Building Your Own
Making a firearm for your own use has been lawful under federal law for as long as there has been federal firearms law. What has changed, fast, is state law — and the gap between the two is where people get into trouble.
Read your state first
Federal law is the floor, not the answer. At least sixteen states regulate privately-made firearms, and several now require a serial number on anything you build. New Jersey has gone further and made it unlawful for an unlicensed person to possess the digital design files at all. Conduct that is unremarkable in one state is a felony one border away.
What federal law says
Building for personal use
18 U.S.C. § 922Federal law does not require a license to make a firearm for your own use, provided you are not a prohibited person and the firearm is otherwise lawful. A manufacturing license is required only if you make firearms for sale or distribution. Several states override this — check your state below before you start.
Undetectable firearms
18 U.S.C. § 922(p)A firearm that cannot be detected by a walk-through metal detector, or whose major components do not produce an accurate image under X-ray, is unlawful regardless of who made it. This is the provision most directly implicated by fully-printed designs, and it is why printed guns are built around a steel insert.
Machineguns
18 U.S.C. § 922(o)Civilian manufacture of a machinegun has been prohibited since 1986. This covers conversion devices such as auto sears, including printed ones, and it applies to home builds without exception. This is the single most commonly prosecuted mistake in the home-build space.
Frames, receivers, and kits
27 C.F.R. § 478.12ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F treats certain partially-complete frames and receivers, and kits that can be readily converted, as firearms — so serialization and a background check apply at the point of sale. The Supreme Court upheld the rule in Bondi v. VanDerStok (2025), which ended the argument that unfinished receivers fall outside the Gun Control Act.
NFA items
26 U.S.C. Ch. 53Short-barreled rifles and shotguns, suppressors, and destructive devices require an approved ATF Form 1 and payment of the making tax before you build. Approval comes first — building first and filing later is a felony, not a paperwork problem.
Home manufacture by state
17 of 51 jurisdictions we have checked either prohibit self-manufacture or require you to serialize what you build.
| State | Build for personal use | Serial required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Allowed | No | Alabama law does not prohibit a non-prohibited person from building a firearm for personal use, does not require a serial number on a self-made firearm, and has no state firearm registration of any kind. § 13A-11-64 punishes DEFACING an identification that already exists — it does not obligate you to add one to a firearm that never had one, though a build using a part whose serial was removed would fall squarely within it. Local ordinances cannot fill the gap because § 13A-11-61.3 preempts them and voids any contrary ordinance. FEDERAL LAW IS THE REAL CONSTRAINT: a prohibited person may not make or possess a firearm at all; manufacturing for sale or distribution requires an FFL; commercially sold frames, receivers and parts kits are "firearms" under ATF's 2022 frames-and-receivers rule (upheld in Bondi v. VanDerStok, 2025) and arrive already serialized with a background check; NFA items (short-barreled rifles and shotguns, suppressors, machine guns) require prior federal approval and marking; and 18 U.S.C. § 922(p) bars undetectable firearms. I found no Alabama Attorney General opinion or ALEA guidance interpreting state law on self-manufacture — this conclusion rests on the absence of any such provision in the Code of Alabama. |
| Alaska | Allowed | No | Alaska has no statute prohibiting a person from privately manufacturing a firearm for personal use, and no state law requires a serial number, state registration, or a permit to build one. AS 44.99.500(a) declares that a personal firearm 'manufactured commercially or privately in this state and that remains in the state is not subject to federal law or federal regulation, including registration.' AS 44.99.500(e) makes unenforceable in Alaska any federal statute/rule effective on or after June 21, 2013 that requires a firearm, magazine, or accessory to be registered. ONE MARKING REQUIREMENT: AS 44.99.500(c) provides that 'a firearm manufactured or sold in this state and not subject to federal regulation under this section must have the words "Made in Alaska" clearly stamped on a central metallic part, such as the receiver or frame' — a Made-in-Alaska stamp, not a serial number. CAUTION: AS 44.99.500 is a Firearms Freedom Act-type statute purporting to place intrastate-made firearms outside federal jurisdiction; federal courts have rejected that theory for materially identical state laws (e.g. U.S. v. Stone, 9th Cir. 2013, on Montana's act), so federal law — the Gun Control Act, the National Firearms Act, and ATF's frame-and-receiver rule — continues to apply regardless of state law. Nothing in Alaska law authorizes a prohibited person to build or possess a firearm. |
| Arizona | Allowed | No | Arizona has no state statute prohibiting a non-prohibited person from manufacturing a firearm for personal use, and no state firearm registration of any kind - A.R.S. § 13-3108 preempts political subdivisions from requiring firearm registration or licensing. No Arizona statute requires a serial number on a firearm built for your own use. The one marking provision, A.R.S. § 13-3114(E), applies only to guns manufactured AND SOLD in-state under that section: 'A firearm that is manufactured and sold in this state pursuant to this section shall have the words "made in Arizona" clearly stamped on a central metallic part such as the receiver or frame.' A personal-use build that is never sold falls outside it. A.R.S. § 13-3114 (the 2010 Arizona Firearms Freedom Act) also purports to exempt Arizona-made, Arizona-retained firearms from federal regulation; courts rejected identical Firearms Freedom Acts elsewhere (Montana Shooting Sports Ass'n v. Holder, 9th Cir. 2013), so it is not a defense to federal law. Two real limits: (1) A.R.S. § 13-3102(A)(6) and (A)(7) make it a class 6 felony to DEFACE a deadly weapon or knowingly possess a defaced one - 'deface' is defined in A.R.S. § 13-3101 as removing, altering, or destroying the manufacturer's serial number, so it reaches an obliterated factory serial, not a homemade gun that never bore one. (2) Federal law applies independently: the ATF 'Definition of Frame or Receiver' final rule (2021R-05F) and its marking consequences, the National Firearms Act, and 18 U.S.C. § 922(o) and 922(r); manufacturing for sale requires a federal license. |
| Arkansas | Allowed | No | Arkansas has NO state statute prohibiting an individual from making a firearm for personal use, NO state serialization or marking requirement for a self-made firearm, and NO state firearm registry. Arkansas's serial-number statutes run the other direction — they punish REMOVING a mark that already exists, not failing to apply one. § 5-73-106(a): 'A person commits the offense of defacing a firearm if he or she knowingly removes, defaces, mars, covers, alters, or destroys the manufacturer's serial number or identification mark of a firearm' (Class D felony). § 5-73-107(a) makes it an offense to knowingly possess 'a firearm with a manufacturer's serial number or other identification mark required by law that has been removed, defaced, marred, altered, or destroyed' (Class D felony; Class A misdemeanor in specified circumstances), with an express exception for firearms manufactured before January 1, 1968. Both provisions are keyed to a 'manufacturer's serial number' or a mark 'required by law' — a firearm made by a non-licensee for personal use has neither, so neither statute is triggered by an unserialized homemade gun. Arkansas's only registration-style firearms provisions are the separate machine gun registry (§§ 5-73-207 through 5-73-209), which is a manufacturer/dealer recordkeeping regime, not a homebuilder requirement. FEDERAL LAW STILL CONTROLS AND IS THE REAL CONSTRAINT: (a) making an NFA item (short-barreled rifle/shotgun, suppressor, machine gun, AOW) requires an approved ATF Form 1 and payment of the making tax before manufacture — § 5-73-104's prohibited-weapons list also reaches such items, and 18 U.S.C. § 922(o) bars new machine guns outright; (b) 18 U.S.C. § 922(p) bars undetectable firearms; (c) a person may not make a firearm if they are a prohibited person; (d) building with intent to sell or distribute requires an FFL under 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(1)(A) and triggers marking duties under § 923(i); (e) ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F (2022) redefined 'frame or receiver' and reached certain parts kits, and the Supreme Court upheld the rule against facial challenge in Bondi v. VanDerStok (2025), so a kit that qualifies as a 'firearm' must be transferred through an FFL and comes serialized. Building an unserialized firearm for yourself remains lawful under both Arkansas and federal law; SELLING it later is where liability attaches. I found no Arkansas act in the 2023 or 2025 regular sessions addressing privately made firearms, unfinished frames or receivers, or 3D-printed firearms. |
| California | Allowed | Yes | Building a firearm for personal use is legal in California but heavily conditioned. (1) VOLUME CAP: Pen. Code § 29010(a) — 'A person shall not manufacture more than three firearms within this state in a calendar year unless that person is licensed' under § 29030 et seq.; violation is a misdemeanor. (2) SERIAL NUMBER REQUIRED IN ADVANCE: Pen. Code § 29180 requires that BEFORE manufacturing or assembling a firearm lacking a valid state or federal serial number, the person must apply to and obtain a unique serial number from the DOJ under § 29182, engrave or permanently affix it within 10 days of assembly in compliance with federal ATF marking standards, and then notify the DOJ that marking is complete with owner and firearm identifying information — which enters the firearm in the state's Automated Firearms System, so a self-made firearm IS state-registered in California. (3) ELIGIBILITY GATE: § 29182 requires a § 28220 firearms eligibility check, age 21+, a valid Firearm Safety Certificate, and a description of the firearm; DOJ must DENY if the firearm would be an unsafe handgun, assault weapon, machinegun, .50 BMG rifle, destructive device, short-barreled rifle or shotgun, unconventional pistol, or otherwise unlawful. DOJ must grant or deny within 90 calendar days for applications received on or after 1/1/2024. (4) DETECTABILITY: a largely polymer firearm must have 3.7 ounces of 17-4 PH stainless steel embedded during construction. (5) NO SALE: an unlicensed person may not sell or transfer a self-assembled firearm (narrow law-enforcement exception). (6) Prohibited persons may not manufacture at all. (7) LEGACY: anyone already owning an unserialized firearm had to comply by January 1, 2024, or within 60 days of moving to California. PENALTIES under § 29180: up to 1 year in county jail and/or $1,000 fine for a handgun; up to 6 months and/or $1,000 for other firearms; each firearm is a separate offense. |
| Colorado | Prohibited | Yes | Colorado PROHIBITS building a firearm for personal use. C.R.S. 18-12-111.5(5)(a)(I): 'A person shall not manufacture or cause to be manufactured, including through the use of a three-dimensional printer, a frame or receiver of a firearm.' The only exception in 18-12-111.5(5)(a)(II) is a FEDERALLY LICENSED FIREARM MANUFACTURER - there is no personal-use, hobbyist, or 80%-kit exemption. 18-12-111.5(1) also bars knowingly possessing or transporting an unfinished frame or receiver unless serialized by an FFL, 18-12-111.5(2) bars selling/transferring/purchasing an unfinished frame or receiver, and 18-12-111.5(3) bars possessing, purchasing, transporting or receiving any firearm or frame/receiver not imprinted with a serial number by an FFL (exceptions: FFL importers/manufacturers, permanently inoperable firearms, defaced firearms under 18-12-103, antique firearms per 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(16), and firearms manufactured before October 22, 1968). Anyone who already owned a self-made unserialized firearm/frame/receiver had until January 1, 2024 to have an FFL imprint a serial number (18-12-111.5(5)(b)). An FFL serializing under 18-12-111.5(7) must imprint a number beginning with the licensee's abbreviated FFL number. PENALTY: class 1 misdemeanor; a SECOND OR SUBSEQUENT OFFENSE IS A CLASS 5 FELONY (18-12-111.5(6)(b)). Layered on top, HB26-1144 (signed May 4, 2026) added C.R.S. 18-12-119 effective July 1, 2026, making it a class 1 misdemeanor (class 5 felony on a second or subsequent offense) to knowingly manufacture or produce a potentially functional firearm or firearm component (unfinished frame or receiver, large-capacity magazine, or rapid-fire device) by 3-D printing using a 3-D printer, CNC milling machine, or similar device - exceptions only for federally licensed firearm manufacturers and instructors/students/institutions of an accredited gunsmithing program acting solely for educational instruction. SERIALIZATION: the serial number must be imprinted by a federal firearms licensee; Colorado does not operate a state firearm registry - in fact C.R.S. 29-11.7-102 prohibits a local firearms database. |
| Connecticut | Allowed | Yes | Building a firearm for personal use is legal in Connecticut only under a strict serialization-and-registration regime. C.G.S. § 29-36a(a): no person may complete the manufacture of a firearm without (1) obtaining a unique serial number or other mark of identification from DESPP and (2) engraving or permanently affixing it in the manner federal law requires of licensed manufacturers under 18 U.S.C. § 923(i). § 29-36a(b): within 30 days of completing manufacture the maker must notify DESPP and provide identifying information about the firearm and its owner; DESPP checks whether the person is prohibited and, if not, issues the number within 3 business days. "Manufacture" is defined broadly as "to fabricate or construct a firearm including the initial assembly" (§ 29-36a(j)). Since January 1, 2024, § 29-36a(c) makes it unlawful to possess any firearm lacking a serial number unless possession was timely declared to DESPP or a serial number application is pending; pre-Oct 1, 2019 unserialized firearms had to be declared by January 1, 2024, and people moving into Connecticut with an unserialized firearm have 90 days to serialize it, render it permanently inoperable, sell it to an FFL, or remove it from the state. Transfer of a firearm manufactured in violation of the section is prohibited (§ 29-36a(e)), as is distributing, importing, keeping for sale, offering for sale or purchasing an unserialized firearm (§ 29-36a(c)(6)). Exemptions: federally licensed manufacturers, antique firearms as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 921, firearms made before December 16, 1968 if otherwise lawfully possessed, and delivery to a law enforcement agency (§ 29-36a(f)). Penalty: class C misdemeanor for a person otherwise eligible to possess firearms; class C felony (2-year non-suspendable minimum, $5,000 non-remittable fine) for a person ineligible to possess a firearm (§ 29-36a(i)). Separately, C.G.S. § 53-206j governs unfinished frames and lower receivers: they may be transferred only through the same channels and procedures as pistols/revolvers under § 29-33, only if already serialized (via ATF's program or a DESPP-issued number), and since October 1, 2019 no one may possess an unfinished frame or lower receiver unless eligible to purchase a firearm. Violation of § 53-206j is a class C felony with a 2-year non-suspendable minimum. In practice, buying an unserialized "80%" lower in Connecticut is a felony; a self-built firearm must carry a DESPP-issued serial number and be reported to DESPP within 30 days. |
| Delaware | Unclear | Yes | GENUINELY UNSETTLED — do not treat as settled either way. On the books, Delaware bans building your own gun: 11 Del. C. § 1463(b) makes it a CLASS D FELONY to knowingly manufacture, assemble, or cause to be manufactured or assembled an 'untraceable firearm'; § 1463(a) makes mere possession of one a class E felony; § 1463(c)(1) makes it a class D felony to use a 3-D printer or similar device to manufacture or produce a firearm, firearm receiver, or major firearm component 'when not licensed as a manufacturer'; § 1463(c)(2) criminalizes distributing CAD files or code for 3-D printing a firearm to anyone not a licensed manufacturer. 'Untraceable firearm' is defined at 11 Del. C. § 222(40) as a firearm whose sale/distribution chain from a licensed retailer to the point of first retail sale cannot be traced by law enforcement, excluding pre-1968 firearms, black-powder muzzleloaders, and replicas of pre-1898 antiques. Section 1459A separately makes it a class D felony to transport, ship, transfer or sell an unfinished frame or receiver unless the person is an FFL dealer/manufacturer and the manufacturer's name and an individual serial number are conspicuously placed on it per 18 U.S.C. § 923(i) (§ 1459A(a)), and to possess an unfinished frame or receiver lacking that name and serial number (§ 1459A(b)). Delaware provides no state procedure for a private individual to obtain or apply a serial number to a self-made firearm. BUT: in Rigby v. Jennings, C.A. No. 21-1523-MN (D. Del.), Judge Maryellen Noreika's order of Sept. 23, 2022 (D.I. 39) preliminarily ENJOINED the Attorney General, 'her officers, agents, servants, employees, and all persons in active concert or participation with her, and all persons who have notice of the injunction' from enforcing § 1459A(b), § 1463(a), § 1463(c)(1), and § 1463(b) 'to the extent that the Court has found it likely unconstitutional (i.e. the statute's provisions that bar the manufacturing and assembly of untraceable firearms, but not the prohibitions against distributing untraceable firearms).' A permanent injunction was DENIED. Cross-motions for summary judgment remain pending — the docket's most recent entries are a Jan. 8, 2026 notice of supplemental authority and a Feb. 9, 2026 status-update letter — so no final judgment has issued and the preliminary injunction appears still to be in force. NOT enjoined and still enforceable: § 1459A(a) (you cannot buy, receive, ship or transfer an unserialized unfinished frame/receiver in Delaware), the distribution prong of § 1463(b) (you cannot sell or transfer a self-made untraceable firearm), § 1463(c)(2), and § 1462 (covert/undetectable firearms). Anyone relying on the injunction should confirm its current status with counsel before building anything. |
| District of Columbia | Allowed | Yes | Narrowly allowed, and only with a D.C.-format serial number plus MPD registration. D.C. Code § 7-2504.01(a) requires a dealer's license to engage in the business of manufacturing firearms, but expressly provides that "[n]othing in this section shall preclude persons not otherwise prohibited from possessing firearms from making their own firearms solely for personal use (not for sale or distribution)" in compliance with D.C. firearms law and federal law. However: (1) every firearm possessed in D.C. must be registered (D.C. Code § 7-2502.01); (2) a "ghost gun" is unregisterable, D.C. Code § 7-2502.02(a)(8), and D.C. Code § 7-2501.01 defines "ghost gun" to include any firearm — including a frame or receiver — lacking a unique serial number engraved or cast by a licensed manufacturer/importer under federal law, assigned by a state agency, or placed on it in compliance with § 7-2502.02, and also expressly includes an "unfinished frame or receiver" (an 80% receiver or similar blank); (3) accordingly, a self-manufactured firearm must be serialized before it can be registered, and D.C. Code § 7-2502.02(c)(2) prescribes the exact format — the serial number "shall consist of the first and last name of the self-manufacturer, followed by the designation 'DC' and then a set of 2 to 5 numbers," the number set must not duplicate any serial the self-manufacturer placed on another firearm, and the self-manufacturer must confirm with MPD that the proposed serial is not already registered to another firearm before engraving or stamping it on the frame or receiver. The practical effect: buying or possessing an unfinished frame/receiver in D.C. is prohibited as a ghost gun, and any self-made firearm must carry the statutory D.C. serial and be registered with MPD. Machine guns, assault weapons, .50 BMG rifles, short-barreled rifles and sawed-off shotguns remain unregisterable regardless of who made them (§ 7-2502.02(a)). |
| Florida | Allowed | No | BUILDING A FIREARM FOR YOUR OWN PERSONAL USE IS LAWFUL UNDER FLORIDA LAW. A full review of Chapter 790 (the 2025 Florida Statutes, the current published edition) turns up no provision that criminalizes or licenses the personal manufacture or assembly of a firearm by a non-prohibited person, no provision addressing unfinished frames or receivers, "80 percent" receivers, 3D-printed firearms, or "untraceable" firearms, and no requirement that a self-made firearm bear a serial number or be registered with any Florida agency. NO SERIAL NUMBER IS REQUIRED BY FLORIDA LAW ON A SELF-MADE FIREARM. Florida's serial-number statute, s. 790.27, is narrower than people assume: subsection (1)(a) makes it unlawful "to knowingly alter or remove the manufacturer's or importer's serial number from a firearm with intent to disguise the true identity thereof," and subsection (2)(a) makes it unlawful "to knowingly sell, deliver, or possess any firearm on which the manufacturer's or importer's serial number has been unlawfully altered or removed." Both reach only a serial number a manufacturer or importer ALREADY APPLIED - a firearm that never had one because you built it does not fall within either prohibition. Florida additionally forbids any state firearms registry: s. 790.335 ("Prohibition of registration of firearms; electronic records") declares that "A list, record, or registry of legally owned firearms or law-abiding firearm owners is not a law enforcement tool," and s. 790.0625 separately bars an appointed tax collector from maintaining any list of concealed weapon license applicants. Local governments cannot fill the gap: s. 790.33 preempts the entire field of firearm and ammunition regulation to the Legislature, with personal liability and civil penalties for local officials who enact conflicting ordinances. LIMITS THAT STILL APPLY. State: you must not be a prohibited person (s. 790.23 convicted felons; s. 790.22 minors), and the Chapter 790 bans on machine guns and short-barreled rifles/shotguns absent lawful federal registration (s. 790.001, s. 790.221) and on destructive devices apply to anything you make. Federal: this analysis covers Florida law only. Federal law independently governs self-manufacture - an unlicensed person may generally make a firearm for personal use without a serial number under the Gun Control Act, but making an NFA item (short-barreled rifle or shotgun, suppressor, machine gun) requires prior ATF approval on a Form 1 and serialization, manufacturing for sale or distribution requires an FFL under 18 U.S.C. 922(a)(1)(A), the Undetectable Firearms Act (18 U.S.C. 922(p)) requires enough metal content to be detectable, and 18 U.S.C. 922(o) bars new machine gun manufacture by private persons. A self-made firearm can also become subject to serialization requirements if it is later transferred. Consult a firearms attorney before building anything unconventional. |
| Georgia | Allowed | No | Georgia law permits an individual who may lawfully possess a firearm to build one for personal use. There is no Georgia firearm registry: O.C.G.A. § 16-11-173 declares firearm regulation a matter of state-wide concern and bars counties, municipalities, and every state agency other than the General Assembly from regulating 'the possession, ownership, transport, carrying, transfer, sale, purchase, licensing, or registration of firearms or other weapons or components of firearms or other weapons.' Georgia has enacted no serialization mandate for privately made firearms, no 'ghost gun' statute, and no unfinished frame/receiver law as of August 2026. What Georgia DOES criminalize is O.C.G.A. § 16-9-70: buying, selling, receiving, disposing of, concealing, or possessing a firearm knowing that the manufacturer's name plate, serial number, or other distinguishing identification mark has been removed or altered for the purpose of concealing or destroying the article's identity. That forbids defacing an existing serial number; it does not require adding one to a firearm that never had one. Federal law applies independently: unlicensed making for personal use is permitted under the Gun Control Act, but the National Firearms Act governs NFA items, 18 U.S.C. § 922(p) bans undetectable firearms, prohibited-person rules apply, making with intent to sell requires an FFL, and ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F requires serialization once a licensee takes a frame/receiver into inventory. CAUTION: one secondary write-up encountered during research asserted Georgia requires serialization of firearms manufactured after July 1, 2024. I found no such Georgia statute, session law, or bill, and other sources contradict it — I believe it is inaccurate, but see uncertainties. |
| Hawaii | Prohibited | Yes | Hawaii effectively bans private, self-manufactured firearms. HRS §134-10.2 makes it a CLASS C FELONY for any person who is not licensed to manufacture firearms under HRS §134-31 (an annual county-issued dealer/manufacturer license) and is not a federally licensed dealer to — for the purpose of assembling a firearm — possess, purchase, produce with a three-dimensional printer, or otherwise obtain, separately or as part of a kit: (1) a firearm receiver not imprinted with a serial number registered with a federally licensed manufacturer; (2) a firearm receiver that has not been provided a serial number registrable under §134-3(c); or (3) any combination of parts from which a firearm having no serial number may be readily assembled (provided the parts cannot function as a firearm unless assembled). An ordinary resident therefore cannot lawfully build an 80%-receiver, parts-kit, or 3D-printed gun. Serialization and REGISTRATION are mandatory in any lawful path: under HRS §134-3(b), if a firearm has no serial number the registration number must be engraved on the receiver BEFORE registration; a firearm assembled from parts is registered with the receiver-registering entity recorded as manufacturer and 'assembled from parts' as the model; a 3D-printed build must have the registration number engraved on stainless steel permanently embedded in the receiver during fabrication and visible when assembled. All such firearms and receivers must be physically inspected by the county chief of police at registration, even if a licensed dealer did the engraving. Under §134-3(c), only licensed dealers/manufacturers may register an unfinished receiver and obtain a serial number before assembly or transfer. Honolulu PD confirms it requires physical inspection of firearms and receivers assembled without serial numbers or other identifying markings (Act 30, 2022). |
| Idaho | Allowed | No | Idaho has no statute prohibiting an individual from building a firearm for personal use, no state serialization mandate for a self-made firearm, no state registration of firearms, and no state regulation of unfinished frames/receivers or firearm-manufacturing kits. A review of Title 18, Chapter 33 (Firearms, Explosives and Other Deadly Weapons, §§ 18-3301 through 18-3327) turned up no such provision. Affirmative support: the Idaho Constitution, art. I, § 11 provides "The people have the right to keep and bear arms, which right shall not be abridged" and expressly that "No law shall impose licensure, registration or special taxation on the ownership or possession of firearms or ammunition" — which forecloses a state firearm registry. Idaho Code § 18-3302J preempts local regulation: "It is the legislature's intent to wholly occupy the field of firearms regulation within this state," and no county, city, or political subdivision may regulate "the sale, acquisition, transfer, ownership, possession, transportation, carrying or storage of firearms or any element relating to firearms and components thereof, including ammunition." So a city or county cannot impose its own serialization or build-registration rule. Idaho Code § 18-3315B ("Prohibition of Regulation of Certain Firearms," added 2014 ch. 148, am. 2021 ch. 329) penalizes Idaho officials who enforce certain federal firearm measures and its findings address firearms "manufactured in Idaho from basic materials." What Idaho DOES criminalize is defacing an existing number: Idaho Code § 18-2410 makes it a felony where a person, "with intent to deceive or defraud others, shall deface, alter, remove, cover, destroy or obliterate the manufacturer's serial or identification number on any item of property" — that punishes removing a serial that already exists; it does not require an unserialized self-built firearm to be marked. IMPORTANT CAVEAT: federal law is unaffected by any of the above. Under the Gun Control Act and ATF's 2022 Final Rule 2021R-05F, a firearm built for personal use need not be marked, but building with intent to sell requires an FFL and serialization, National Firearms Act items require ATF approval and marking, and a prohibited person may not manufacture or possess a firearm at all. Idaho's § 18-3315B does not shield anyone from federal prosecution. Anyone relying on this should confirm current federal requirements; a violation can be a federal felony even where Idaho law is silent. |
| Illinois | Allowed | Yes | Illinois does not flatly outlaw assembling a firearm for personal use, but it has effectively closed the unserialized-build route, and getting this wrong is felony exposure. 720 ILCS 5/24-5.1 makes it unlawful for any person to knowingly possess, transport, or receive an UNFINISHED FRAME OR RECEIVER that is not serialized, and unlawful to knowingly possess, purchase, transport, or receive A FIREARM THAT IS NOT IMPRINTED WITH A SERIAL NUMBER. There is NO personal-use or hobbyist exception. Critically, an individual may NOT apply the serial number themselves: the statute provides that an unserialized unfinished frame or receiver and an unserialized firearm 'shall be serialized by a federally licensed firearms dealer or other federal licensee,' using the licensee's abbreviated FFL number (first 3 and last 5 digits) plus a hyphen and a suffix, marked to the federal permanence/placement standards of 27 CFR 478.124. So a lawful personal build in Illinois means starting from a frame/receiver that already bears an FFL-applied serial number, or having an FFL serialize it. Penalties: unlawful possession is a Class A misdemeanor for a first offense and a Class 3 felony for a subsequent offense; unlawful sale/transfer of an unserialized frame, receiver, or firearm is a Class 4 felony first offense and a Class 2 felony for a subsequent offense. Limited exceptions cover antique firearms as defined in 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(16), firearms manufactured before October 22, 1968, permanently inoperable firearms, and inherited firearms (short grace period to serialize). 3D-printed firearms carry a 30-day serialization window. There is no separate state firearm registration database for ordinary firearms, but a valid FOID card is required to possess any firearm or ammunition in Illinois, and Illinois's assault weapons and large-capacity magazine restrictions (Protect Illinois Communities Act, P.A. 102-1116) independently prohibit building certain configurations. |
| Indiana | Allowed | No | Indiana has no firearm registry of any kind and no state manufacturing license for a non-commercial builder. Limits that still apply: a person prohibited under IC 35-47-2-1.5 or 18 U.S.C. 922(g) may not make or possess a firearm; IC 35-47-5-8 makes knowing or intentional ownership or possession of a machine gun a Level 5 felony (IC 35-47-5-10 excepts persons in compliance with the federal NFA); and federal law independently governs home manufacture, including the Undetectable Firearms Act, the NFA, the prohibition on manufacturing for sale without an FFL, and ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F, which requires an FFL to serialize a privately made firearm it takes into inventory. Nothing here should be read as covering the separate question of building a firearm for sale or distribution, which triggers federal licensing. |
| Iowa | Allowed | No | Iowa has NO statute prohibiting the manufacture of a firearm for personal use and NO statute requiring a serial number, state registration, or state marking on a self-made firearm. A full-text search of the official Iowa Code 2026 chapter 724 (Weapons) PDF returns no occurrence of 'unfinished frame,' 'homemade,' or any serialization mandate; the only uses of 'serial number' in chapter 724 are provisions FORBIDDING the state from recording a weapon's make, model, or serial number in connection with a permit (§§ 724.7(1), 724.10(2), 724.11(2), 724.11(5)). Iowa Code § 724.28 preempts cities, counties, and townships from enacting any ordinance regulating the ownership, possession, carrying, transfer, transportation, modification, registration, or licensing of firearms, so no Iowa locality may impose a serialization or registration requirement either. Iowa Code § 724.2(1)(f) expressly exempts from the offensive-weapons ban 'Any person, firm or corporation who under the laws of this state and the United States is lawfully engaged in the improvement, invention or manufacture of firearms.' LIMITS THAT STILL APPLY: Iowa Code §§ 724.1 and 724.3 ban possession of 'offensive weapons' (machine guns, certain short-barreled rifles/shotguns, destructive devices) except as authorized, and §§ 724.1A-724.1C tie suppressors and short-barreled rifles/shotguns to federal NFA compliance. All federal law continues to govern: the National Firearms Act, 18 U.S.C. § 922(o) (post-1986 machine guns), 18 U.S.C. § 922(r), the Undetectable Firearms Act, the prohibition on manufacturing for sale without an FFL, and ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F. Iowa Senate File 2098 (91st G.A., 2026) would have created a state system issuing unique serial numbers for unfinished frames and lower receivers by December 1, 2026, but per the Legislature's official bill history it was introduced January 26, 2026, assigned to a Judiciary subcommittee January 28, 2026, and recorded no further action - it did not become law. |
| Kansas | Allowed | No | Kansas has NO statute prohibiting an individual who may lawfully possess firearms from building an ordinary firearm for personal use, and NO state serial-number requirement, no state registration, and no state background check or licensing tied to a privately made firearm. The Second Amendment Protection Act (K.S.A. 50-1201 et seq., enacted 2013) affirmatively contemplates private manufacture: K.S.A. 50-1204(a) declares that a personal firearm 'manufactured commercially or privately and owned in Kansas' that remains within Kansas is not subject to federal regulation under the interstate commerce power, and 50-1204(b) declares that imported component parts are not themselves firearms. 'Manufacture' is defined at K.S.A. 50-1203(c) as 'to assemble using multiple components to create a more useful finished product.' ONE STATE MARKING REQUIREMENT EXISTS, and it is a marking, not a serial number: K.S.A. 50-1205 provides that 'A firearm manufactured in Kansas within the meaning of K.S.A. 50-1201 through 50-1211 ... must have the words "Made in Kansas" clearly stamped on a central metallic part, such as the receiver or frame.' The statute attaches no penalty of its own; it is a condition of the SAPA framework. Separately, K.S.A. 21-6306 makes it a severity level 10 nonperson felony to intentionally change, alter, remove or obliterate the maker's name, model, manufacturer's number or other identifying mark on a firearm — that punishes DEFACING an existing marking, not the absence of one on a firearm you built. WHAT YOU MAY NOT BUILD: K.S.A. 21-6301(a)(5) makes manufacturing a shotgun with a barrel under 18 inches or a machine gun a severity level 9 nonperson felony, and 21-6301(a)(4) covers suppressors; K.S.A. 21-6301(h) exempts 'any person or entity in compliance with the national firearms act, 26 U.S.C. 5801 et seq.,' so NFA-registered items are lawful in Kansas. CRITICAL FEDERAL CAVEAT: the SAPA's declaration that intrastate-made firearms escape federal law has been rejected by the courts. In United States v. Cox, 906 F.3d 1170 (10th Cir. 2018), the Tenth Circuit held K.S.A. 50-1206/50-1207 do not bar enforcement of the National Firearms Act, and the district court held SAPA does not render the NFA unconstitutional (235 F. Supp. 3d 1221 (D. Kan. 2017)) and that reliance on Kansas officials' assurances is no entrapment-by-estoppel defense (187 F. Supp. 3d 1282 (D. Kan. 2016)). Federal law, including ATF's frame-and-receiver rule upheld in Garland v. VanDerStok (2025), governs independently of Kansas law. Do not treat 'Made in Kansas' as a federal safe harbor. |
| Kentucky | Allowed | No | Kentucky law contains NO prohibition on building a firearm for personal use, and NO state requirement to serialize or register a self-made firearm. A full review of KRS Chapter 527 (the criminal weapons chapter) on 2026-08-10 shows its offenses are: definitions (.010), carrying concealed (.020), defacing a firearm (.030), possession by a convicted felon (.040), possession of a defaced firearm (.050), forfeiture (.060), weapon on school property (.070), restricted ammunition (.080), fraudulent firearm transaction (.090), possession of a handgun by a minor (.100), providing a handgun to a juvenile (.110), and weapons of mass destruction (.200-.210). There is no section on manufacture, homemade or 3D-printed firearms, or unfinished frames/receivers. KRS 527.030 makes it a Class A misdemeanor to intentionally deface a firearm, and KRS 527.010 defines "deface" as to remove, deface, cover, alter, or destroy the MANUFACTURER'S serial number or other distinguishing mark — that prohibits erasing a serial number that already exists; it does not require a privately made firearm to bear one in the first place. KRS 65.870(1) bars every city, county, urban-county, consolidated/unified local government, special district, and local agency from occupying "any part of the field of regulation of the manufacture, sale, purchase, taxation, transfer, ownership, possession, carrying, storage, or transportation of firearms, ammunition, components of firearms, components of ammunition, firearms accessories," declares any such local ordinance null and void, strips sovereign immunity, and awards attorney and expert fees to a prevailing challenger — so no Kentucky city or county may impose a local ghost-gun or serialization ordinance. KRS 237.152 separately bars government lists or registries of privately owned firearms or their owners. A 2019 bill (HB 77) that would have criminalized additively manufactured/3D-printed firearms was introduced but never became law. CAVEAT: this conclusion rests on the ABSENCE of a state prohibition, not on an affirmative authorizing statute, and federal law still governs independently — the National Firearms Act, the Undetectable Firearms Act, the federal bar on manufacturing for sale or distribution without an FFL, ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F on frames/receivers, and the prohibition on a prohibited person making or possessing any firearm all continue to apply. |
| Louisiana | Allowed | No | Louisiana has no state statute prohibiting an individual from building a firearm for personal use, and no state law requiring a serial number or state registration on a self-made firearm. Primary-source basis: (1) R.S. 14:95.7(A) makes it a felony to receive, possess, carry, conceal, buy, sell, or transport a firearm 'from which the serial number or mark of identification has been obliterated' — but subsection (B) expressly provides that the section 'shall not apply to any firearm ... which was originally manufactured without such a number.' A never-serialized homemade firearm therefore falls outside the offense; obliterating an existing serial does not. (2) Louisiana's only firearm registration scheme, R.S. 40:1781 et seq., is an NFA-mirror: the defined 'firearm' covers short-barreled shotguns/rifles, weapons modified under 26 inches overall, machine guns, grenade/rocket launchers, bazookas, gas grenades, silencers/mufflers, and any concealable pistol/revolver/shotgun with an OBLITERATED serial number. R.S. 40:1781(3) then states that 'Pistols and revolvers and those rifles and shotguns which have not previously been defined in this Paragraph as firearms from which serial numbers or marks of identification have not been obliterated are specifically exempt from this definition.' An ordinary homemade pistol or rifle with no serial number is thus outside the registration Part. LSP's own FAQ confirms: 'Per LRS 40:1781(3), Louisiana law does not require registration of a concealable weapon unless the serial number is obliterated.' (3) R.S. 40:1785 prohibits possessing a Part-II 'firearm' not registered or transferred in accordance with 18 U.S.C. or 26 U.S.C. — so a homemade NFA-class item (suppressor, SBR, SBS, machine gun) still requires federal registration and is a state crime if unregistered federally. (4) R.S. 40:1796 preempts political subdivisions from regulating the manufacture, registration, or possession of firearms more restrictively than state law, so no parish or city may impose a serialization or registration requirement. CAVEATS: state permissiveness does not displace federal law. Manufacturing for sale or distribution requires a federal manufacturer's license; ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F treats certain unfinished frames/receivers as 'firearms' requiring serialization when transferred through a licensee; the Undetectable Firearms Act (18 U.S.C. 922(p)) bans firearms that cannot be detected by a walk-through metal detector; and anyone federally prohibited may not make or possess a firearm at all (R.S. 14:95.1, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)). I found no Louisiana act through the 2025 Regular Session imposing a serialization or registration requirement on privately made firearms. |
| Maine | Allowed | No | Maine has NO state statute prohibiting or regulating the manufacture of a firearm by a non-prohibited person for that person's own use, and NO state law requiring a serial number on a self-made firearm. I reviewed the full section index of Title 25 ch. 252 (2001-A through 2006, concealed weapons), Title 25 ch. 252-A (2011-2017: state preemption, safety brochure, CLEO certification, registry prohibition, gun shop project, waiting period, hold agreements), and Title 17-A ch. 43 (1051-1059: machine guns, armor-piercing ammunition, liquor establishments, courthouses, correctional facilities). None addresses self-manufacture, unfinished frames or receivers, 'ghost guns,' untraceable firearms, or serialization. Maine has no firearm registration: 25 M.R.S. 2014 provides that 'a government agency of this State or a political subdivision of this State may not keep or cause to be kept a comprehensive registry of privately owned firearms and the owners of those firearms within its jurisdiction.' 25 M.R.S. 2011 preempts municipal firearm regulation. FEDERAL LAW STILL CONTROLS AND IS THE BINDING CONSTRAINT: a prohibited person may not manufacture or possess any firearm; manufacturing for sale or distribution requires an FFL (18 U.S.C. 922(a)(1)(A)); NFA items require ATF approval; the Undetectable Firearms Act and 18 U.S.C. 922(r) apply; and ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F treats certain readily-completable frames/receivers sold commercially as firearms requiring serialization by the licensee. A privately made firearm built for personal use need not be serialized under federal law, but a licensed dealer who later takes it in must serialize it. This field reflects Maine state law only. |
| Maryland | Allowed | Yes | Maryland does not flatly ban making a firearm for personal use, but it has effectively closed the unserialized-homebuilt route. Under § 5-703(a) a person may not purchase, receive, sell, offer to sell, or transfer an unfinished frame or receiver unless it has been imprinted with a serial number by a federally licensed manufacturer or importer, so 80% kits and blank receivers cannot lawfully be acquired in Maryland unless already serialized. Under § 5-703(b), effective March 1, 2023, a person may not possess a firearm unless it either (i) bears a serial number imprinted by a federally licensed manufacturer/importer, or (ii) has been imprinted by a federally licensed DEALER with the current owner's zip code, the owner's initials, and a unique number not duplicating another of that owner's firearms, AND has been registered with the Secretary of State Police. § 5-704 directs the Secretary to maintain that registration system; the data is not open to public inspection. A narrow exemption lets a person who personally made an unfinished frame or receiver 'without the use of any prefabricated parts' possess it for up to 30 days - a grace window to get it serialized and registered, not a permanent exemption. Violating subsection (a) is a felony (up to 5 years and/or $10,000); violating subsection (b) is a misdemeanor (up to 2 years and/or $10,000). Practical result: a self-made or 3D-printed firearm must be taken to a federally licensed dealer for the statutory marking and then registered with MDSP. Keeping an unserialized, unregistered homebuilt firearm past 30 days is a crime. |
| Massachusetts | Allowed | Yes | Building a firearm for personal use is legal in Massachusetts ONLY if it is serialized and registered in advance/immediately, and the maker is properly licensed to possess that firearm (LTC for a handgun). M.G.L. c.140 §121C(c): "No person shall manufacture or assemble a privately made firearm without: (i) obtaining a unique serial number from the department of criminal justice information services PRIOR to manufacture or assembly; (ii) serializing the firearm with the obtained serial number DURING manufacture or assembly; and (iii) registering the firearm with the department of criminal justice information services in accordance with section 121B within 7 days of the firearm's manufacture or assembly." §121C(b) separately bans knowingly possessing, manufacturing, assembling, purchasing, selling, transferring or importing an untraceable firearm; new residents and estate heirs get 60 days to serialize, licensed dealers/gunsmiths/distributors/manufacturers 7 days. §121C(a) sets physical marking specs: conspicuously engraved, cast or permanently embedded on the frame or receiver, at least .003 inches deep and 1/16 inch print size, not readily obliterated; non-metallic firearms require a permanently embedded metal plate. §121C(d) requires privately made firearms to comply with applicable state and federal safety regulations. Serial numbers are requested and firearms registered through the DCJIS MIRCS Unified Gun Portal (https://gunportal.mass.gov/mircsUnifiedPortal/). The DCJIS FAQ confirms: "Massachusetts law requires all residents who manufacture a firearm... to register the firearm at the time of import, acquisition, manufacture, or assembly via the MIRCS Unified Gun Portal." §121C(g) exempts firearms being surrendered for destruction, in common-carrier transport, in transit with a non-resident owner, government property, federally licensed manufacturer production, and firearms made before October 22, 1968. So: home-built firearms are NOT prohibited outright, but an unserialized/unregistered self-made ('ghost') gun is illegal, and Massachusetts's assault-weapons and large-capacity-feeding-device restrictions still limit what may lawfully be built. |
| Michigan | Allowed | No | Michigan has NO 'ghost gun' / untraceable-firearm statute. A full-text search of Firearms Laws of Michigan (Legislative Service Bureau, April 2025 edition, supplemented through 2025 PA 2 — the state's own official compilation of every Michigan firearms statute) returns zero occurrences of 'untraceable', 'homemade', 'undetectable', or 'self-manufactured', and there is no offense of making or possessing an unserialized firearm. Building a firearm for one's own personal use is therefore not prohibited by Michigan law, and Michigan imposes no serialization requirement and no separate state registration of a self-made firearm. MCL 750.230 reaches only ALTERING a firearm that already bears identifying marks: a person who 'wilfully alter[s], remove[s], or obliterate[s] the name of the maker, model, manufacturer's number, or other mark of identity of a pistol or other firearm' commits a felony (up to 2 years / $1,000). That section's presumption from mere possession was held unconstitutional in People v Moore, 402 Mich 538 (1978). Independent limits still apply: Michigan bans machine guns, silencers, short-barreled rifles/shotguns and similar items (MCL 750.224, 750.224b) regardless of who made them, and federal law separately prohibits undetectable firearms (18 USC 922(p)) and manufacturing for sale or distribution without a federal license. IMPORTANT CAVEAT: MCL 28.422(1)(a) states that, except as otherwise provided, 'a person shall not... [p]urchase, carry, possess, or transport a pistol in this state without first having obtained a license for the pistol as prescribed in this section.' On its face that possession-license requirement is not limited to purchased pistols, but the entire licensing and pistol entry database mechanism in MCL 28.422 and 28.422a is transaction-based (the seller fills out and returns the license/record copy), and neither statute provides any procedure for a pistol with no seller. Michigan CPL holders and federally licensed dealers are exempt from the section 2 license requirement entirely under MCL 28.422a(1). No MSP guidance on self-manufactured pistols was located — see uncertainties. |
| Minnesota | Allowed | Yes | Building a firearm for personal use is not itself prohibited by Minnesota statute. There is no Minnesota law criminalizing self-manufacture, no state manufacturing license for personal (non-transfer) making, no statute on 'unfinished frames or receivers,' 3D-printed firearms, or 'untraceable firearms,' and no state firearm registration system. I confirmed this by reading the full section list of Minn. Stat. ch. 624 (dangerous weapons) — no such section exists — and the definitions in § 624.712, which define no such terms. BUT THE SERIAL-NUMBER RULE IS THE TRAP, AND IT IS A FELONY-LEVEL OFFENSE. Minn. Stat. § 609.667 ('FIREARMS; REMOVAL OR ALTERATION OF SERIAL NUMBER') provides in full: 'Whoever commits any of the following acts may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than five years or to payment of a fine of not more than $10,000, or both: (1) obliterates, removes, changes, or alters the serial number or other identification of a firearm; (2) receives or possesses a firearm, the serial number or other identification of which has been obliterated, removed, changed, or altered; or (3) receives or possesses a firearm that is not identified by a serial number.' Clause (3) means mere POSSESSION of an unserialized firearm — including one you built yourself — is punishable by up to five years. So while Minnesota permits you to build a firearm, the finished firearm must bear a serial number. The section adds: 'As used in this section, "serial number or other identification" means the serial number and other information required under United States Code, title 26, section 5842, for the identification of firearms.' History: 1994 c 636 art 3 s 22 — clause (3) is not a recent addition. Because Minnesota provides no state mechanism for assigning a serial number, a private maker must self-mark the firearm. Two honest caveats, both flagged in uncertainties: (a) the cross-reference to 26 U.S.C. § 5842 is the National Firearms Act identification provision, and I found no official Minnesota guidance or published construction resolving how clause (3) applies to privately made NON-NFA firearms; (b) the antiques/ornaments exemption at Minn. Stat. § 624.715 sits in chapter 624 and does not on its face reach § 609.667. Anyone contemplating this should get Minnesota-licensed legal advice rather than rely on a summary. |
| Mississippi | Allowed | No | Mississippi has no state licensing, registration, or permit requirement for building a firearm for one's own personal use, and no state serialization requirement. The clearest primary-source statement is Miss. Code Ann. § 45-9-101(18): 'Nothing in this section shall be construed to require or allow the registration, documentation or providing of serial numbers with regard to any stun gun or firearm.' Mississippi maintains no firearm registry. Miss. Const. art. 3, § 12 guarantees the right to keep and bear arms while reserving to the Legislature only the power to 'regulate or forbid carrying concealed weapons.' The Legislature's posture on in-state manufacture is illustrated by 2023 H.B. 912, which declares a firearm suppressor manufactured in Mississippi from basic materials and remaining in the state to be outside federal regulation and repeals the old § 97-37-31 misdemeanor for making or possessing a muffling device — BUT H.B. 912 carries a contingent effective date (Section 7) tied to a favorable U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Texas H.B. 957 in Paxton v. Richardson, or an Attorney General determination published in the Secretary of State's administrative bulletin; I could not confirm that contingency has been triggered, and DPS still publishes the pre-2023 text of § 97-37-1 that includes 'muffler or silencer.' Do not rely on H.B. 912 as being in force. FEDERAL LAW STILL CONTROLS AND IS THE REAL RISK: an unlicensed person may make a firearm for personal use only if it is not an NFA item (no machine gun under 18 U.S.C. § 922(o), and any short-barreled rifle/shotgun, suppressor or destructive device requires an approved ATF Form 1 and $200 tax before manufacture); the maker must not be a prohibited person; manufacturing with intent to sell requires a federal license; and ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F treats certain partially complete frames/receivers and parts kits as 'firearms' requiring licensed-dealer serialization and a background check. A self-made firearm that is not serialized generally cannot lawfully be transferred to another person without first being marked. Building a machine gun, or an unregistered short-barreled weapon or suppressor, is a federal felony regardless of Mississippi law. |
| Missouri | Allowed | No | Missouri law is silent on building a firearm for personal use, and silence means it is permitted. RSMo 571.020 - the only Missouri statute restricting the manufacture of weapons - reaches only specific categories: explosive weapons, gas guns, armor-piercing and exploding projectiles, knuckles, and items regulated under the National Firearms Act (machine guns, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, silencers, switchblades). It contains nothing about ordinary handguns or rifles built for personal use. There is NO Missouri statute requiring a serial number on a self-made firearm, no state registration of firearms of any kind, and no state regulation of unfinished frames or receivers or of so-called 'ghost guns'. RSMo 571.045 (defacing a firearm, a class A misdemeanor) and RSMo 571.050 (possessing a defaced firearm) prohibit only altering or destroying identifying marks on a firearm that already has them - they do not impose an affirmative duty to serialize a firearm that never had a serial number. Missouri also broadly preempts local firearm ordinances, so cities and counties cannot impose their own serialization rules. SEPARATE FEDERAL LAW STILL APPLIES: a non-licensee may generally make a firearm for personal use without a serial number under federal law, but may not manufacture for sale or distribution without an FFL, may not make an NFA item without ATF approval, and may not make a firearm that is undetectable or otherwise prohibited. ATF's 2022 frame-and-receiver rule means commercially sold 'buy-build-shoot' kits and readily convertible frames/receivers are themselves firearms that must be serialized by the seller. |
| Montana | Allowed | No | Montana law permits building a firearm for personal use. There is no Montana statute prohibiting private manufacture, and no Montana statute requiring a serial number, state registration, or a background check for a self-made firearm. MCA 30-20-104 (Montana Firearms Freedom Act, enacted 2009) expressly contemplates 'A personal firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition that is manufactured commercially or PRIVATELY in Montana,' and declares that such an item, if it remains within Montana's borders, 'is not subject to federal law or federal regulation, including registration.' The Act reaches only firearms made in Montana from basic materials (unmachined steel, unshaped wood) without significant imported parts. MCA 30-20-105 carves out firearms that cannot be carried and used by one person, bores over 1-1/2 inches using smokeless powder, exploding-projectile ammunition, and firearms that discharge two or more projectiles per trigger pull. MCA 30-20-106 imposes the Act's only marking requirement - and it is a marking, not a serial number: 'A firearm manufactured or sold in Montana under this part must have the words "Made in Montana" clearly stamped on a central metallic part, such as the receiver or frame.' A full search of MCA Title 45, ch. 8, part 3 (sections 45-8-301 through 45-8-377) found no provision criminalizing an unserialized or self-manufactured firearm. Montana's separate weapon crimes remain applicable regardless of who made the gun: MCA 45-8-313 (possession of firearm by convicted person), 45-8-334 (destructive device), 45-8-336/337 (silencers), and 45-8-340 (sawed-off firearm). CRITICAL FEDERAL CAVEAT: the Montana Firearms Freedom Act is a state-law declaration about the limits of the federal commerce power; it does NOT and cannot repeal federal law. Federal law governs privately made firearms independently - including the National Firearms Act, the federal prohibition on manufacturing for sale without a license, the federal undetectable-firearms statute (18 U.S.C. 922(p)), and ATF marking and 'firearm frame or receiver' rules. Federal courts have rejected the MFFA's central premise (see uncertainties). Do not treat MCA 30-20-104 as a shield against federal prosecution. |
| Nebraska | Allowed | No | Nebraska has NO statute prohibiting or regulating the manufacture of a firearm for personal use, no 'ghost gun' or unfinished-frame/receiver law, no state serialization mandate, and no firearm registry. A section-by-section review of Chapter 28, Article 12 (Firearms and Weapons), sections 28-1201 through 28-1225, found no provision addressing self-manufacture, undetectable firearms, unfinished frames or receivers, or registration. This is lawful by ABSENCE of prohibition rather than by an affirmative statutory grant — a weaker basis than a citation. What Nebraska DOES criminalize: intentionally removing, defacing, covering, altering, or destroying a manufacturer's identification mark, serial number, or other distinguishing number on a firearm, and knowingly possessing, receiving, selling, or leasing a firearm whose serial number has been removed or defaced — each a Class III FELONY (28-1207, 28-1208). By their terms these reach a firearm that HAD a serial number which was removed, not one that never bore a number; that reading is textual and was not confirmed against Nebraska case law. Federal law applies independently: a prohibited person may not manufacture or possess any firearm; NFA items require ATF approval; a self-made firearm may not be manufactured for sale without a license; and ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F governs commercially sold frames, receivers, and kits. |
| Nevada | Prohibited | Yes | Nevada effectively PROHIBITS building a firearm for personal use. NRS 202.3635(1): 'A person shall not manufacture or cause to be manufactured or assemble or cause to be assembled a firearm that is not imprinted with a serial number issued by a firearms importer or manufacturer in accordance with federal law and any regulations adopted thereunder' unless the firearm (a) has been rendered permanently inoperable, (b) is an antique firearm, or (c) has been determined to be a collector's item under 26 U.S.C. Chapter 53 or a curio or relic under 18 U.S.C. Chapter 44. 'Assemble' means 'to fit together component parts'; 'manufacture' means 'to fabricate, make, form, produce or construct by manual labor or machinery.' Because a private individual is not a federally licensed importer or manufacturer and cannot issue such a serial number, an unlicensed person cannot lawfully build a firearm in Nevada. Penalty: gross misdemeanor for a first offense; CATEGORY D FELONY for a second or subsequent offense (NRS 193.130). Supporting provisions: NRS 202.363(1) bars possessing, purchasing, transporting or receiving an unfinished frame or receiver unless the person is a firearms importer or manufacturer or the unfinished frame/receiver is federally required to be, and has been, imprinted with a serial number -- so acquiring an '80% receiver' is itself unlawful. NRS 202.3625(1) bars selling, offering to sell or transferring an unfinished frame or receiver on parallel terms. NRS 202.364(1) bars possessing, selling, offering to sell, transferring, purchasing, transporting or receiving any firearm without a serial number, except by a law enforcement agency or a firearms importer/manufacturer, or where the firearm has been rendered permanently inoperable, was manufactured before 1969, is an antique firearm, or is a collector's item/curio or relic. Each carries the same gross-misdemeanor-then-category-D-felony penalty. NRS 202.3645 created a one-time wind-down allowing sale of unfinished frames/receivers or unserialized firearms to importers, manufacturers or licensed dealers before January 1, 2022; that window has closed. SERIALIZATION vs REGISTRATION: these statutes require a federally issued serial number on the firearm; they do not create a state firearm registry, and nothing in NRS 202.3625-202.3645 provides a mechanism for a private individual to apply to Nevada for a serial number on a self-made firearm. The pre-1969 exception in NRS 202.364(1)(b)(2) applies to POSSESSION of an unserialized firearm, not to newly manufacturing one. |
| New Hampshire | Allowed | No | New Hampshire law is SILENT on the personal manufacture of firearms, so it is lawful by default for a person not otherwise prohibited from possessing a firearm. I verified this by pulling the complete section list of RSA chapter 159 and the chapter list of Title XII: there is no section anywhere addressing firearm manufacture, home-built or 'ghost' guns, unfinished frames or receivers, or a serialization/registration mandate. Title XII's firearm chapters are 159 (Pistols and Revolvers), 159-A (Purchase of Shotguns and Rifles), 159-B (Shooting Ranges), 159-C (Sale of Handguns; Criminal Record Check), 159-D (Criminal Background Checks), 159-E (Presidential Executive Orders and Statutory Law Relating to the Right to Keep and Bear Arms), and 159-F (Firearm Purchaser's Privacy) -- none regulates manufacture. NO STATE SERIAL NUMBER OR REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED on a self-made firearm; New Hampshire operates no firearm registry at all. Note carefully what RSA 159:13 (Changing Marks) does and does not do: it prohibits changing, altering, removing or obliterating 'the name of the maker, model, manufacturer's number or other mark of identification on any pistol or revolver' (misdemeanor, with possession of such a firearm being presumptive evidence the possessor did it). That is a defacement offense applying to marks that already exist on a manufactured firearm -- it does not impose an affirmative duty to serialize a firearm you build yourself, which by definition never bore a manufacturer's mark. RSA 159:26 preempts political subdivisions from regulating firearms, firearms components, or firearms supplies, so no NH city or town may impose its own home-manufacture or serialization rule. FEDERAL LAW STILL GOVERNS INDEPENDENTLY and is the real constraint: personal manufacture for one's own use by a non-prohibited person is federally permitted without a license or serial number, but the Undetectable Firearms Act, the National Firearms Act (short-barreled and automatic weapons), and the prohibition on manufacturing for sale/distribution without an FFL all continue to apply, as does ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F where a commercial transaction is involved. |
| New Jersey | Prohibited | Yes | New Jersey effectively prohibits building a firearm for personal use. Four independent bars, all from the official statute text: (1) 2C:39-9(d) — any person who manufactures or causes to be manufactured a firearm 'if he is not licensed or registered to do so as provided in chapter 58 of Title 2C' is guilty of a crime of the fourth degree. There is no personal-use exception. (2) 2C:39-9(k) — 'Purchasing firearm parts to manufacture a firearm without a serial number': a person who, with purpose to manufacture or assemble a firearm and without being registered or licensed to do so, obtains (separately or as a kit) a frame or receiver not imprinted with a serial number registered with a federally licensed manufacturer, or any combination of parts from which an unserialized firearm may readily be assembled, is guilty of a crime of the SECOND degree, and that conviction does not merge with any other offense. 'Firearm frame or receiver' expressly includes unfinished blanks 'which may readily be made into a firearm frame or receiver through milling or other means' (80% receivers). (3) 2C:39-9(l) — using a 3D printer or similar device to manufacture a firearm, receiver, magazine or component without being a licensed manufacturer is a second-degree crime, as is distributing CAD files or digital instructions for doing so to an unlicensed person in New Jersey. (4) 2C:39-9(n) — transporting, shipping, selling or disposing of a firearm assembled from such an unserialized frame/receiver is a second-degree crime. Note the penalty escalation: subsections k, l, m and n were third-degree crimes as enacted by P.L.2018, c.138 and are second-degree crimes in the current statute (amendment history: 2018, c.138; 2019, c.165; 2022, c.53; 2025, c.363). Separately, 2C:39-9(e) makes defacing a firearm (removing/altering the serial number) a third-degree crime. There is no state registry or serialization procedure by which a private individual can lawfully serialize and register a self-made firearm — the lawful path requires becoming a licensed/registered manufacturer under N.J.S.A. 2C:58-1 et seq. |
| New Mexico | Allowed | No | New Mexico has no state law prohibiting a non-prohibited person from building a firearm for personal use, no state serialization mandate for a self-made firearm, and no state firearm registry of any kind. This is a finding of the ABSENCE of state law, not an affirmative state authorization — federal law fully controls. Under federal law an unlicensed person may make a firearm for personal use (not for sale or distribution) without marking it with a serial number, but it must not be a National Firearms Act item (machine gun, short-barreled rifle/shotgun, suppressor, destructive device) absent ATF approval, must comply with the Undetectable Firearms Act (18 U.S.C. § 922(p)), and the maker must not be prohibited under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F (effective Aug. 24, 2022, upheld in Garland v. VanDerStok, 2025) also treats many partially complete frames/receivers and weapon parts kits as 'firearms' subject to federal licensing, serialization and background-check requirements when sold commercially — a federal constraint on kits, not a New Mexico rule. Related New Mexico provisions that apply to acquiring rather than making a firearm: NMSA 30-7-7.1 (unlawful sale of a firearm without a background check) and NMSA 30-7-7.3 (seven-day waiting period on the sale/transfer of a firearm, effective May 15, 2024; concealed handgun license holders are exempt). NMSA 30-7-3.1, added by Laws 2025, makes knowing possession of an unlawfully obtained 'weapon conversion device' (e.g. an auto sear or 'switch') a third-degree felony — relevant if a home build involves such a device. |
| New York | Prohibited | Yes | New York effectively prohibits building a firearm for personal use. Penal Law § 265.10(1) makes it a CLASS D FELONY for 'any person who manufactures or causes to be manufactured any machine-gun, ghost gun, unfinished frame or receiver, firearm silencer, major component of a firearm, assault weapon, large capacity ammunition feeding device or disguised gun' — the subdivision contains no exemption for personal or non-commercial manufacture; Article 265's exemptions run to licensed gunsmiths and dealers. A 'ghost gun' is defined in § 265.00 as 'a firearm, rifle or shotgun that does not comply with the provisions of section 265.07 of this article and is not serialized,' and an 'unfinished frame or receiver' is 'any unserialized material that does not constitute the frame or receiver of a firearm ... but that has been shaped or formed in any way for the purpose of becoming the frame or receiver ... and which may readily be made into a functional frame or receiver through milling, drilling or other means.' Mere POSSESSION is also criminal: § 265.01(9-B) (possession of a ghost gun) and § 265.01(10) (possession of an unserialized frame or receiver) are class A misdemeanors for anyone who is not a licensed gunsmith or dealer. Selling escalates sharply — §§ 265.60/265.61 (ghost guns) and §§ 265.63/265.64 (frames/receivers) are class E and class D felonies. Serialization is mandatory and CANNOT be done by the builder: § 265.07 requires a unique serial number be engraved, cast or stamped on the item, and authorizes only 'any person licensed as a gunsmith, or required to be, or a dealer in firearms pursuant to section 400.00' to do it; violation is a class E felony. Separately, any handgun a New Yorker lawfully possesses must be listed on their § 400.00 pistol license via amendment, so even a hypothetically serialized self-built handgun could not be lawfully possessed without adding it to the license. Bottom line: home-building a firearm in New York is a felony, not a regulated-but-legal activity — do not rely on federal 'personal use' manufacture allowances here. Note § 265.10 was amended effective August 25, 2026; the prohibition exists in both versions but verify the operative enumerated list for conduct near that date. |
| North Carolina | Allowed | No | North Carolina has NO state statute prohibiting an otherwise non-prohibited adult from building a firearm for personal use, and NO state statute requiring a serial number, state registration, or marking on a self-made firearm. NC has not enacted a 'ghost gun' / unserialized-firearm law. The two nearby statutes do not change this: (1) G.S. 14-409 makes it unlawful to 'manufacture, sell, give away, dispose of, use or possess machine guns, submachine guns' and similar automatic weapons, subject to exceptions for lawful possession under 26 U.S.C. Chapter 53 with a sheriff permit, for scientific/experimental purposes, and for pre-existing historical relics - so building a machine gun is barred, but ordinary semiautomatic and manually operated firearms are untouched. (2) G.S. 14-160.2 only prohibits altering, defacing, destroying or removing a permanent serial number or other identification mark with intent to conceal identity, and possessing a firearm whose mark has been so altered; it presupposes a mark already exists and does not mandate that one be applied in the first instance. Article 53 of Chapter 14 (G.S. 14-409.1 through 14-409.9) was repealed in its entirety by S.L. 1995, c. 487, s. 4 and contains nothing on the subject. FEDERAL LAW STILL CONTROLS AND IS THE BINDING CONSTRAINT: a person may build a firearm for personal use without a license, but may not manufacture for sale or distribution without an FFL, may not build an NFA item without prior ATF approval, may not build an undetectable firearm (18 U.S.C. 922(p)), and may not build one at all if prohibited under 18 U.S.C. 922(g). ATF's 2022 frame-or-receiver rule (2021R-05F) governs commercially sold kits. Verify current federal requirements independently; this field describes NORTH CAROLINA law only. |
| North Dakota | Allowed | No | North Dakota has no state law against building a firearm for one's own personal use, and no state statute requires serialization, marking, or registration of a self-manufactured firearm. This conclusion is drawn from a full text search of every chapter of Title 62.1 (62.1-01 through 62.1-05, current code PDFs last modified 2026-04-09) for 'manufactur', 'serial', 'assemble', 'homemade', 'personal use', 'untraceable', and 'undetectable' — the only substantive hits were definitional references to antique firearms and to federally licensed collectors/dealers/importers/manufacturers. It is an assertion of a negative rather than an affirmative authorization: no ND statute expressly grants a right to self-manufacture either. Two important limits do apply. (1) N.D.C.C. § 62.1-03-05 makes it an offense to 'change, alter, remove, or obliterate any mark of identification on a firearm, including the name of the maker, model, or manufacturer's number,' or to knowingly possess a firearm so altered; possession of such a firearm creates a rebuttable presumption that the possessor made the alteration. Violation is a class A misdemeanor (§ 62.1-03-06). This restricts defacing an existing serial number but does not impose a marking duty on a firearm built without one. (2) Federal law is unaffected — the National Firearms Act, the Undetectable Firearms Act, the prohibition on manufacturing for sale or distribution without an FFL, and ATF's 2022 frame-and-receiver rule (27 C.F.R. pts. 447, 478, 479) all continue to apply independently of state law. N.D.C.C. § 62.1-01-03 preempts political subdivisions from enacting firearms ordinances more restrictive than state law, so no ND city or county may impose its own self-manufacture or serialization requirement. |
| Ohio | Allowed | No | Ohio law affirmatively protects private manufacture and imposes no state serialization or registration requirement on a self-made firearm. ORC 9.68(A) (firearms preemption) states that, except as specifically provided by the U.S. or Ohio Constitution or state or federal law, "a person, without further license, permission, restriction, delay, or process ... may own, possess, purchase, acquire, transport, store, carry, sell, transfer, MANUFACTURE, or keep any firearm, part of a firearm, its components, and its ammunition" — and the same section forecloses any local ordinance, rule, or resolution to the contrary. There is no Ohio statute requiring a serial number on, or registration of, a privately made firearm. Ohio's serial-number statute, ORC 2923.201 (possessing a defaced firearm), only punishes changing, altering, removing, or obliterating a manufacturer's identification mark, and possessing a firearm known to be so defaced; it expressly provides that division (A) "does not apply to any firearm on which no manufacturer's serial number was inscribed at the time of its manufacture" — so a never-serialized homemade gun is not a defaced firearm. TWO REAL LIMITS. (1) ZIP-GUN / DANGEROUS ORDNANCE, A FELONY: ORC 2923.11(G)(1) defines a "zip-gun" to include "any firearm of crude and extemporized manufacture," and also any non-firearm device (e.g., a starter's pistol) specially adapted for use as a firearm, and any industrial/signalling/safety tool capable of use as a firearm when possessed, carried, or used as one. ORC 2923.11(K)(1) classifies a zip-gun as "dangerous ordnance," and ORC 2923.17(A) makes it an offense to knowingly acquire, have, carry, or use dangerous ordnance — unlawful possession of dangerous ordnance is a felony of the fifth degree. A cleanly built firearm made from a commercial receiver blank or from quality parts is generally not "of crude and extemporized manufacture," but the line is fact-specific and prosecutors have charged crude builds. A homemade suppressor is separately dangerous ordnance under ORC 2923.11(K)(5). Note also that a concealed handgun that is a "restricted firearm" (i.e., dangerous ordnance) may never be carried under ORC 2923.111. (2) FEDERAL LAW STILL APPLIES: ORC 9.68 is expressly subject to federal law. Under federal law a non-prohibited person may build a firearm for personal use without a license, but may not manufacture for sale or distribution without an FFL, may not build an NFA item without prior ATF approval, and — under ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F (effective Aug. 24, 2022) — a privately made firearm must be serialized by a licensee before any transfer, and before a gunsmith/dealer may take it into inventory. |
| Oklahoma | Allowed | No | Oklahoma has no state statute prohibiting a person who may lawfully possess a firearm from building one for personal use, and no state statute requiring a serial number, marking, or state registration on a self-made firearm. The affirmative statutory hook is 21 O.S. § 1290.12(B): "Nothing contained in any provision of the Oklahoma Self-Defense Act shall be construed to require or authorize the registration, documentation or providing of serial numbers with regard to any firearm." Oklahoma maintains no firearm registry. State preemption under 21 O.S. § 1289.24 bars municipalities and other political subdivisions from adopting any ordinance concerning "the sale, purchase, purchase delay, transfer, ownership, use, keeping, possession, carrying, bearing, transportation, licensing, permit, registration, taxation ... or other controls on firearms, knives, components, ammunition and supplies," so no Oklahoma city may impose a local serialization or homemade-firearm rule. The Second Amendment Sanctuary State Act (§§ 1289.24d-1289.24e) declares further state preemption of the field. FEDERAL LAW STILL CONTROLS AND IS THE REAL CONSTRAINT: the firearm must be for personal use and not for sale or distribution; the maker must not be a prohibited person; the National Firearms Act still governs short-barreled rifles/shotguns, suppressors and destructive devices (ATF Form 1 approval and marking required BEFORE making); 18 U.S.C. § 922(o) bars making a machine gun; the Undetectable Firearms Act applies; and ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F governs frames/receivers, split-receiver kits, and marking of privately made firearms taken into a licensee's inventory. Nothing in Oklahoma law displaces any of that. |
| Oregon | Allowed | Yes | Oregon has no statute that criminalizes the act of building a firearm for personal use as such, but HB 2005 (2021) made it effectively impossible to build and keep an unserialized one. ORS 166.266(1): 'A person may not knowingly possess, offer for sale, sell or transfer a firearm unless the firearm has been imprinted with a serial number by a federally licensed firearm manufacturer, importer or dealer, or a gunsmith with a federal firearms license, in accordance with federal law.' Critically, a private builder may NOT self-apply a serial number -- the imprinting must be done by an FFL. Exceptions in ORS 166.266(2): antique firearms; firearms manufactured before October 22, 1968; firearms rendered permanently inoperable; transactions by or possession by a person licensed under 18 U.S.C. 923; and a gunsmith taking possession solely to imprint the serial number. Penalties escalate under ORS 166.266(3): Class B violation for a first offense, Class A misdemeanor with one prior conviction under ORS 166.265/166.266/166.267, Class B felony with two or more priors. ORS 166.267 separately bars importing, selling or transferring an unfinished frame or receiver unless the person is an FFL dealer and the manufacturer's name and an individual serial number are conspicuously placed on it, and bars knowing POSSESSION of an unserialized unfinished frame or receiver except by a federally licensed manufacturer where it is an unfinished part within a serializing manufacturing process -- so the 80% receiver supply chain is closed. ORS 166.265 makes manufacturing, importing, offering, selling or transferring an undetectable firearm a Class B felony and possession a Class A misdemeanor (Class B felony with a prior), with forfeiture. Bottom line: you may assemble a firearm for personal use, but to possess it lawfully it must bear a serial number imprinted by an FFL manufacturer, importer, dealer or FFL gunsmith. There is no state firearm registration and no requirement to register a self-made firearm with any Oregon agency -- the requirement is serialization, not registration. |
| Pennsylvania | Allowed | No | Pennsylvania has no statute prohibiting a non-prohibited adult from building a firearm for personal use, and no statute requiring a serial number or state registration on a self-made firearm. Verified by full-text review of Chapter 61 (Uniform Firearms Act): the words 'untraceable', 'unfinished', 'self-manufactured', 'personally made' and 'ghost' appear nowhere in the chapter, and no serialization mandate exists. Manufacture is restricted only as to PROHIBITED PERSONS — § 6105 is titled 'persons not to possess, use, manufacture, control, sell or transfer firearms', so a person disqualified under § 6105 may not manufacture one. No registry is permitted: § 6111.4 provides that 'nothing in this chapter shall be construed to allow any government or law enforcement agency or any agent thereof to create, maintain or operate any registry of firearm ownership within this Commonwealth,' expressly including frames and receivers. So there is no state registration of any firearm, homemade or not. IMPORTANT ADJACENT FELONY: § 6110.2 makes it a FELONY OF THE SECOND DEGREE to possess a firearm whose manufacturer's number integral to the frame or receiver 'has had ... altered, changed, removed or obliterated.' By its terms this addresses defacing an existing number rather than a firearm that never bore one, but that distinction as applied to homemade firearms is a matter of Pennsylvania case law that was not confirmed against a primary source here. Do not remove or deface any existing serial number. § 6120 preempts counties and municipalities from regulating lawful firearm ownership, possession, transfer or transportation, which has been the basis for challenges to local ghost-gun ordinances (e.g. Philadelphia). SEPARATELY, FEDERAL LAW STILL APPLIES and is not addressed by any of the above: making a firearm for personal use without a license is generally permissible federally, but ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F treats certain unfinished frames/receivers and parts kits as firearms requiring serialization and a licensed transfer, the Undetectable Firearms Act applies, and building with intent to sell requires an FFL. State silence is not federal permission. |
| Rhode Island | Prohibited | Yes | Rhode Island bans ghost guns outright. § 11-47-8(e): "No person shall manufacture, sell, offer to sell, transfer, purchase, possess, or have under his or her control a ghost gun or an undetectable firearm or any firearm produced by a 3D printing process," punishable by imprisonment up to ten (10) years and/or a fine up to $10,000. The sole exception is for federally licensed manufacturers holding an ATF Type 07 FFL. § 11-47-2(9) defines "ghost gun" as "a firearm, including a frame or receiver, that lacks a unique serial number engraved or cased in metal alloy on the frame or receiver by a licensed manufacturer, maker, or importer under federal law or markings in accordance with 27 C.F.R. § 479.102," excluding a firearm rendered permanently inoperable "or a firearm that is not required to have a serial number in accordance with the federal Gun Control Act of 1968." Because the required serial must be applied BY a federally licensed manufacturer, maker, or importer — which a private individual building a gun for personal use is not — there is no practical lawful route for an unlicensed Rhode Islander to build a firearm for personal use; anyone wishing to manufacture must obtain a Type 07 FFL. Separately, effective July 1, 2026, § 11-47.2-2(a) provides that "No person shall manufacture, sell, offer to sell, transfer, or purchase a prohibited firearm" (Rhode Island's assault-weapons law), punishable by up to ten years' imprisonment and/or $10,000 plus forfeiture; that chapter restricts manufacture and transfer but does not by its terms criminalize continued lawful possession. Rhode Island maintains no firearm registry — § 11-47-41 is titled "Government firearm registration prohibited" — so there is no state registration of a self-made firearm; the serialization requirement is a criminal prohibition, not a registration scheme. |
| South Carolina | Allowed | No | Building a firearm for one's own use is not prohibited by South Carolina law, and South Carolina imposes no state serialization or registration requirement on a self-made firearm. Two qualifications. First, § 16-23-30(C) is drafted as a removal/obliteration offense — it reaches a handgun that HAD an "original serial number" that was taken off; it does not on its face require a serial on a firearm privately made without one. No South Carolina appellate decision squarely resolving that point could be located, so treat it as an untested reading rather than settled law. Second, state silence is not the whole picture — federal law still governs: a non-licensee may make a firearm for personal use, but not an NFA-regulated firearm without ATF approval, not one violating the Undetectable Firearms Act (18 U.S.C. § 922(p)), and not with intent to sell; ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F treats certain readily-completable frame/receiver kits as firearms requiring a licensed transfer with a serial. South Carolina's own machine gun and sawed-off shotgun/rifle restrictions (§ 16-23-210 et seq.) apply independently. Local governments cannot add rules: § 23-31-510 preempts county, municipal and other political-subdivision ordinances regulating "the transfer, ownership, possession, carrying, or transportation of firearms, ammunition, components of firearms, or any combination of these things." |
| South Dakota | Allowed | No | South Dakota state law does not prohibit an individual from building or assembling a firearm for personal use, and imposes NO state serialization, marking, or registration requirement on a self-made firearm. This conclusion rests on the absence of any prohibition rather than on an affirmative authorizing statute: a full scan of SDCL ch. 22-14 (Unlawful Use of Weapons) and ch. 23-7 (Firearms Control) found no provision addressing privately made, homemade, 3D-printed, or unserialized firearms, and no manufacturing licence requirement for personal (non-commercial) making. The only serial-number offense is SDCL 22-14-5: "Any person who possesses any firearm on which the MANUFACTURER'S serial number has been changed, altered, removed, or obliterated is guilty of a Class 6 felony" (exception for a person who has applied for a new number under SDCL 23-7-43, under which the DCI director will engrave or stamp a new serial number on request). By its terms that statute reaches the defacement of an existing manufacturer's serial number, not the absence of a serial number on a firearm that was never commercially manufactured. There is also no state firearms registry - SDCL 23-7-8.6 bars any state agency or political subdivision from keeping "any list, record, or registry of privately owned firearms" or of their owners. Local governments are preempted from restricting the "manufacture" of firearms (SDCL 7-18A-36, 8-5-13, 9-19-20). IMPORTANT LIMITS: (1) Making an NFA-type "controlled weapon" is a Class 6 felony under SDCL 22-14-6 unless the maker "has a federal license issued pursuant to law for the weapon or has registered the weapon with the proper federal authority pursuant to law" - so a home-built machine gun or short shotgun without federal approval (ATF Form 1) is a South Dakota felony. As amended by SL 2026, ch 96, SDCL 22-1-2(8) now defines "controlled weapon" as "a machine gun and short shotgun, but does not include a firearm silencer," so firearm silencers are no longer a controlled weapon under South Dakota law (federal NFA requirements are unaffected). (2) Independent federal law still governs: an unlicensed person may generally make a firearm for personal use but not for sale or distribution, the Undetectable Firearms Act applies, and NFA making requires prior ATF approval. |
| Tennessee | Allowed | No | Tennessee has no statute criminalizing the manufacture or assembly of a firearm for personal use by a non-prohibited person, no state firearm registration, and no general state requirement that a self-made firearm bear a serial number. I found no Tennessee 'ghost gun' / unfinished-frame-or-receiver serialization law. The Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act affirmatively contemplates private manufacture: '[a] personal firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition that is manufactured commercially or privately in Tennessee and that remains within the borders of Tennessee is not subject to federal law or federal regulation, including registration.' 'Manufactured' is defined as 'creating a firearm... from basic materials for functional usefulness, including but not limited to forging, casting, machining, or other processes for working materials.' TWO QUALIFIERS. (1) There IS a marking requirement, but only for firearms claiming the Act's exemption: 'A firearm manufactured or sold in Tennessee under this chapter must have the words "Made in Tennessee" clearly stamped on a central metallic part, such as the receiver or frame.' That is a state-of-origin stamp, not a serial number. The Act does not apply to a firearm that cannot be carried and used by one person, a firearm with a bore over 1.5 inches using smokeless powder, exploding-projectile ammunition, or a firearm that discharges two or more projectiles with one trigger activation. (2) THE ACT'S CORE CLAIM IS NOT GOOD LAW AGAINST THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. Federal courts have rejected identical Firearms Freedom Acts from other states; the Gun Control Act, the National Firearms Act, and current ATF frame-and-receiver rules continue to apply in Tennessee regardless of the Act's declaration. Do not rely on it as a defense to a federal charge. Building a machine gun, short-barreled rifle or shotgun, or suppressor remains governed by federal law and by T.C.A. § 39-17-1302, and manufacturing for sale or transfer can trigger federal manufacturer/dealer licensing and serialization duties. |
| Texas | Allowed | No | Texas has no statute prohibiting an eligible person from building or assembling a firearm for personal use, and no state serial-number, marking, or registration requirement for a self-made firearm. A full-text review of the current Texas Penal Code ch. 46 (Weapons) turns up no occurrence of "serial," no unfinished-frame/receiver provision, and no state firearms registry provision. The only manufacturing prohibition is § 46.05, which makes it an offense to intentionally or knowingly possess, MANUFACTURE, transport, repair, or sell an explosive weapon, machine gun, short-barrel firearm, armor-piercing ammunition, a chemical dispensing device, a zip gun, a tire deflation device, or an improvised explosive device — unless the item is registered in the federal National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record or is otherwise not subject to that requirement. (H.B. 957, 87th Leg., 2021, repealed the firearm-silencer entry from § 46.05, so suppressors are no longer a Texas prohibited weapon.) Building a machine gun or short-barrel firearm at home therefore remains a Texas felony absent NFA registration. FEDERAL law applies independently regardless of Texas law: the National Firearms Act, 18 U.S.C. § 922(o) (machine guns), § 922(p) (undetectable firearms), § 922(r), the prohibition on manufacturing for sale without an FFL, and ATF's frame/receiver rule. Texas also broadly preempts local firearm regulation (Tex. Local Gov't Code § 229.001), so cities and counties may not impose their own serialization or registration rules. |
| Utah | Allowed | No | Utah has no statute prohibiting an individual from building a firearm for personal use, and no statute requiring a self-made firearm to bear a serial number or be registered with the state. Utah affirmatively legislates in favor of state-made firearms: Title 53, Chapter 5a, Part 4 (Utah State-Made Firearms Protections) declares in § 53-5a-402 that a personal firearm, action, receiver, accessory, or ammunition manufactured in Utah to be used or sold within Utah 'is not subject to federal law or federal regulation,' and § 53-5a-403 applies that Part to firearms made in-state from basic materials without significant imported parts (excluding crew-served firearms, bores over 1-1/2 inches using smokeless powder, firearms discharging two or more projectiles per trigger pull other than shotguns, and chemically-explosive projectiles). Serialization: there is no general mandate. § 53-5a-105(1) provides only that the department 'upon request, may assign' a distinguishing number to a handgun that lacks a manufacturer's number - voluntary, not required. TRAP WORTH FLAGGING: § 53-5a-105(2) makes it a CLASS A MISDEMEANOR for an individual to place or stamp any identification mark or distinguishing number on a handgun other than one assigned by the department (exceptions: department-authorized restoration of an original marking by the owner, a manufacturer marking a new handgun in the ordinary course of business, and antique firearms). So a home builder who wants a number on a self-made handgun should request one from DPS rather than invent and stamp one. Separately, § 53-5a-404 requires that a firearm, action, or receiver 'manufactured or sold in Utah under this part' be stamped 'Made in Utah' or 'Made in UT' on a central metallic part such as the receiver or frame - this marking obligation attaches to firearms made under the Part 4 intrastate regime, not to every home-built gun generally. TWO SERIOUS FEDERAL CAVEATS: (1) Part 4's premise that in-state manufacture escapes federal jurisdiction is a Firearms Freedom Act-style provision; materially identical state laws have been rejected by the federal courts, and federal law (18 U.S.C. ch. 44, including the licensing requirement for manufacturing for sale or distribution, the National Firearms Act, and ATF's 2022 frame-or-receiver rule) continues to apply regardless of what Utah says. Do not treat § 53-5a-402 as a shield against federal prosecution. (2) A prohibited person may not build or possess a firearm under either Utah law (Title 76, Chapter 11, Part 3) or federal law. |
| Vermont | Allowed | Yes | ALLOWED BUT SERIALIZATION IS MANDATORY — and this is recent law that post-dates most published guides. Vermont does not forbid an individual from building a firearm for personal use, but since February 28, 2025 the Vermont Ghost Guns Act makes the finished product unlawful unless it bears a serial number applied by a federal firearms licensee. Specifically, 13 V.S.A. § 4083(c)(1): 'A person who manufactures a firearm or frame or receiver of a firearm, including by a three-dimensional printer, shall cause the firearm, frame, or receiver to be imprinted with a serial number by a federal firearms licensee pursuant to federal law or section 4084 of this title.' Federally licensed manufacturers acting within their license are exempt. Three further points matter. First, § 4083(a)(1) separately bars knowingly POSSESSING an unfinished frame or receiver that has not been serialized by an FFL — so the 80% blank is itself regulated before you build anything, with a narrow exception for possessing or transferring it for the purpose of getting it serialized. Second, § 4083(b)(1) bars knowingly possessing ANY firearm, frame, or receiver not imprinted with an FFL-applied serial number; exceptions are antique firearms as defined in § 4017(d), firearms rendered permanently inoperable, and firearms manufactured before 1968. Third, serialization is not a private act: under § 4084(c), returning the serialized item to you 'constitutes a transfer that requires a background check of the transferee,' so the FFL must run a NICS check on you before handing your own build back, and if the check is denied the FFL must deliver the item to a law enforcement agency. The 72-hour waiting period does NOT apply to that return (13 V.S.A. § 4019a(f)), provided the dealer returns it to the same person it came from. Penalties under § 4083(d): possession violations are a $50 civil penalty for a first offense, then up to 2 years / $1,000, then up to 3 years / $2,000; manufacturing without serialization and unlawful transfers start at up to 1 year / $500 and escalate to 3 years / $2,000; using an unserialized firearm while committing a violent crime or reckless endangerment is up to 5 years / $5,000. There is NO state registration of self-made firearms — the FFL keeps the record under § 4084(b)(2), including the date, name, age, and residence of the transferee and the serial number, but no filing is made with a Vermont agency. Note that the required serial format is prescribed: the licensee's abbreviated FFL number (first three and last five digits) followed by a hyphen and a unique identification number. |
| Virginia | Allowed | No | AS OF 2026-08-10: Virginia has no statute of general application prohibiting an individual from manufacturing or assembling a firearm for personal use, and no state law currently requires a serial number or state registration on a self-made firearm (Virginia maintains no firearm registry). Federal law still applies. Two limits exist today: (1) Va. Code § 18.2-308.5 makes it unlawful to 'knowingly manufacture or assemble, cause to be manufactured or assembled, import, purchase, sell, offer for sale, transfer, or possess (i) any plastic firearm or (ii) any firearm that, after removal of all parts other than a major component, is not detectable as a firearm' — a Class 5 FELONY, so undetectable/plastic builds are already illegal; and (2) manufacturing for sale requires a federal firearms license. THIS CHANGES SOON: Va. Code § 18.2-308.5:2, 'Prohibition on unfinished frames or receivers and unserialized firearms; penalties,' takes effect JANUARY 1, 2027. From that date it is unlawful to knowingly import, purchase, sell, or transfer an unfinished frame or receiver without a valid serial number (subsection B), to manufacture or assemble a firearm lacking a valid serial number (subsection D), and to manufacture a firearm for sale or transfer without the required federal license (subsection E). Subsection C — prohibiting mere POSSESSION of a firearm or an unfinished frame or receiver lacking a valid serial number — is delayed to JULY 1, 2027. 'Unfinished frame or receiver' is defined as 'a forging, casting, printing, extrusion, machined body, or similar item that (i) is designed to or may readily be completed, assembled, or otherwise converted to function as a frame or receiver or (ii) is marketed or sold to the public to become or be used as the frame or receiver of a functional firearm once completed, assembled, or otherwise converted.' A 'valid serial number' is one imprinted by a federal licensee or assigned under state or federal law. Penalty: Class 1 misdemeanor for a first violation, Class 4 FELONY for a subsequent violation. Practical effect: building a firearm for personal use is lawful in Virginia today, but anyone doing so should arrange serialization by a federal licensee before January 1, 2027, and MUST have any home-built firearm serialized by July 1, 2027 to lawfully continue possessing it. Separately, § 18.2-308.5:1 makes manufacturing or possessing an auto sear or trigger activator a Class 6 felony. |
| Washington | Prohibited | Yes | Washington is among the most restrictive states on home firearm manufacture, and for an ordinary resident the practical answer is NO. Four provisions stack. (1) RCW 9.41.327 makes it unlawful to knowingly or recklessly possess, transport, or receive an unfinished frame or receiver unless the person is a law enforcement agency or a federally licensed importer/manufacturer/dealer, OR the unfinished frame or receiver has been imprinted with a serial number issued by a federal firearms importer, manufacturer, or dealer; it also prohibits manufacturing a frame or receiver using a 3D printer or CNC machine except by authorized federal licensees, and restricts distribution of digital firearm manufacturing code. Penalties escalate from civil infraction to misdemeanor to gross misdemeanor. (2) RCW 9.41.190 makes it a class C felony to manufacture an undetectable firearm, or to manufacture an untraceable firearm with intent to sell it, expressly including manufacture 'by use of a three-dimensional printer, computer numerical control milling machine, or other means.' (3) RCW 9.41.325 makes it a gross misdemeanor, and a class C felony for subsequent knowing violations charged per firearm, to knowingly or recklessly allow, facilitate, aid, or abet the manufacture or assembly of an undetectable or untraceable firearm by a person ineligible to possess firearms or who has filed a valid voluntary waiver of firearm rights. (4) RCW 9.41.390 separately provides that no person in this state may manufacture, import, distribute, sell, or offer for sale any assault weapon as defined by state law. RCW 9.41.010 defines 'untraceable firearm' as a firearm manufactured after July 1, 2019 that is not an antique and cannot be traced by law enforcement by means of a serial number, and 'manufacture' as the fabrication, making, formation, production, or construction of a firearm by manual labor or machinery. Bottom line: there is no general state mechanism to obtain a serial number for a privately made firearm, and the lawful path to building one from an unserialized blank is effectively closed. This is a summary of statutory text, not legal advice. |
| West Virginia | Allowed | No | West Virginia law does not prohibit building a firearm for personal use, does not require a serial number on a self-made firearm, and has no firearm registration scheme. This is a finding of ABSENCE of law rather than an affirmative authorization: I reviewed the full section index of Chapter 61, Article 7 (the state's dangerous-weapons article, running §61-7-1 to §61-7-17, with §61-7-13 repealed in 1990) and the WV Attorney General's July 2026 firearms guide, and neither contains any self-manufacture, "ghost gun," unfinished-receiver, or serialization provision. §8-12-5a reinforces this by voiding municipal ordinances "designed or enforced to effectively restrict or prohibit the sale, purchase, transfer, manufacture, repair, or display of firearms," so no WV city may impose its own rule either. IMPORTANT: federal law still applies independently — a self-made firearm may not be an NFA item without ATF approval, may not be undetectable under 18 U.S.C. §922(p), may not be made by a prohibited person, and may not be manufactured for sale or distribution without a federal manufacturer's license. Because I could not run a full-text search across the entire West Virginia Code, I cannot rule out a relevant provision located outside Chapter 61, Article 7. |
| Wisconsin | Allowed | No | Wisconsin has no state law prohibiting a non-prohibited adult from building a firearm for personal use, and no state law requiring a serial number, state registration, or state marking on a self-made firearm. Determined by reviewing the complete official section index of Wis. Stat. ch. 941, subch. III (Weapons) on docs.legis.wisconsin.gov, which runs: 941.20 Endangering safety by use of dangerous weapon; 941.21 Disarming an officer; 941.23 Carrying concealed weapon; 941.231 Carrying a concealed knife; 941.235 Carrying firearm in public building; 941.237 Carrying handgun where alcohol beverages may be sold and consumed; 941.25 Manufacturer to register machine guns; 941.26 Machine guns and other weapons; 941.28 Possession of short-barreled shotgun or short-barreled rifle; 941.29 Possession of a firearm; 941.2905 Straw purchasing of firearms; 941.291 Possession of body armor; 941.292 Possession of a weaponized drone; 941.295 Possession of electric weapon; 941.296 Handgun and armor-piercing bullet during crime; 941.2965 Restrictions on use of facsimile firearms; 941.297 Sale or distribution of imitation firearms; 941.298 Firearm silencers; 941.299 Restrictions on the use of laser pointers. None addresses home manufacture, unserialized firearms, 'ghost guns', undetectable firearms, or unfinished frames/receivers. IMPORTANT CAVEATS: (1) This is a conclusion drawn from the absence of a statute, not an affirmative official statement — no Wisconsin agency publishes a page saying home manufacture is lawful. (2) FEDERAL law still fully applies: the Undetectable Firearms Act (18 U.S.C. § 922(p)), the National Firearms Act for short-barreled or automatic weapons, the prohibition on manufacturing for sale or distribution without an FFL, and ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F. (3) A person prohibited from possessing a firearm under Wis. Stat. § 941.29 may not build one either. (4) Wisconsin's firearms preemption statute, Wis. Stat. § 66.0409, generally bars local governments from imposing stricter firearm regulation than the state. |
| Wyoming | Allowed | No | Wyoming law permits building a firearm for personal use, and there is NO state serial-number requirement and NO state firearm registration. W.S. 6-8-401(c) preempts the field — the manufacture of firearms is authorized, regulated and prohibited by the state alone, and no state agency, city, town, county, political subdivision or other entity may regulate or prohibit manufacture. The Wyoming Firearms Freedom Act expressly contemplates firearms 'manufactured commercially or privately in Wyoming' (W.S. 6-8-404(a)). ONE STATE MARKING REQUIREMENT IS EASY TO MISS, and it is not a serial number: W.S. 6-8-404(b) provides that a firearm manufactured or sold in Wyoming under that act shall have the words 'made in Wyoming' clearly stamped, inscribed or otherwise marked on a central part of the firearm, such as the receiver or frame. Possession of a firearm covered by the act requires no felony conviction in any U.S. jurisdiction (this bar does not apply to antique firearms), no current adjudication of legal incompetence, and no commitment to a mental institution (W.S. 6-8-404(c)). Purchase requires age 21 for a handgun and 18 for a rifle or shotgun, plus the same three criteria (W.S. 6-8-404(d)). MAJOR CAVEAT — read before relying on the WFFA: the act declares that a firearm made in Wyoming from basic materials and kept exclusively within Wyoming's borders is 'not subject to federal law, federal taxation or federal regulation, including registration,' and W.S. 6-8-405 purports to make federal enforcement against such a firearm a misdemeanor punishable by up to 1 year and a $2,000 fine. That declaration has not been validated by any court, and a materially identical Montana statute was held invalid by the Ninth Circuit in Montana Shooting Sports Ass'n v. Holder (2013). Federal firearms law — the Gun Control Act, the National Firearms Act, and ATF's rules on privately made firearms — should be assumed to apply in full in Wyoming regardless of the WFFA. Do not treat W.S. 6-8-404 as a shield against federal requirements; anyone building a firearm should independently confirm current federal obligations. |
Learn gunsmithing
Gunsmithing is a licensed trade with real schools behind it. If you want to do this properly — chamber a barrel, cut a stock, diagnose a headspace problem — this is the route.
Resident programs
Colorado School of Trades
Associate of Occupational Studies
Operating since 1947 in Lakewood, Colorado and accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges. A 14-month program built around customer-provided repair work, so students leave having worked on real guns rather than exercises.
Trinidad State College
Certificate or Associate degree
Public college in Colorado with three gunsmithing tracks. Cheaper than the private schools because it is state-funded, and it runs well-regarded summer NRA short courses.
Pennsylvania Gunsmith School
Diploma
Sixteen-month resident program in Pittsburgh focused on bench work — machining, welding, stockmaking, and repair rather than retail armorer tasks.
Montgomery Community College
Certificate or Associate degree
North Carolina public program with separate tracks for general gunsmithing, firearms engraving, and custom rifle building.
Murray State College
Associate degree
Oklahoma public program combining gunsmithing with machining coursework.
Black River Technical College
Certificate
Arkansas technical college offering a shorter certificate route for people who want the bench skills without a full degree.
Online and distance
Sonoran Desert Institute
Associate degree
Nationally accredited online firearms school founded in 2000. Distance format means you supply your own bench and tools, which suits people already working in the trade.
American Gunsmithing Institute
Course certificates
Video-based course library organized by platform and task. Not accredited as a degree program — treat it as skills training, not a credential.
Tools and parts
Brownells
The default supply house for gunsmithing tools, parts, and build kits. Their instructional library is genuinely good and free.
MidwayUSA
Broad parts and reloading catalog, frequently better priced than Brownells on consumables.
Numrich Gun Parts
Obsolete and hard-to-find parts, including schematics for discontinued firearms. The first stop when restoring something old.
Real Avid
Platform-specific tools and vise blocks aimed at home builders rather than professional benches.
Wheeler Engineering
Torque drivers, scope mounting kits, and headspace gauges — the measuring tools that separate a safe build from a guess.
3D printing and the 3D2A movement
A large open-source community — FOSSCAD, Deterrence Dispensed, the Black Lotus Coalition and others, collectively "3D2A" — designs firearms and components that can be printed at home. Their work has driven most of the last decade's litigation over whether a design file is speech, and whether an unfinished receiver is a firearm.
That fight is live and it is being decided in court. Bondi v. VanDerStok (2025) settled that ATF may regulate readily-convertible kits as firearms. State file-possession bans are the next front — and because a design file is code, and code is speech, those bans face a serious First Amendment problem that the courts have yet to squarely resolve.
The communities
Gun CAD Index
Searchable index of the guncad ecosystem: who designed what, which release is current, and where it lives. The reference desk of the movement.
The Gatalog
Community and publishing platform for open-source firearm technical data packages, run as a nonprofit with community chat and testing standards. Its X account is suspended, so the website is the front door.
Are We Cool Yet? (AWCY?)
Design collective founded in 2020 under the banner that art is not made to be contained. Known for public thousand-round crucible tests of its releases.
Black Lotus Coalition
Development team founded in 2021, focused on uniting guncad teams and setting release and testing standards for new developers.
Defense Distributed v. New Jersey Attorney General → All Second Amendment cases → Organizations fighting these cases →