The Gun Control Act (GCA), codified at 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), makes it unlawful for certain categories of persons to ship, transport, receive, or possess firearms or ammunition, including any person:

• convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;
• who is a fugitive from justice;
• who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act, codified at 21 U.S.C. § 802);
• who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution;
• who is an illegal alien;
• who has been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions;
• who has renounced his or her United States citizenship;
• who is subject to a court order restraining the person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner or child of the intimate partner; or
• who has been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

The GCA at 18 U.S.C. § 922(n) also makes it unlawful for any person under indictment for a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year to ship, transport, or receive firearms or ammunition. 

Further, the GCA at 18 U.S.C. § 922(d) makes it unlawful to sell or otherwise dispose of firearms or ammunition to any person who is prohibited from shipping, transporting, receiving, or possessing firearms or ammunition.

In addition, New York State law prohibits the purchase or acquisition of a handgun, rifle or shotgun by people who know that they are prohibited from possessing a firearm because they have been convicted of, or have had a warrant of arrest issued for, a felony or “serious offense,” defined to include the following offenses under New York law, or the equivalent offense in another state: (1) illegally using, carrying or possessing a handgun or other dangerous weapon; (2) making or possessing burglar’s instruments; (3) buying or receiving stolen property; (4) unlawful entry into a building; (5) aiding escape from prison; certain kinds of disorderly conduct; (6) certain drug offenses or crimes involving sodomy or rape; (7) child endangerment; (8) certain crimes permitting or promoting prostitution; (9) certain kinds of stalking; and (10) certain violent or threatening crimes committed against a member of the same family or household, including assault, strangulation, menacing, harassment, and trespass.

New York State prohibits the purchase of acquisition of any firearm unless he or she:

• Is twenty one-years of age or older (except if he or she has been honorably discharged from the U.S. military or New York national guard, in which case the age limit does not apply);
• Is of good moral character;
• Has not been convicted anywhere of a felony or a serious offense (see above list of crimes deemed “serious offenses”);
• Is not a fugitive from justice;
• Is not an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance as defined by federal law at 21 U.S.C. § 802;
• Being an alien: 1) is not illegally in the United States; or 2) has not be admitted into the United States under a non-immigrant visa;
• Has not been discharged from the military under dishonorable conditions;
• Having been a citizen of the United States, has not renounced his or her citizenship;
• Has stated whether he or she has suffered from any mental illness;
• Has not been involuntarily committed to a facility under the jurisdiction of the Department of Mental Hygiene pursuant to New York law, or has not been civilly confined in a secure treatment facility pursuant to New York law;
• Has not had a handgun license revoked and is not under a suspension or ineligibility order due to a domestic violence restraining order;
• Has successfully completed a firearms safety course and test
• Has not had a guardian appointed for him or her pursuant to New York law, based on a determination that as a result of marked subnormal intelligence, mental illness, incapacity, condition or disease, he or she lacks the mental capacity to contract or manage his or her own affairs; and
• Presents no good cause for the denial of the license.