State Gun Laws Overview 2026: What Each State Adds to the Federal Purchase

The federal rules for buying a firearm are identical in every state, and if that were the whole story this page would be three sentences long. It is not. States add purchase permits, waiting periods, magazine caps, feature restrictions and their own background-check systems, and the mix is different everywhere. This page is a map of those additions as of September 2026, organised by the question a buyer actually asks: what changes for me when I order a gun to this state. It is a summary and not legal advice; every city page on this site links to the official sources for its own state.

The federal baseline

Every firearm ships to a licensed dealer you choose. You complete ATF Form 4473 there, show government photo ID with your current address, and the dealer runs the National Instant Criminal Background Check. A dealer may transfer a rifle or shotgun to a buyer of 18 or older and a handgun to a buyer of 21 or older, and a handgun must transfer through a dealer in the buyer's own state. Ammunition, optics, magazines and parts are not firearms and ship to your door where state and local law allows. Suppressors and short-barrelled rifles and shotguns are regulated under the National Firearms Act and we do not sell them.

States that add nothing

Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, South Carolina, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Arizona have no purchase permit, no waiting period and no registration. The federal check is the whole process. Most of them also allow an eligible adult to carry a concealed handgun without a permit, while still issuing permits for reciprocity. North Carolina joined this group for purchases when it repealed its pistol permit in 2023, though it still requires a permit to carry concealed.

States with their own check

Several states run the background check through a state agency rather than directly with the FBI, which changes nothing for the buyer except sometimes a small fee. Tennessee's TBI, Utah's BCI, Nevada's Department of Public Safety, Wisconsin's DOJ for handguns and Florida's FDLE all work this way. Pennsylvania runs its own instant check, PICS, alongside the federal one and requires that handguns transfer only through dealers. Michigan lets a dealer sell a handgun on the federal check or against a licence to purchase or a concealed pistol licence, and files a pistol sales record with the police. Iowa's permit to acquire is optional and lets a buyer skip the dealer's check. Nebraska long required a handgun purchase certificate from the sheriff, and its 2023 carry law changed how that applies, so buyers there should ask the dealer.

Waiting periods

Florida imposes three business days on all dealer sales, or five in some counties, with exemptions for Concealed Weapon License holders and long-gun buyers with a hunter safety card. Outside our main footprint, California has ten days, Illinois seventy-two hours, Washington ten business days, Colorado three days, New Mexico seven days, Minnesota and Maryland seven days on handguns, Hawaii fourteen days, Rhode Island seven days, New Jersey seven days on handguns, Maine seventy-two hours, and Vermont seventy-two hours. Every other state releases the gun as soon as the check clears.

Age

Federal law sets 18 for long guns and 21 for handguns from a dealer. Florida, Washington, Illinois, California, Hawaii, New York, Delaware, Vermont and Colorado raise the long-gun age to 21 with exceptions, and a handful of other states are litigating similar rules. Ammunition follows the same split.

Magazines and features

Roughly a dozen states cap magazine capacity, mostly at ten rounds: California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, Hawaii, Illinois, Colorado at fifteen, Washington, Oregon, Vermont, Rhode Island, Delaware and the District of Columbia. Most of the same states define restricted semi-automatic rifles and pistols by a list of features and either ban them or require registration; Colorado's 2025 law added a permit-to-purchase requirement for many semi-automatic rifles that took effect in 2026. Our checkout holds every order to what a dealer in the destination state may lawfully transfer, so a capped magazine or a restricted model is dropped from an order into those states rather than shipped and seized.

Carry

As of September 2026 twenty-nine states allow an eligible adult to carry a concealed handgun without a permit, including every state in our main footprint except Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and North Carolina, which still require a licence from a sheriff, a county clerk or a state agency. Permits remain worth holding in permitless states because other states honour them. Rules on open carry, vehicles, schools, courthouses and posted property differ sharply, and no state permit covers federal property. Florida's open carry ban fell to an appeals court in 2025 and 18 to 20-year-olds may now apply for its licence.

Hunting rules that touch the purchase

Hunting law is a separate body of state rules but it decides what rifle many people buy. Ohio, Iowa, Indiana and southern Michigan limit deer rifles to straight-walled cartridges, which rules out the standard .308 and 5.56 for deer there and has made the .350 Legend and .450 Bushmaster the region's best sellers. Pennsylvania bans semi-automatic rifles for big game. Several states cap rifle magazine capacity in the field even where they do not cap it otherwise, and every state requires a plugged three-shell shotgun for waterfowl. A hunter buying a rifle online should read the destination state's legal-firearms page before choosing the calibre.

Storage

About half the states have child-access-prevention laws, and a growing number require locked storage where a minor could reach a gun; Michigan's 2024 law is the strictest in our footprint. The used guns guide and the calibre guide touch on storage; the city pages link each state's statute.

Using this map

Find your town on the city pages, which carry the state's purchase, carry and hunting rules with links to the official sources. Then read how buying online works and what ships to your door. Browse the catalogue.

General information, not legal advice. Current as of September 2026. Laws change; check the official source before you act.