New US gun laws take effect January 1 News
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New US gun laws take effect January 1

Gun laws across the US states are undergoing changes in 2025, with many states strengthening gun safety laws while others have expanded the rights of firearm owners, reflecting the polarization on the issue of gun control in the country.

While new laws taking effect Wednesday in California, Colorado, New York, Delaware and Minnesota have focused on increasing gun control in various ways, laws in New Hampshire and Kentucky have expanded in favor of strengthening the right to own and use firearms. Legislation enacted during 2024 in South Carolina and Louisiana that legalized open carry without a permit further paints a picture of a country moving in two different directions.

In California, several laws are taking effect, including AB1483, AB1598, and AB2917. New rules include the strengthening of limitations pertaining to the purchase of handguns, including consumer warnings on firearm sales, and creating guidance for courts when considering restraining orders related to gun violence. New York has enacted a similar law to California’s, requiring consumer warnings when purchasing firearms.

Colorado’s new law requires gun owners who store their weapon in an unoccupied vehicle to do so in a locked out-of-view hard-sided container. Colorado also increased training requirements for concealed carry permits while prohibiting particular misdemeanor offenders from obtaining the permits. The new concealed carry laws will go into effect later this year in July.

Meanwhile, New Hampshire’s new gun laws for 2025 bar employers from preventing employee storage of firearms in locked vehicles, and increase privacy protections for gun owners. The new Kentucky law similarly increases privacy protections by prohibiting use of merchant category codes for firearms dealers. The codes are used to help financial institution track where a purchase is made from but do not necessarily detail what is being bought.

In 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which represented the first comprehensive gun reform bill undertaken by Congress in 30 years. The bill expanded background checks and restrictions on who can own a gun but fell short of the goals set by progressive lawmakers. Last year the administration issued an executive order intended to reduce gun violence, and in July the Department of Justice expanded firearms background check requirements for gun dealers.

With the pro-gun Trump administration, Republican majority Congress, and a gun rights friendly US Supreme Court, the country stands to face a potential reckoning over the widening gap in the treatment of gun violence and safety issues across the nation.

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On January 5, 1909, Colombia recognized Panama as an independent nation. With support from the US, Panama had achieved de facto independence from Colombia in 1903. Panama had twice declared independence from Colombia before in 1830 and 1840 but was defeated each time and re-occupied by Colombian forces. Finally, pro-independence forces declared separation from Colombia in 1903, while the Colombian military was kept at bay by the US Navy. Learn more about the history of Panama and its modern independence.