Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms and ammunition by civilians.Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (2005). Federal Firearms Regulations Reference Guide (PDF). U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved: January 3, 2016.
Most countries allow civilians to own firearms but have strict firearms laws intended to prevent misuse or violence.
As of 2026, very few countries have firearms laws considered to be "permissive", with the United States being the paradigmatic example among that minority.
In some countries, such as Australia or the United States, gun control measures may be implemented at the national, state, or local levels. Countries like the United States and Mexico have constitutionally protected rights to gun ownership.
Terminology and context
Gun control refers to domestic and international attempts to regulate, and harmonize the regulation of, the private and industrial manufacture, trade, possession, use, and transport of a class of weapons typically identified as small arms. This class of arms commonly includes revolvers, self-loading pistols, rifles and carbines, assault rifles, and some categories of machine gun.
In the United States, the term "gun control" itself is considered politicized and polarized. Many gun control advocates prefer the use of terms like "gun-violence prevention", "gun safety", or "common-sense regulation" to describe their objectives.Ball, Molly (January 2013). Don't Call It 'Gun Control' The Atlantic. Retrieved: September 24, 2016. While gun-rights advocates refer to gun control as "disarmament" and "gun confiscation." Discussions on the topics of gun control and gun rights are more prevalent in the United States than other countries, although these topics are also debated in countries such as Canada.
Regulation of civilian firearms With few exceptions, most countries in the world allow some form of civilian firearm ownership. A 2011 survey of 28 countries over five continents found that a major distinction between different national gun control regimes is whether civilian gun ownership is seen as a right or a privilege.
The study concluded that both the United States and Yemen were distinct from the other countries surveyed in that they viewed gun ownership as a basic right of citizenship, and therefore their gun control policies are more permissive. In the remaining countries sampled, civilian gun ownership is considered a privilege, and their corresponding gun control policies are more restrictive. For many countries that view gun ownership as a privilege, gun rights, such as those in the United States, may be seen as too permissive.
Some countries, like those in East and Southeast Asia, can be particularly strict. East Asian countries are usually more indifferent to gun control and the gun rights debate. Countries like Japan and China enact strict controls on gun ownership. Some countries in these regions impose more extreme punishments than typically imposed by most countries for the same crime; for example, illegal gun ownership in Indonesia can be punished with a maximum of 20 years in prison, life in prison, or the death penalty.
For almost all European countries, gun ownership pertains to hunting and sport, and requires licensure with backgrounds checks.
International and regional gun control At the international and regional level, diplomatic attention has tended to focus on the cross-border illegal trade in small arms as an area of particular concern, rather than the regulation of civilian-held firearms. During the mid-1990s, however, the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) adopted a series of resolutions relating to the civilian ownership of small arms. These resolutions called for the exchange of data on national systems of firearm regulation and for the initiation of an international study of the issue. In July 1997, ECOSOC issued a resolution that underlined the responsibility of UN member states to competently regulate civilian ownership of small arms and urged them to ensure that their regulatory frameworks encompassed the following aspects: firearm safety and storage; penalties for the unlawful possession and misuse of firearms; a licensing system to prevent undesirable persons from owning firearms; exemption from criminal liability to promote the surrender of illegal, unsafe or unwanted guns by citizens; and a record-keeping system to track civilian firearms.
In 1997, the United Nations (UN) published a study based on member state survey data titled the United Nations International Study on Firearm Regulation, which was updated in 1999. This study was intended to initiate the establishment of a database on civilian firearm regulations which would be run by the Centre for International Crime Prevention, located in Vienna, Austria, which was to report on national systems of civilian firearm regulation every two years. These plans never reached fruition, and further UN-led efforts to establish international norms for the regulation of civilian-held firearms were stymied. Responding to pressure from the US government, any mention of the regulation of civilian ownership of small arms was removed from the draft proposals for the 2001 UN Programme of Action on Small Arms.
Although the issue is no longer part of the UN policy debate, there have been eight regional agreements since 1991, involving 110 countries, concerning aspects of civilian firearm possession. The Bamako Declaration was adopted in Bamako, Mali on 1 December 2000 by the representatives of the member states of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). The provisions of this declaration recommend that the signatories establish the illegal possession of small arms and light weapons as a criminal offence under national law in their respective countries.
Historical context
16th century Debates over gun control emerged in the early 16th century, particularly in response to the spread of the wheellock mechanism, which made guns smaller and easier to conceal than earlier matchlocks. In 1518, wheellock firearms were prohibited in Habsburg territories, and a similar ban followed in the Duchy of Ferrara in 1522. By the mid-16th century, similar bans had spread across much of the Italian peninsula, and some states briefly restricted the manufacture of small wheellocks.
Throughout the 16th century, many European cities enacted restrictions on carrying firearms in urban areas. Larger guns usually continued to be allowed in the countryside, especially for hunting. Rules on gun ownership gradually reverted to older patterns that limited the bearing of arms to the upper class and their servants.
The expansion of town militias during the 16th century increased routine civilian access to firearms. By mid-century, a view had developed in parts of Europe that carrying firearms for self-defense should be allowed. A Venetian official in the same period linked wider gun ownership in Brescia (a center of gun manufacturing) to a decline in homicides within the city. At the same time, an anonymous treatise from the 1570s questioned the practical value of firearms for self-defense.
17th century In 1638, citing the "many inconveniences that arise daily from the carrying of arms", Cardinal Francesco Barberini issued a public ban prohibiting the carrying of firearms within the Papal States. The ban forbade any person, regardless of rank, from carrying arquebuses or terzaroli (short firearms), whether in cities or in the countryside, unless specifically permitted. Penalties ranged from fines for carrying long guns in the countryside to five years' galley service in towns. Short firearms were punished more severely, including confiscation of property, and in certain cases, capital punishment. Later popes, including Innocent XIII and Benedict XIV, attempted to extend the enforcement of such edicts into baronial jurisdictions, though with limited success.
2000s statistics In more recent years, calls for gun control have grown as the number of school shootings has risen. High rates of gun mortality and injury are often cited as a primary impetus for gun control policies. In 2007, a global supply of 875 million small arms was estimated to be in the hands of civilians, law enforcement agencies, and national armed forces. Of these firearms, 650 million, or 75%, were estimated to be held by civilians. US civilians account for 270 million of this total. A further 200 million are controlled by national military forces. Law enforcement agencies may have some 26 million small arms. Non-state armed groups have about 1.4 million firearms. Finally, gang members hold between 2 and 10 million small arms. Together, the small arms arsenals of non-state armed groups and gangs have been estimated to account for, at most, 1.4% of the global total. United States
The United States has more guns per citizen than any other Western country. In the US, gun rights activists argue that gun laws are too restrictive or should not be altered, and gun control activists argue that gun laws are too permissive. Both camps center their arguments upon the legal and traditional interpretations of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. Gun control measures include the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 that prohibited manufacturing certain semi-automatic firearms that were defined as assault weapons for civilian use. The act expired ten years after its effective date in 2004. Attempted gun control measures included the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 bill, which was not passed into law.
Canada
In Canada, the Canadian Criminal Code, enacted in 1892, required individuals to have a permit to carry a pistol unless the owner had cause to fear assault or injury. Handgun registration became law in 1934, and automatic firearms registration was added in 1951, then the Criminal Law Amendment Act. In 1977, Bill C-51 required firearms acquisition certificates (FACs) to purchase any firearm.
On 1 May 2020, after deadly shootings in Nova Scotia, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government banned 1,500 kinds of military-style semi-automatic rifles, including the popular AR-15 and its variants. The ban was enacted via an Order In Council.
On 21 October 2022, still under the 29th Canadian Ministry with Trudeau as prime minister, Bill C-21 came into effect, aiming to address gun violence and strengthen gun control. The legislation introduced a national freeze on the sale, purchase, or transfer of handguns by individuals within Canada. It also established new "red flag" and "yellow flag" laws (similar to American red flag laws, with risk-based gun removal), allowing courts and Chief Firearms Officers (CFOs) to issue emergency weapons prohibition orders and temporarily suspend licenses, respectively. Moreover, the bill increased maximum penalties for firearms-related offenses, including gun smuggling and gun trafficking, from 10 to 14 years imprisonment. Additionally, Bill C-21 prohibited mid-velocity "replica" airguns that closely resemble real firearms and discharge projectiles at a velocity between 366 and 500 feet per second.
Australia
In Australia, gun control laws were enacted in the state of Victoria in 1988; the Opinel shooting led to a significant change in gun ownership legislation, along with the Port Arthur massacre in 1996. The National Firearms Agreement (NFA) was formed 12 days after the killing. John Howard, the prime minister at the time, said in proposing it: "We need to achieve a total prohibition on the ownership, possession, sale and importation of all automatic and semi-automatic weapons. That will be the essence of the proposal... ". The National Firearms Agreement was agreed upon on 10 May 1996.
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