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. 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. Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (1968): Prohibited interstate trade in handguns, increased the minimum age to 21 for buying handguns. 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. Firearm Owners Protection Act ("FOPA '') (1986): Revised and partially repealed the Gun Control Act of 1968.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. 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. 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. Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (1993): Requires background checks on most firearm purchasers, depending on seller and venue. Federal Assault Weapons Ban (1994 -- 2004): Banned semiautomatics that looked like assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices. The law expired in 2004. 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.
when was the last federal gun law passed
2005