Firearms Owners’ Protection

The Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986 liberalized some of these requirements. Long guns (rifles and shotguns), but not handguns, could be sold across state lines. Guns and ammunition could be purchased through the mail subject to various restrictions. Gun dealers could sell firearms in a place other than a store (such as a flea market or a gun show). Record-keeping requirements were reduced. 

Congress passes the Firearms Owners Protection Act, a law that rolls back some provisions of earlier federal firearms legislation. For example, it reduces paperwork violations for firearms dealers from a felony to a misdemeanor and allows the interstate sale of long guns by dealers. However, it also increases penalties for drug traffickers who possess firearms and incorporates an amendment that essentially bans the purchase of automatic firearms by civilians if the guns were manufactured after the enactment of the law. 

Suter, Edgar A., James J. Fotis, and Arthur L. Kellermann. Weapons for Protection in Home Invasion Crimes. 7. 7Vl/4, The Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 275, January 24, 1996, pp. 280ff. Suter argues that Kellermann s study of home invasions was skewed by being based only on police reports and trauma admissions and that what it really looked at was stealth crimes (burglaries), not true home invasions. Home-owner use of firearms is often not reported to police. Even under such... 

Senturia, Yvonne D., et al. Gun Storage Patterns in U.S. Homes with Children A Pediatric Practice-Based Survey. Archives of Pediatrics Adolescent Medicine, vol. 150, March 1996, pp. 265ff. Finds that the majority of gun owners do not lock up their guns and that persons who use guns at work or for self-protection are most likely to have them loaded at home. The authors suggest that children s doctors talk to parents about the need to store firearms safely. 

It was vital to protect these lawful establishments from malicious state agency lawsuits that could ultimately force them out of business, added Hammer. SB 1156 helps ensure that Florida s firearm ranges will continue to serve law-abiding gun owners. ... 

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