Ghost guns are not illegal in Missouri. No state statute bans building, owning, or keeping an unserialized firearm you made for your own use, and no state license is required to make one. Federal law still applies, though, and the person holding the gun must be someone the law allows to have a firearm at all.
Missouri Has No Ghost Gun Law
Missouri’s firearms statutes live in Chapter 571 of the Revised Statutes, and none of them prohibit manufacturing or possessing a firearm without a serial number for personal use. The state regulates who may have firearms and how they may be used, not how they are made.
Local governments cannot fill that gap. RSMo 21.750 reserves all firearms regulation to the General Assembly and preempts cities, counties, and every other political subdivision from passing their own rules on firearms, components, ammunition, or supplies.1Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 21.750 – Firearms Legislation Preemption by General Assembly A St. Louis or Kansas City ordinance targeting ghost guns would be void. You are not navigating a patchwork of local rules on top of state law.
The Federal Rules That Still Apply
In 2022, the ATF finalized a rule updating the regulatory definitions of “firearm,” “frame,” and “receiver.”2Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Definition of Frame or Receiver and Identification of Firearms The rule treats partially complete frames and receivers, and weapon parts kits that can be readily assembled into a working firearm, the same as finished firearms. Manufacturers of those products must serialize them, and licensed dealers must run background checks before selling them.3Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Summary of Final Rule 2021R-05F
The Supreme Court upheld that rule in Bondi v. VanDerStok, decided March 26, 2025, by a seven-justice majority.4Supreme Court of the United States. Bondi v. VanDerStok, No. 23-852 Commercially sold ghost gun kits and partial receivers now move through the same serialization and background-check pipeline as traditional firearms, Missouri included.
Missouri tried to insulate residents from some federal firearms enforcement with the 2021 Second Amendment Preservation Act, codified at RSMo 1.410.5Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 1.410 – Second Amendment Preservation Act A federal district court struck the law down on Supremacy Clause grounds, and the Eighth Circuit affirmed.6United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. United States v. State of Missouri, No. 23-1457 Federal firearms laws, including the ATF frame and receiver rule, are fully enforceable here.
Building One for Yourself Is Still Legal
The ATF has confirmed that if you build a firearm purely for personal use, and you are not in the business of manufacturing firearms for profit, you do not have to add a serial number or register the gun.7Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Privately Made Firearms This personal-use allowance has been part of federal law for decades and survived the 2022 rulemaking intact. In Missouri, nothing at the state level adds a serialization or registration requirement on top.
Who Cannot Possess a Ghost Gun
Whether you can legally hold a ghost gun comes down to whether you can legally hold any firearm. A homemade frame does not create any exemption from the rules on prohibited persons.
Under RSMo 571.070, you cannot possess a firearm in Missouri if you:8Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 571.070 – Possession of Firearm Unlawful for Certain Persons
- Have a felony conviction under Missouri law, another state’s law, or federal law, where the offense would qualify as a felony in Missouri
- Are a fugitive from justice
- Are habitually intoxicated or in a drugged condition
- Have been adjudged mentally incompetent
Federal law adds more categories under 18 USC 922(g): users of controlled substances, people convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, people subject to certain domestic restraining orders, those dishonorably discharged from the military, and those who have renounced U.S. citizenship, among others.9U.S. Department of Justice. Quick Reference to Federal Firearms Laws Building a gun from a kit or printing one at home is just as illegal for a prohibited person as walking into a shop.
Selling or Transferring What You Built
Building is legal. Selling changes the picture. Anyone who manufactures firearms as a regular business for profit needs a federal firearms license, though occasional private sales from a personal collection do not trigger licensing.
If a privately made firearm enters the commercial market through a licensed dealer, the dealer must mark it with a serial number, log the transaction, and run a background check before transferring it.2Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Definition of Frame or Receiver and Identification of Firearms If the ATF concludes you are regularly building and selling for profit without a license, federal criminal charges follow whether or not the guns carry serial numbers.
Designs You Cannot Build at All
The National Firearms Act applies to home builds. A firearm you make yourself still needs ATF registration and the $200 federal tax, paid before you make it, if it qualifies as a short-barreled rifle (barrel under 16 inches), a short-barreled shotgun (barrel under 18 inches), a suppressor, or a machine gun. This is where home builders get into serious trouble, sometimes without knowing it. A pistol-caliber build with a stock and a barrel just under the legal length, or a printed suppressor baffle, crosses from legal hobby into federal felony.
Missouri adds no extra restrictions on NFA items beyond what federal law requires. Federal penalties for an unregistered NFA item reach up to ten years in prison, and the source of the item does not matter.
Penalties if You Cross a Line
Missouri
Possessing any firearm as a prohibited person under RSMo 571.070 is a Class C felony, with a prison range of three to ten years.8Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 571.070 – Possession of Firearm Unlawful for Certain Persons10Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 558.011 – Imprisonment Terms for Felonies A prior conviction for a dangerous felony or a prior unlawful-possession conviction bumps the charge to a Class B felony, with a range of five to fifteen years. Missouri does not create a separate offense for an unserialized firearm; the penalty flows from the person, not the gun.
Federal
Possessing any firearm as a federally prohibited person under 18 USC 922(g) carries up to ten years in federal prison.9U.S. Department of Justice. Quick Reference to Federal Firearms Laws With three or more prior convictions for violent felonies or drug trafficking, the mandatory minimum is fifteen years without parole.
Federal law also criminalizes possessing a firearm whose serial number has been removed or altered, with penalties up to five or ten years depending on the specifics.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts By its text, 18 USC 922(k) targets firearms that once had a manufacturer’s or importer’s serial number, so it does not reach a firearm lawfully built without one. Buy a serialized kit under the current ATF rules and then grind the number off, though, and you are squarely within 922(k).
Taking an Unserialized Firearm Out of State
Missouri’s permissive treatment does not travel with you. Several states require serialization of all firearms or ban privately made firearms outright. Carrying your ghost gun across one of those borders can result in criminal charges even though you were fully legal at home. Check the destination state’s law before you leave.
For air travel, TSA rules require any firearm in checked baggage to be unloaded, locked in a hard-sided container, and declared at the ticket counter when you check the bag.12Transportation Security Administration. Transporting Firearms and Ammunition Those rules apply regardless of serialization. The bigger risk is the law waiting for you at the other end of the flight.