Waiting Period/Licensing

States can require licensing and waiting periods to reduce unauthorized and illegal access to guns and give local government the authority and time to conduct thorough background checks on potential handgun purchasers.

Does the state have statutes requiring licensing and waiting periods for handgun purchasers?

States that adopt both licensing laws and mandatory waiting periods for handgun purchasers receive a "meets policy." States receive a "limited policy" if they require either handgun licensing or waiting periods (but not both), and states that require neither receive a "no policy."

The 2010 Report Card uses a different source for this indicator than in 2007, therefore there is no comparison to 2007.

State	Strength of Policy	Change from 2007
Alabama	No Policy	N/A
Alaska	No Policy	N/A
Arizona	No Policy	N/A
Arkansas	No Policy	N/A
California	Meets Policy	N/A
Colorado	No Policy	N/A
Connecticut	Limited Policy	N/A
Delaware	No Policy	N/A
District of Columbia	Meets Policy	N/A
Florida	Limited Policy	N/A
Georgia	No Policy	N/A
Hawaii	Meets Policy	N/A
Idaho	No Policy	N/A
Illinois	Meets Policy	N/A
Indiana	No Policy	N/A
Iowa	Meets Policy	N/A
Kansas	No Policy	N/A
Kentucky	No Policy	N/A
Louisiana	No Policy	N/A
Maine	No Policy	N/A
Maryland	Limited Policy	N/A
Massachusetts	Limited Policy	N/A
Michigan	Limited Policy	N/A
Minnesota	Limited Policy	N/A
Mississippi	No Policy	N/A
Missouri	No Policy	N/A
Montana	No Policy	N/A
Nebraska	No Policy	N/A
Nevada	No Policy	N/A
New Hampshire	No Policy	N/A
New Jersey	Meets Policy	N/A
New Mexico	No Policy	N/A
New York	Limited Policy	N/A
North Carolina	Limited Policy	N/A
North Dakota	No Policy	N/A
Ohio	No Policy	N/A
Oklahoma	No Policy	N/A
Oregon	No Policy	N/A
Pennsylvania	No Policy	N/A
Rhode Island	Meets Policy	N/A
South Carolina	No Policy	N/A
South Dakota	No Policy	N/A
Tennessee	No Policy	N/A
Texas	No Policy	N/A
Utah	No Policy	N/A
Vermont	No Policy	N/A
Virginia	No Policy	N/A
Washington	No Policy	N/A
West Virginia	No Policy	N/A
Wisconsin	Limited Policy	N/A
Wyoming	No Policy	N/A

Policy Indicator Counts

Meets Policy:

7

Limited Policy:

9

Weak Policy:

0

No/Harmful Policy:

35

Better:

0

Same:

0

Worse:

0

Data Source: Legal Community Against Violence, "Regulating Guns in America," 2008, available at: http://www.lcav.org/publications-briefs/regulating_guns.asp, accessed September 10, 2010; Legal Community Against Violence, "Recent Developments in State Law, Firearms Policy," updated March 10, 2010, available at http://www.lcav.org/content/recent_developments_policies.asp, accessed Septmeber 10, 2010; Legal Community Against Violence, "Recent Developments in State Law," updated June 20, 2010, available at http://www.lcav.org/states/recent_developments.asp, accessed September 10, 2010.