• Federal gun laws bar convicted felons from owning a gunman's hand and a gun image by Elena Vdovina from Fotolia.com
  
  There are arguments on both sides of the issue as to whether convicted felons should be allowed to own firearms. One example is the relief from disability program codified at 18 USC 925 (c) giving felons an opportunity to have their gun rights restored. In 1992, after the Violence Policy Center publicized the details of the program, congress stripped the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) of its funding for the program. According to the Violence Policy Center, the National Rifle Association attempted to get the funding restored in 1996.
  
  

Federal Firearms Law

• Under federal law, convicted felons are prohibited from buying or possessing firearms. Firearm statute 18 U.S.C. 222 (g)(1), states that anyone with a felony conviction sentenced to more than one year in prison is barred from owning a firearm. The only exceptions pertain to anti-trust and unfair trade practices and felony convictions from foreign countries, which are covered under 18 U.S.C. 921(a) 20(A).
  
  

Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban of 1996

• A misdmeanor domestic violence offense bars the offender from owning a gun.pistol and magazine image by Kenneth Hill from Fotolia.com
  
  According to the FBI uniform crime statistics, about 1,500 women are killed by their husbands or boyfriends each year. As a result of crime statistics and domestic violence advocates lobbying for tougher laws, the federal government passed the domestic violence offender gun ban in 1996. The law prohibits anyone convicted of a misdemeanor domestic violence offense from buying or owning a gun. This law deviates from the basic federal firearms law in that a misdemeanor, rather than federal conviction, prevents the offender from owning a firearm.
  
  

Guns and Drug Use

• Persons who are persistent and prolonged drug users are barred from possessing guns under federal lawman tapping needle image by david hughes from Fotolia.com
  
  Federal law also says that any person who is an unlawful user of, or addicted to, a controlled substance is barred from possessing guns under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3). According to Keith Williams, a Greenville, North Carolina board certified specialist, in federal and state criminal law, the statute, while unclear, appears to apply more to persons whose drug use is consistent, prolonged and close enough in time to their gun possession that they qualify as an unlawful user of drugs.
  
  

The Brady Act

• Following the 1981 attempted assassination of President Reagan by John Hinkley, during which press secretary James Brady was severely wounded, James and Sarah Brady became advocates of gun control. The Brady Act was passed in 1993, as an amendment to the Gun Control Act of 1968 and imposes a waiting period of up to five days for the purchase of a handgun. Purchasers must submit to a background check during that waiting period.