Top Highlights

• May 20, 1999 By a 51-50 vote, with the tie-breaker vote cast by Vice President Al Gore, the U.S. Senate passes a bill requiring trigger locks on all newly manufactured handguns and extending waiting period and background check requirements to sales of firearms at gun shows.
• 1972 The federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) is created, listing as part of its mission the control of illegal use and sale of firearms and the enforcement of Federal firearms laws. The ATF issues firearms licenses and conducts firearms licensee qualification and compliance inspections.
• The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 prohibits the sale, manufacture, importation, or possession of several specific types of assault-type weapons for a 10-year period. However, the law expires on September 13, 2004, after Congress fails to reauthorize it.
• The U.S. Supreme Court, in the case of Printz v. United States, declares the background check requirement of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act unconstitutional.
• Major American gun manufacturers voluntarily agree to include child safety trigger devices on all new handguns.

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