Ghost Gun and 80% Lower Laws by State (2026)

California allows a qualifying personal build only through its pre-build serial-number process. The finished firearm must be marked within ten days, polymer builds require embedded stainless steel, and separate precursor-part rules require vendor processing and an eligibility check. This is a serialization and transfer regime, not a categorical ban on every self-built firearm.

SB23-279 permits transfer to a federal licensee for serialization, but parts of the unfinished-frame rule ask whether federal law requires a serial number. Defense Distributed v. Blanche therefore creates a federal-reference question for protected parties even though Colorado independently bars possession of unserialized completed firearms and unlicensed manufacture. HB26-1144 took effect July 1, 2026 and separately prohibits producing potentially functional firearms, unfinished frames or receivers, magazines, or rapid-fire devices by additive or subtractive 3D printing, subject to licensed-manufacturer and accredited-gunsmithing exceptions.

Connecticut expressly defines an unfinished frame or lower receiver as not being a federal firearm. Sale and transfer nevertheless follow the pistol-and-revolver process and require a serial number; possession is limited to people eligible to possess firearms. Separate § 29-36b requires a serial number before a private maker completes a firearm and bars possession of an unserialized completed firearm subject to statutory exceptions.

The statute reaches the unfinished component itself and makes knowing possession without the manufacturer's name and an individual serial number a class D felony. A serialized unfinished receiver can move through the licensed channel, so the state is restricted rather than a categorical ban on all unfinished receivers.

Hawaii defines a ghost gun as a firearm, frame, or receiver lacking a serial number registered with a federally licensed manufacturer. Section 134-8(e) makes it an affirmative defense that the firearm is not required to have a serial number under the federal Gun Control Act, so federal status after Defense Distributed v. Blanche can affect the defense for protected parties; the state prohibition itself remains in force.

Illinois supplies a licensed serialization path using the licensee's abbreviated FFL number and a unique suffix. The law separately reaches 3D-printed frames and firearms and requires serialization before a printed part becomes readily completable.

Subsection (a)(1) allows purchase, receipt, sale, or transfer of an unfinished frame only when federal law requires it to be serialized and it has been serialized by a licensed manufacturer or importer. Defense Distributed v. Blanche therefore unsettles that transfer clause for protected parties. The completed-firearm rule is independent: a private-made firearm must carry the prescribed FFL-applied mark and be registered with the Secretary.

Massachusetts treats unfinished frames and receivers as firearms for its licensing rules. It prohibits untraceable firearms but preserves a serialized private-manufacture route through the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services, followed by registration.

The Nevada Supreme Court reversed the former permanent injunction in 2024 and upheld the unfinished-frame definition against a facial vagueness challenge. Several statutory safe-harbor clauses refer to a serial number required by federal law, but the completed-firearm manufacture and possession provisions independently prohibit an unserialized build.

New Jersey's offense turns on purpose to manufacture or assemble and reaches a separate frame, receiver, or combination of parts from which an unserialized firearm may readily be made. Ordinary hobbyist manufacture is not available without the state and federal licenses required by chapter 58.

New York reserves serialization and registration to licensed gunsmiths and dealers and separately criminalizes manufacture of a ghost gun or unfinished frame or receiver. A serialized stripped lower transferred through the ordinary firearm channel is distinct from the prohibited unfinished or unserialized class.

Oregon provides a licensed serialization path and applies escalating penalties to repeat violations. The statute separately prohibits an unserialized completed firearm and unlicensed manufacture by specified computer-controlled methods.

The only express manufacturing exception is for federally licensed Type 07 manufacturers. Rhode Island's definition excludes properly marked firearms, so an ordinary serialized receiver is outside the ghost-gun class.

Vermont provides an FFL serialization process and exceptions for transport or transfer solely to obtain a serial number. A first simple-possession violation is civil; transfer or manufacture violations begin as crimes.

Washington allows a federal licensee to mark a frame or receiver but bars ordinary possession, transport, receipt, sale, purchase, and unlicensed manufacture of an unserialized unfinished part. It also restricts digital manufacturing code when distributed or possessed with intent to produce an unfinished frame using a 3D printer or CNC mill.

Every firearm in the District must be registered, and a firearm that remains a ghost gun cannot receive a certificate. Subsection (c) preserves a narrow personal-build route when the maker obtains and affixes a compliant serial number before finishing the frame or receiver and the completed configuration is otherwise registrable.

The enacted law is not yet operative as of this class's August 18, 2026 verification date. It will prohibit possession and transfer of an unserialized unfinished frame, manufacture of an unserialized firearm, and specified CNC or 3D-printer conduct while providing a federal-licensee marking process and a short transport-to-serialization window.

The law is enacted but not operative on the August 18, 2026 verification date. Its purchase and transfer clause requires the item to be deemed a firearm under federal law and serialized, so Defense Distributed v. Blanche creates a federal-reference issue for protected parties. The completed-firearm manufacturing rule is independent. Ordinary possession is not prohibited until July 1, 2027, and new residents receive a 90-day compliance window.