Green card holders can buy guns in the United States. Federal law bars firearm possession for people in the country illegally and for those admitted on nonimmigrant visas like tourist, student, or work visas, but lawful permanent residents fall into neither category.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts The purchase itself looks almost identical to what a citizen goes through. What’s different is the exposure on the back end: a firearm mistake that would cost a citizen a fine can cost a permanent resident their status.
Why Federal Law Allows It
The controlling provision is 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5). It prohibits two groups of non-citizens from possessing firearms or ammunition: people unlawfully in the United States, and people admitted under a nonimmigrant visa. A green card holder is a lawful permanent resident, which is neither.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
Once you’re past that threshold, the same federal eligibility rules apply as to any citizen. You cannot buy or possess a firearm if you have a felony conviction, a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction, an active domestic violence restraining order, an adjudication of mental incompetence or commitment to a mental institution, a dishonorable military discharge, or unlawful drug use, among a few other categories.2Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Identify Prohibited Persons If none of those apply, you can legally buy anything a citizen can.
What You Need at the Counter
Any purchase from a licensed dealer requires ATF Form 4473, the Firearms Transaction Record. As a permanent resident, you write your alien number — the AR#, A#, or USCIS# from your green card — in Question 20. It’s either eight or nine digits.3Federal Bureau of Investigation. FFL Tip Sheet for Non-US Citizens Purchasing Firearms
Two questions on the form ask about immigration status. Question 21.l asks whether you are in the United States illegally or unlawfully. You answer no. Question 21.m.1 asks whether you were admitted under a nonimmigrant visa. Permanent residents also answer no.4Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Firearms Transaction Record – ATF Form 4473
Bring a valid government-issued photo ID showing your name, date of birth, and current residential address. Your green card works. You must be a resident of the state where you’re buying. An older federal rule that required non-citizens to prove 90 days of continuous state residency before purchasing has been eliminated for lawful permanent residents.3Federal Bureau of Investigation. FFL Tip Sheet for Non-US Citizens Purchasing Firearms
Federal age limits are the same as they are for citizens: 18 to buy a rifle or shotgun from a licensed dealer, 21 to buy a handgun.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
The Background Check and Why It Sometimes Stalls
After you finish the form, the dealer runs your information through the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS. The system searches federal and state records for anything disqualifying.5Federal Bureau of Investigation. Firearms Checks (NICS) You’ll get one of three responses: proceed, denied, or delayed.
Delays happen more often to green card holders than to citizens. Common names produce hits across immigration databases, and non-citizen records sometimes trigger extra checks. If the check is delayed, the dealer can’t transfer the firearm until NICS clears it or three business days pass without a determination, at which point the dealer has the option (not the obligation) to complete the sale.
If you keep hitting delays or get a denial you believe is wrong, the FBI runs a Voluntary Appeal File. Once you’re approved, you receive a Unique Personal Identification Number (UPIN) that you write on future Form 4473s. The UPIN points NICS to your pre-cleared file and is designed to prevent the same delay from happening again.6Federal Bureau of Investigation. Voluntary Appeal File
State Rules Vary
Federal law is the floor. Many states add requirements on top: waiting periods between purchase and pickup, permits to purchase handguns, or state firearms ID cards that all buyers must obtain first. These apply equally to citizens and permanent residents.
Concealed carry is where the variation gets serious. Most states let green card holders apply for a concealed carry permit, but training hours, fees, fingerprinting, and processing times differ substantially from state to state. In 2022, the Supreme Court in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen struck down New York’s requirement that concealed carry applicants show “proper cause” for a permit, holding that such requirements violate the Second Amendment.7Supreme Court of the United States. New York State Rifle and Pistol Association Inc v Bruen States can still require background checks, training, and character references. A growing number of states now permit carry without any license for anyone legally allowed to possess a firearm, which includes green card holders who aren’t otherwise disqualified.
Check your state’s rules before you buy. Federal eligibility doesn’t override a state permit requirement, and a state that bans a particular firearm or accessory bans it for you too.
The Marijuana Trap
This is where permanent residents get in trouble most often. Federal law prohibits anyone who is an “unlawful user of or addicted to” a controlled substance from possessing firearms or ammunition.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts Marijuana is still a controlled substance under federal law even in states that have legalized it. If you use marijuana in any form, in any state, you are federally barred from buying or possessing a gun. Question 21.e on the Form 4473 asks about this directly.
For a green card holder, the trap has three teeth. A controlled substance conviction, or even an admission of drug use during an immigration interview, can make you deportable.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1227 – Deportable Aliens Lying on the Form 4473 to complete the purchase is a separate federal crime. And possessing a firearm while using marijuana violates 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3) on its own. These charges are prosecuted, and any one of them is enough to end your status.
Other Things That Disqualify You
Federal law lists the same categories of prohibited people for green card holders as for citizens. You cannot legally possess a firearm if you:
- Have a felony conviction, meaning any crime punishable by more than a year in prison, regardless of the sentence actually imposed.
- Are subject to a domestic violence restraining order involving an intimate partner or their child, issued after a hearing where you had notice and an opportunity to participate.
- Have a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction. A single one is a permanent federal bar.
- Have been adjudicated mentally incompetent or committed to a mental institution.
- Are a fugitive from justice.
- Were dishonorably discharged from the military.
- Have renounced U.S. citizenship.
These categories come from 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) and are enforced through NICS.2Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Identify Prohibited Persons For a permanent resident, any of them that involves a criminal conviction can also independently trigger removal.
What a Firearm Conviction Does to Your Green Card
This is the part that separates your situation from a citizen’s. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(C), any non-citizen convicted of purchasing, selling, using, owning, possessing, or carrying a firearm in violation of any law is deportable.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1227 – Deportable Aliens That language reaches federal and state firearm laws alike. Serious firearm offenses can qualify as aggravated felonies, which trigger mandatory deportation with very limited relief.
The mismatch in stakes matters most for offenses that look minor on the criminal side. Possessing a firearm while subject to a restraining order might mean a fine or short sentence for a citizen. For a green card holder, the same conviction can end permanent residency.
Drug convictions stack on top. Any controlled substance conviction other than a single offense involving 30 grams or less of marijuana is an independent ground for deportation.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1227 – Deportable Aliens A permanent resident who uses marijuana and owns a gun is exposed on two fronts, either of which is enough on its own.
Buying a gun as a green card holder is legal and routine. The care it takes isn’t in the purchase itself. It’s in staying clear of the conduct that would make possession illegal after the fact, because the same conviction that costs a citizen a fine can cost you the country.