Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly called for stricter statewide gun regulations today after a troubled St. John’s University student bought an antique weapon upstate and carried it onto a Queens campus, prompting his arrest.

Mr. Kelly said the student, Omesh Hiraman, 22, had a prior arrest for disorderly conduct when he attended Cornell University. But when he bought a .50 caliber Wolf rifle, bullets, and gunpowder last week at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Poughkeepsie he did not have to show identification or undergo a background check because the weapon is not considered a firearm under state or federal laws.

“Anything you can put a bullet in” should require a permit, Mr. Kelly said at a midday news conference. He added: “I’m certainly a proponent for more regulations.”

In the city, all guns, including antique rifles, require a permit and must be registered with the police department, even if they are bought elsewhere.

The president of Dixie Gun Works Inc, an antique gun and replica dealer based in Tennessee, Lee Fry, defended the exemption of antique guns. He said they must be manually loaded with gunpowder and a rifle ball, or bullet, after each shot and are rarely, if ever, used for criminal activity.

“Guns of this nature, they’re just for target shooting,” he said. “Crime is not the purpose. Why regulate it?”

It was also a Dick’s Sporting Goods chain store in Virginia that sold ammunition to the Virginia Tech student who shot and killed 33 people last spring, Seung-Hui Cho. A report on the shootings commissioned by Governor Kaine of Virginia also called for stricter state regulation of gun sales, including background checks for all firearms purchasers.

Dick’s Sporting Goods could not be reached immediately for comment.

Mr. Hiraman was arrested Wednesday after St. John’s security guards spotted him walking across campus in a rubber Halloween mask with the mouth cut out carrying a gun wrapped in a bag. The weapon was never fired.

He was arraigned today on charges of criminal weapon possession from his bedside at the Bellevue Hospital psychiatric unit where he has been held since yesterday.

The Queens district attorney, Richard Brown, called Mr. Hiraman a “very troubled young man.” Prosecutors will seek to determine if he has the capacity to understand the charges and to assist in his own defense.

Mr. Hiraman could face a year in prison if he is convicted.

Mr. Hiraman’s lawyer, Anthony Colleluori, said yesterday that his client’s psychological problems, including schizophrenia, and physical pain from recent surgery contributed to the incident this week. Mr. Hiraman was suffering from depression after being forced to give up his dream of joining the Navy and becoming an astronaut because he has scoliosis, the lawyer said. He dropped out of Cornell University more than a year ago and was returning to St. John’s this fall to restart his academic career.

Police are seeking a warrant to search Mr. Hiraman’s computer at his Elmhurst home, where he lives with his parents. They believe he may have contacted a local lawyer recently to ask which government agencies would be contacted if he were to buy a gun under New York State regulations. The answer, police officials noted, is none.