Universal background check

Firearm legal topics of the
United States of America
Amendment II Assault weapon Assault weapons legislation Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act Concealed carry in the U.S. Connecticut Children's Safety Act Constitutional Carry Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban Federal Assault Weapons Ban Federal Firearms Act of 1938 Federal Firearms License Firearm case law Firearm Owners Protection Act Gun Control Act of 1968 Gun-Free School Zones Act (GFSZA) Gun laws in the U.S. by state Gun law in the U.S. Gun politics in the U.S. High-capacity magazine ban International treaties for arms control National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) National Firearms Act (NFA) NY SAFE Act Open carry in the U.S. Straw purchase Sullivan Act (New York) Tiahrt Amendment Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act
United States portal

Proposals for universal background checks would require almost all firearms transactions in the United States to be recorded and go through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), closing what is sometimes called the private sale loophole.

Background

In November 1998, President Bill Clinton directed the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and the U.S. Attorney General (A.G.) to provide recommendations concerning the fact that 25 percent or more of sellers at gun shows are not required to run background checks on potential buyers. This was called the gun show loophole.^{[1]:3,12[2][3]:27} Two months later, Gun Shows: Brady Checks and Crime Gun Traces was released.^[1] The Secretary and the A.G. made seven recommendations, including expanding the definition of "gun show," and reviewing the definition of "engaged in the business."

After the Columbine High School massacre in April 1999, gun shows and background checks became a focus of national debate.^[4][5][6] In May, the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association (NRA) told the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, "We think it is reasonable to provide mandatory, instant criminal background checks for every sale at every gun show."^[7]:118 Those concerned about the shows believed they were a source of illegally trafficked firearms.^{[8][nb 1]} Efforts to reverse a key feature of the Firearm Owners Protection Act (FOPA) by requiring criminal background checks and purchase records on private sales at gun shows, which had become prolific in the U.S. since the law's passage in 1986, were unsuccessful.^[9][10]

Private sale loophole

In the August 5, 2010, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers Garen J. Wintemute, Anthony A. Braga, and David M. Kennedy, wrote that gun shows account for only a fraction of all U.S. gun sales and that a more effective strategy would be to make all private-party gun sales go through the screening and record-keeping processes that FFL dealers are required to do.^[11] Their report concluded:

"Drawbacks with respect to expense and inconvenience notwithstanding, 83% of self-reported gun owners and 87% of the general population endorsed regulation for all private-party gun sales in a 2008 poll that was conducted for the advocacy organization Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Gun owners gave stronger support to this all-inclusive approach than to a gun-show-only proposal in a 2009 poll conducted for the same organization. Either proposal would face tough sledding on Capitol Hill. It would therefore seem preferable to move forward with the version that is most likely to reduce the rates of firearm-related violence."^[11]

Following the December 14, 2012, Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre there were numerous calls for universal background checks,^[12][13][14] to close what is now referred to as the "private sale loophole."^[15][16][17] In an essay published in 2013, Wintemute said that comprehensive background checks that included private sales would result in a simple, fair framework for retail firearms commerce.^[18]:103 In February 2014, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research reported that after the 2007 repeal in Missouri of a long-standing law that required all handgun buyers to pass a background check there was a 23 percent increase in firearms homicides.^[19]

Numerous reasons are given by those who oppose universal background checks, including these:

• The government does not prosecute enough of the attempted buyers who are turned away by the current system;
• There are already enough gun laws;
• Background checks are an invasion of privacy;
• What constitutes a "transfer" might be defined too broadly;
• Criminals do not submit to background checks.^[20]

The editors of Guns & Ammo asked NRA members about why they oppose universal background checks and cited these reasons:

• They do not stop criminals from committing violent crimes;
• The only way to properly enforce a universal system would be to require a registration database.^[21]

A July 2014 Quinnipiac University poll reported that 92 percent of Americans support universal background checks, including gun owners.^[22] However, these results are disputed by gun rights groups like Gun Owners of America.^[23] Polls have shown that while the overwhelming majority of Americans support specific gun law proposals, actual expansion of such laws is often met with much less robust levels of support.^[24]

Effects of background checks on private sales

According to gun-rights advocate and author, John Lott, part of the impact is on who these universal background checks prevent from buying guns. Lott said that, as of December 2015, background checks added an effective cost of $80 (New York), $60 (Washington state), or $200 (Washington, D.C.) to transferring a firearm. Lott argues that these laws put a tax on guns and can prevent less affluent Americans from purchasing them, and that this disproportionately affects poor minorities who live in high-crime urban areas.^[25]

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) stated that the National Instant Criminal Background Check System has prevented over two million convicted felons and other prohibited persons from purchasing firearms. According to the CSGV, the law also has a prohibitive effect, that deters illegal purchases. Currently, federal law requires criminal background checks only for guns sold through licensed firearm dealers, which account for 60% of all gun sales in the United States. The law allows people not “engaged in the business” of selling firearms to sell firearms without a license or records. In effect, that would mean that two out of every five guns sold in the United States change hands without a background check.^[26]

States That Have Universal Background Check Laws

Currently 19 US states have laws that are meant to close the private sales loophole in some way^[27].

• States that universally prohibit any transfer of a firearm without a background check: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington State
• States that universally prohibit any transfer of a handgun only without a background check: Maryland, Pennsylvania
• States that require the buyer to pass a background check in order to obtain a permit required for buying a firearm: Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts and New Jersey
• States that require the buyer to pass a background check in order to obtain a permit required for buying a handgun only: Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska and North Carolina

Notes

References

Further reading

• Editorial board (February 18, 2014). "Missouri study shows why we need universal gun background checks". Chicago Sun-Times (Sun-Times Media). Retrieved June 30, 2014. 
• Krouse, William J. (March 1, 2013). "Gun Control Proposals in the 113th Congress: Universal Background Checks, Gun Trafficking, and Military Style Firearms" (PDF). U.S. Department of State. Retrieved February 17, 2015.