The Failure of Gun Background Checks
Gun violence is a serious problem in the United States, especially compared to the rest of the Western world [1]. Part of the problem, according to evidence, may lie in the irregular enforcement of background check laws as well as the existence of loopholes in the law and system.
For instance, records of disturbing behavior that would’ve prevented Seung-Hui Cho from getting weapons to kill 32 people at Virginia Tech never entered NICS (National Instant Criminal Background Check System) [2]. Devin Patrick Kelley murdered 26 people in a Texas church with a Ruger AR-556 obtained from a San Antonio licensed dealer (he also had two other legally purchased guns) despite a domestic violence conviction that should’ve barred him from owning guns. The Air Force, who had court-martialed and imprisoned him, didn’t inform NICS [3].
The “default proceed’’ provision allows prospective gun buyers to acquire a gun if a background check on them takes longer than three days [4]. This loophole enabled 4,864 otherwise prohibited buyers to acquire guns in 2017 [5]. There is also no established system for dealers to ensure the validity of a buyers’ ID either [6]. Straw purchases — occurring when a gun buyer has someone else undergo a background check on their behalf to buy from a licensed dealer — are usually ‘’treated as a mere paperwork violation and left unchecked.’’ Harsher punishments for straw purchases would likely serve to curb this issue [7].
States aren’t federally required to submit background check information, and few submit them independently. Although the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (which established the federal screening system for firearm purchases from licensed dealers) was supposed to ensure that local police and others provide background info to NICS, the NRA successfully lobbied against this mandate, making it optional for them to provide background info [8]. And as it happens, those who should be in the position of sending criminal and mental health records to NICS don’t do so regularly or at least properly. Some agencies simply don’t know what information is to be sent, and states often lack the funds to ensure someone can analyze the data correctly. There is no system to determine who isn’t reporting either [9].
Federal law doesn’t require background checks for gun transactions taking place between private individuals. Private sellers are not required to verify the latter’s prohibited status [10]. A 2017 Harvard survey of 1,613 gun owners discovered that about 50% of private buyers and 22% of overall buyers buying guns in the last two years didn’t go through background checks. For owners living in states regulating private gun sales, the percentage was roughly 26%, whereas for those living in states without private sale regulations, it was roughly 57% [11].
The most prominent online platform for buying guns is Armslist.com, which hosts classified ads for thousands of guns and allows non-licensed dealers to anonymously post ads as well as finish sales however they wish. The administrators take no responsibility to ensure sales are carried out lawfully [12].
In 2011, Everytown for Gun Safety and New York City did an undercover study of online gun sales. They found that 62% of Armslist and other sellers would sell guns to undercover buyers even if the latter admitted they likely couldn’t pass a background check [13]. Facebook and Reddit (specifically, r/GunsForSale) openly allowed similar transactions, although both stopped (at least on the surface, in Facebook’s case) after criticism [14].
In hidden footage from Everytown, an investigator posing as a gun buyer in Ohio completed “multiple firearm purchases without a background check’’ online. In 2018 alone, Armslist featured nearly 1.2 million ads on Armslist for firearm sales not requiring any checks. In at least Georgia, one in nine prospective buyers bought guns they couldn’t own under federal or state law — seven times more compared to those visiting licensed dealers or elsewhere [15].
A “ghost gun’’ (a weapon with no serial number that is untraceable by the government) can be purchased by anyone without a background check. Since the guns arrive in pieces to be put together, they aren’t treated as guns under the law and remain legal when fully assembled [16]. According to Los Angeles authorities, the Saugus High School shooter used a ghost gun to carry out his attack. Earlier this year, a Texas man was sentenced to prison for eight years after being found with a list of lawmakers’ addresses as well as a partially 3D-printed assault rifle [17].
However, solutions do exist. An investigation of online sellers proved that for states not requiring checks for unlicensed sales, only 6% carried out their own checks. However, in states where private sellers were mandated to do background checks, 84% of said sellers expressly stated that the sale must be completed at a dealer or with an appropriate permit — demonstrating that strong laws can change the marketplace for the better [18].
A national poll conducted by Everytown in April 2008 discovered that 83% of Americans would support a law requiring gun sellers to install machines that can verify driver licenses [19]. The Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, which would ensure background checks on virtually all gun transactions, would enforce unlicensed sellers to use a federally licensed dealer to conduct the required background check [20].
Local officers and states should be mandated to provide background information to NICS, and a reporting system should be created that allows relevant bodies to know what information should be reported as well as identifies groups who are not reporting properly. Funding and staffing shortages must be addressed — the federal government can financially support local and state governments that are struggling [21]. The default proceeds provision should be abolished. Last but not least, the sales of individual gun parts outside of gun stores must be banned [22].
In fact, the percentage of gun owners buying guns privately and without checks in states regulating private sales (though imperfectly) is roughly half the percentage of gun owners buying guns privately in states that don’t regulate private sales. This is a strong indication that background checks can reduce gun violence [23]. You can assist in preventing gun violence by participating in and continuing to support IANSA’s Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence as well as contacting your representatives and advocating closing dangerous gun law loopholes.
References:
[1] Santhanam, Laura. “There’s a New Global Ranking Of Gun Deaths. Here’s Where The U.S. Stands.” Stanford Law School. PBS Newshour, August 28, 2018. https://law.stanford.edu/press/theres-a-new-global-ranking-of-gun-deaths-heres-where-the-u-s-stands/.
[2] Bellisle, Martha. “Gun Background Check System Riddled with Flaws.” PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, March 10, 2018. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/gun-background-check-system-riddled-with-flaws.
[3] Ibid
[4] “Background Check Procedures.” Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, lawcenter.giffords.org/gun-laws/policy-areas/background-checks/background-check-procedures/
[5] Criminal Justice Information Services Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice, National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Operations 2017, at https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/2017-nics-operations-report.pdf/view.
[6] Letter from Thomas E. Bush, III, Assistant Director, CJIS Division, The Federal Bureau of Investigations, to The Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City (October 21, 2008) available at http://everytown.org/documents/2016/10/2008_10_21-fbi-letter.pdf.
[7] “Gun Trafficking.” Giffords. Accessed August 11, 2019. https://giffords.org/issue/gun-trafficking/.
[8] Pagliery, Jose. “NRA Slams Gun-Background System Flaws It Helped Create.” CNN. Cable News Network, February 24, 2018. https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/23/us/nra-criticizes-gaps-it-created-in-gun-background-system-invs/index.html.
[9] See [2]
[10] Yablon, Alex. “How Background Checks for Internet Gun Sales Work.” The Trace, July 10, 2018. https://www.thetrace.org/2016/01/internet-gun-sales-background-checks/.
[11] Miller, Matthew, Lisa Hepburn, and Deborah Azrael. “Firearm Acquisition Without Background Checks: Results of a National Survey.” Annals of Internal Medicine. American College of Physicians, February 21, 2017. https://annals.org/aim/fullarticle/2595892/firearm-acquisition-without-background-checks-results-national-survey.
[12] See [10]
[13] Point, Click, Fire: An Investigation of Illegal Online Gun Sales, December 2011. The City of New York. https://www.issuelab.org/resources/18254/18254.pdf
[14] Yablon, Alex. “How Background Checks for Internet Gun Sales Work.” The Trace, July 10, 2018. https://www.thetrace.org/2016/01/internet-gun-sales-background-checks/.
[15] Unchecked: Over 1 Million Online Firearm Ads, No Background Checks Required, Everytown for Gun Safety, February 2019. https://everytownresearch.org/documents/2019/02/singles-unchecked-bifold-020119d.pdf/
[16] Lasker, Alex. “Scary Loophole Means Anyone Can Buy an Untraceable ‘Ghost Gun’ Online.” AOL.com. AOL, February 10, 2017. https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/02/10/loophole-lets-criminals-buy-untraceable-ghost-guns-online/21711520/.
[17] Bates, Josiah. “Authorities Flagging Rise of Ghost Guns, Untraceable Weapons.” Time, Time, 23 Nov. 2019, time.com/5737227/saugus-shooter-ghost-gun/.
[18] Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research & the Tarrance Group for the Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Americans Support Common Sense Measures to Cut Down on Illegal Guns 3, 6 (Apr. 10, 2008), at https://web.archive.org/web/20091128023131/http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/downloads/pdf/polling_memo.pdf.
[19] Center for American Progress, Recommendations for Executive Action to Combat Illegal Gun Trafficking and Gun Crime 4 (June 10, 2013), at http://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/ExecActionGuns-4.pdf.
[20] Sun, Lowell. “Close the Private Gun Sale Loophole. Finally.” AP NEWS. Associated Press, March 4, 2019. https://www.apnews.com/3e04a23fb3014416a08a93fe5159019c.
[21] See [2]
[22] See See [17]
[23] See [11]
Bibliography:
Stephens, Alain. “Ghost Guns Are Everywhere in California.” The Trace, June 3, 2019. https://www.thetrace.org/2019/05/ghost-gun-california-crime/.
Clair, Adrienne St. “A Backgrounder On Background Checks.” NPR. NPR, March 9, 2018. https://www.npr.org/2018/03/08/591549278/a-backgrounder-on-background-checks.
Press, Associated. “Parkland Shooting Suspect’s Mother Allowed Him to Purchase Guns, Investigating Commission Says.” NBCNews.com. NBCUniversal News Group, July 10, 2018. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/parkland-shooting-suspect-s-mother-allowed-him-purchase-guns-investigating-n890231.
“Default Proceed Archives.” Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, July 13, 2015. https://lawcenter.giffords.org/tag/default-proceed/.
