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Undetectable Firearms Act – Effective
December 9, 2022
Undetectable Firearms Act took effect December 9, 1988
Signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on November 10, 1988 (Public Law 100-649).
The act makes it illegal to manufacture, import, sell, ship, deliver, possess, transfer or receive any firearm that a walk-through metal detector cannot detect as readily as a security exemplar containing 3.7 ounces of steel, or whose major components do not produce an accurate image on airport X-ray machines.
The original law carried a 10-year sunset. Congress extended it in 1998 for five years, in 2003 for ten years and in 2013 for ten years, with short extensions in late 2023 and early 2024. The March 2024 extension keeps it in force through 2031.