these types of firearms.

Possession of an unregistered firearm that is listed under the NFA is a federal criminal offense. A person who is possession of an unregistered firearm may be subject to criminal prosecution. The unregistered firearm is also subject to seizure and forfeiture by the United States government. However, in order to convict a person of the offense, the government must prove that the person knew of the features or characteristics that brought the firearm within the meaning of the NFA.

The AECA gives the President of the United States authority to control imports and exports of "defense articles" in order to promote world peace and the security and foreign policy of the United States. "Defense articles" under the AECA include firearms and ammunition. The AECA requires importers and exporters of such articles to obtain permits and licenses. It also prohibits imports and exports of these articles to and from certain countries. Although the Department of the Treasury and the ATF regulate imports of these articles into the United States, the State Department and the UCSC enforce exports of the articles from the United States.

Other federal laws contain provisions that prohibit certain conduct regarding firearms and ammunition. Such laws prohibit the making of any false statement or the furnishing of false identification in order to acquire a firearm or ammunition from a licensed dealer; the manufacture, importation, and sale of armor piercing ammunition by manufacturers and importers; the theft of firearms; the transportation, sale, or possession of stolen firearms or ammunition; the transportation, sale, or possession of firearms with serial numbers that have been scratched out or removed; the possession of firearms in a school zone; the sale or transfer of a handgun to a juvenile; the possession of a handgun by a juvenile; the use or carrying of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence or to a drug trafficking crime; the illegal exporting of shotguns and shotgun ammunition; the smuggling of goods into the United States; and the entry of goods into the United States by the use of false statements or false classifications.

Copyright 2006 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.