The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that much legislation dealing with the regulation of guns is a power properly reserved to the states. In Printz v. United States (1997), the Court struck down parts of a federal law that required local officials to conduct background checks on individuals purchasing handguns. The Court ruled that, under the Tenth Amendment, the federal government could not force the states to administer this federal program because it infringed on an area “reserved” for the states under the Tenth Amendment.