10 Dangerous Weapons That Are Only Legal in the US

Pepper spray is a weapon used by police to disable suspects and by civilians for self-defense. It’s a powerful irritant, meant to blind and incapacitate. Pepper spray is illegal for use in combat, but it is used widely by police forces for riot suppression. While mostly non-lethal, it can contribute to death in people with substance use disorders and restrained suspects. Positional asphyxiation is a real risk when using pepper spray on prone individuals. One 2000 study linked capsaicin, its active ingredient, to cancer in mice. A number of countries, like China, Iceland, and Ireland ban civilian possession of pepper spray altogether.

Brass knuckles are an ancient weapon still in use today. It’s a ‘fist-load’ device meant to add weight to a punch. The force of a blow is concentrated to a more compact area, causing significantly more - often lethal - damage. Historians think that brass knuckles were conceived in ancient Greece. They were used by Greco-Roman gladiators in combat. In World War I, brass knuckles affixed to a trench knife was a popular weapon for soldiers. It also became a common weapon for criminals in the 20th century. More than two dozen countries ban their possession. In the U.S., brass knuckles are regulated on a state and local basis.

Automatic Weapons Owned Before 1986

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After a surge in gangland violence during Prohibition, the U.S. government enacted the National Firearms Act of 1934. It created a series of regulations and penalties for the ownership of machine guns, sawed off shotguns, and silencers. The NFA didn’t do much to deter GIs returning from World War Two from bringing back machine guns as trophies. Recognizing this and following several high profile assassinations, the government enacted a highly successful amnesty and registration program in 1968. In response to the ATF going after people for technical violations, the Reagan Administration created a new law in 1986. The Firearm Owners Protection Act restricted the amount of government interference while also banning the sale of any new machine guns. There are, to this day, thousands of older machine guns legally owned by American civilians.

Stun guns and tasers are devices created to deliver a strong electric shock to a target. They’re designed to be non-lethal and are meant to incapacitate. Still, deaths caused or partially caused by taser shocks, are not unheard of. Despite proliferation among police forces across the globe, tasers and stun guns are not without controversy. The UN has even pointed out that tasers can and have been used as a form of torture. Many countries like Australia and China have strict prohibitions on civilian possession of stun guns. But only two U.S. states, Rhode Island and Hawaii, prohibit ownership of tasers.

The shotgun has been part of American culture for centuries. Favored by fowl hunters over the years, the pump-action mechanism in the 19th century made shotguns especially desirable for combat. In World War I, they were used to clear trenches. In later wars, they were favored for close quarters jungle fighting. Today, pump and semi-automatic shotguns are used widely by militaries and police forces around the world. In the United States, pump and semi-auto shotguns are well-regarded home-defense weapons. They’re also easily accessible. Shotguns are still available in many sporting goods stores. In 2019, less than 2 percent of homicides involved shotguns. They were used primarily in more rural states like Maine, Utah, and Alaska.

Before the development of the rifled barrel, guns were not especially accurate. This is the origin of the phrase ‘can’t hit the broadside of a barn.’ Musket bullets were notorious for tumbling clumsily through the air. Much like a tightly thrown football spiral, rifling adds spin to the bullet. This allows for greater range and accuracy. The longest known military sniper kill was at just over 2 miles. Civilians in the U.S. today can purchase sniper rifles that, for a skilled shooter, could easily hit targets at 1500 yards. Sometimes, that can lead to deadly consequences, which happened during the 2002 sniping attacks.

Since 1986, new fully automatic weapons are not legally obtainable for most American civilians. Bump stocks were created to get around that ban. Bump stocks are modifications for long rifles that get attached to the stock and trigger mechanism. They use the recoil of the weapon to effectively convert a semi-automatic rifle into a fully automatic one (or at least the closest they can get). They entered the collective awareness of many Americans in 2017. A mass murderer in Las Vegas used bump-stock rifles to kill sixty people and wound another 400. The ATF attempted to modify their regulations around the 1934 NFA to ban bump stocks but a federal appeals court overturned that ban in January 2023.

Colloquially referred to as “ghost guns,” a privately-made or homemade firearm is a weapon assembled by the user at home - and not by a gun manufacturer. Because they’re made by an individual and not a corporation, they’re not subject to the same laws and therefore fall into a legal gray area in the U.S. There are ATF regulations governing the rules for homemade guns, but they’re hard to enforce. The emergence of domestic 3D printing technology has only added jet fuel to the fire. Ghost guns can be made from untraceable polymers, and schematics are available online. So, while President Biden announced anti-ghost gun executive action in 2022, legislation is required for more permanent bans in the U.S. Meanwhile, in countries like Canada, a firearm’s frame and receiver are “considered a firearm” and therefore require a license.

Whether a revolver or a pistol, these short-barrelled guns differ from their long-barrelled counterparts in that they can be fired using only one hand. Since their invention, they’ve been used the world over primarily by police and military forces. However, in 1836, the first mass-produced handgun was invented in the United States by Samuel Colt, and it’s been used by American civilians as their primary weapon-of-choice for self-defense ever since. In fact, today, there are 120 guns in America for every 100 people. Sadly, handguns are also responsible for more deaths than any other type of gun on this list. Because of the potential danger to the general population, many countries have highly restrictive rules about handgun ownership; however, many U.S. states don’t even require a permit to own one.

Despite making up a little over 4 percent of the global population, the U.S. accounts for almost half of the world’s civilian-owned guns. Most guns owned by American civilians are modified versions of weapons created for the military. This includes semi-automatic assault-style weapons like the AR-15. There are few industrialized nations besides the U.S. that allow such widespread access to military style rifles. That wasn’t always true: in 1994, Congress passed an assault weapons ban. It was allowed to lapse under George W. Bush’s administration. Since then, proliferation has been extreme and a surge in mass casualty attacks has occurred. One study of these attacks with four or more fatalities reported that assault rifles caused 85% of those deaths.