1968 Gun Control Act
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| Other short titles | State Firearms Control Assistance Act |
|---|---|
| Long title | An Act to amend title 18, United States Code, to provide for better control of the interstate traffic in firearms. |
| Acronyms (colloquial) | GCA, GCA68 |
| Enacted by | the 90th United States Congress |
| Effective | October 22, 1968 |
| Citations | |
| Public law | 90-618 |
| Statutes at Large | 82 Stat. 1213-2 |
| Codification | |
| Titles amended | 18 U.S.C.: Crimes and Criminal Procedure |
| U.S.C. sections amended | 18 U.S.C. ch. 44 § 921 |
| Legislative history | |
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| Major amendments | |
The Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA or GCA68) is a U.S. federal law that regulates the firearms industry and firearms owners. It primarily focuses on regulating interstate commerce in firearms by generally prohibiting interstate firearms transfers except among licensed manufacturers, dealers and importers.
The GCA was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on October 22, 1968, and is Title I of the U.S. federal firearms laws. The National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) is Title II. Both GCA and NFA are enforced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Passage of the Gun Control Act was initially prompted by the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy in 1963. The President was shot and killed with a rifle purchased by mail-order from an ad in National Rifle Association (NRA) magazine American Rifleman. Congressional hearings followed and a ban on mail-order gun sales was discussed, but no law was passed until 1968. At the hearings NRA Executive Vice-President Franklin Orth supported a ban on mail-order sales, stating, "We do not think that any sane American, who calls himself an American, can object to placing into this bill the instrument which killed the president of the United States."
Precursors of the passage of the Gun Control Act were Senate Bill 1975 in 1963, "A Bill to Regulate the Interstate Shipment of Firearms," and Senate Bill 1592 in 1965, "A Bill to Amend the Federal Firearms Act of 1938." Both were introduced by Senator Thomas J. Dodd and met with fierce opposition on the floor but the bills also paved the way for the creation of the Gun Control Act of 1968.
The deaths of Martin Luther King, Jr. in April 1968 and U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy in June 1968 renewed efforts to pass the bill. On June 11, 1968, a tie vote in the House Judiciary Committee halted the bill's passage. On reconsideration nine days later, the bill was passed by the committee. The Senate Judiciary Committee similarly brought the bill to a temporary halt, but as in the House, it was passed on reconsideration. House Resolution 17735, known as the Gun Control Act, was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on October 22, 1968 banning mail order sales of rifles and shotguns and prohibiting most felons, drug users and people found mentally incompetent from buying guns.
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