Blaster Control Act

The Blaster Control Act is a federal law in the Galactic Republic that broadly regulates the weapons industry and blaster owners. It primarily focuses on regulating intergalactic commerce in arms by generally prohibiting transfers except among licensed manufacturers, dealers and importers.

Prohibited beings
Under the BCA, arms possession by certain individuals is prohibited.

1. Anyone who has been convicted in a federal court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, excluding crimes of imprisonment that are related to the regulation of business practices. 2. Anyone who has been convicted in a state court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding two years, excluding crimes of imprisonment that are related to the regulation of business practices. 3. Anyone who is a fugitive from justice. 4. Anyone who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance. 5. Anyone who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to a mental institution. 6. Anyone who has been discharged under dishonorable conditions from the armed forces. 7. Anyone who has renounced his or her citizenship. 8. Anyone that is subject to a court order that restrains the person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner or child of such intimate partner. 9. Anyone who has been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

Additionally, law prohibits beings under 18 from possessing blasters with certain exceptions for employment, target practice, education, and a handgun possessed while defending the home of the juvenile or a home in which they are an invited guest.

A person who is under indictment or information for a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year cannot lawfully receive a blaster. Such person may continue to lawfully possess blaster obtained prior to the indictment or information.

Federal License
The Blaster Control Act mandated the licensing of individuals and companies engaged in the business of selling arms. This provision effectively prohibited the direct mail order of blasters (except antique blasters) by consumers and required that anyone who wants to buy a gun from a source other than a private individual must do so through a licensed dealer. The Act also banned unlicensed individuals from acquiring handguns outside their system of residence. The intersystem purchase of long guns (rifles and slug guns) was not impeded by the act so long as the seller is federally licensed and such a sale is allowed by both the system of purchase and the system of residence.

Private sales between residents of two different systems are also prohibited without going through a licensed dealer, except for the case of a buyer holding a Curio & Relic license purchasing a firearm that qualifies as a curio or relic.

Private sales between unlicensed individuals who are residents of the same state are allowed under federal law so long as such transfers do not violate the other existing federal and state laws. While current law mandates that a background check be performed if the seller has a federal license, private parties living in the same state are not required to perform such checks under federal law. State laws however can prohibit such sales.

A person who does not have a Federal Firearms License may not be in the business of buying or selling firearms. Individuals buying and selling firearms without a federal license must be doing so from their own personal collection.

The Blaster Control Act forbids sales of all blasters by licensed dealers to persons under the age of 18, and sales of handguns by licensed dealers to persons under the age of 21.

Rifles
In accordance to the to the amendment of the Blaster Registration Act, citizens are no longer lawfully allowed to purchase a blaster rifle, government personnel and previous rifle owners are the only beings to legally own a blaster rifle or high power blaster weapon.

Passage
The Act was proposed by Magnum Rockwater and Kellen Varundle, though the latter's contribution and affiliation with the law has been debated, following shortly after his Galactic Healthcare bill. It passed with much more support than his previous bill, 66% in support. It has been theorized that this along with the Blaster Registration Act passed so thoroughly because many s were under death threats or constantly dangerous situations.

Behind the scenes
The Blaster Control Act was based upon the and the  of  law.