Why pass more gun laws, when there are 20,000 of them on the books that should be enforced? This has been a pro-gun argument since 1965 with no sources listed, but is it accurate? A 2008 study from the Brookings Institution Center counts only 300 "relevant federal and state laws regarding the manufacture, design, sale, purchase, or possession of guns." Relevant being the key word, the study noted that most states have an average of only 13 gun laws. It also didn't tally local irrelevant gun laws that can be superseded by state and federal laws.