Milsurp After Hours

I read this article in today's fishwrap. It goes on to explain the various jumble of gun laws over the entire US. The most striking thing is how most gun laws are in place because of State laws and not Federal laws. Now that there is a an uproar on the "assault" weapon and magazine size front I thought it was interesting to remark on how various are our laws in the country now.

http://photos.al.com/mobile-press-regis ... sejpg.html

Licensing:
There are 11 states that require a license or permit to acquire a gun. 4 States require permission to purchase any kind of gun. Hawii, Illinois, Massachusetts and New Jersey. 7 States license handguns only.....California, Connecticut, Iowa, Michigan, New York, N Carolina and Rhode Island.

Background Check:

5 states require background checks on arms sold by individuals who are not licensed dealers. California and Rhode Island require background checks on all sales. Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Maryland only require checks on certain weapons. Only 7 states require dealers to record firearm sales information.


Registration:

7 States require at least certain firearms. Hawaii and Washington DC require all firearms to be registered. California, Connecticut, Maryland and New Jersey require owners of assault weapons that have been grandfathered in , but otherwise banned, to be registered. Lousiana residents with long guns with shortened barrels as well as handguns with unreadable serial numbers must register them. 9 states expressly forbid the creation of a registry for some or all types of guns.

High Capacity Magazines

7 States have banned high capacity Magazines. Hawaii, California, Washington DC, Maryland, Massachusettes, New Jersey,and New York. Most put High capacity at 10 rounds. New Jersey is 15 and Maryland is 20.


Assault weapons:

8 states or districts have banned some kinds of assault weapons. California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii (assault pistols), Maryland (assault pistols), Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.




Open carry and Conceraled carry also produce a wide variety of permissions and conditions.

Another thing that crops up regularly is the Gun Show Loophole. An absence of gun control that will probably be close to the center of the likely jack jawing that we will hear a plenty of as we watch the economy go over the cliff from a lack of action by a disfunctional two house congress. 33 states allow private gun owners to sell their weapons to other private individuals without any background check at all. This has long raised eyebrows.


http://civilliberty.about.com/od/guncon ... -Shows.htm

I thought this might interest some people - it's only stats, no actual political comments.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interac ... ted-states

You may, however find bias here Gun laws in the US: seven things you need to know about the data http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-news ... ed-to-know

I'm sure most of you noticed that New York state has just passed the strongest anti gun law in the country.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2013/0115/ ... zing-video

Looks like magazines that hold more than seven rounds are banned and an "assault rifle" is any firearm with at least one feature that frightens them....like a flash suppressor.