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Policy Option:
Requiring Background Checks on Private
Handgun Transfers
What
does it mean?
Under federal law, anyone who wants to engage in the business
of selling firearms must obtain a federal firearms license. The Brady
Handgun Violence Prevention Act (the Brady Act) requires a federal
firearms licensee (FFL) to contact the Federal Bureau of
Investigation’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS)
when selling a firearm, which ensures that the purchaser is not
prohibited from possessing firearms. However, the Brady Act does not
apply to the sale of firearms by non-licensees (i.e., private
sellers).
Every year, thousands of gun sales occur by unlicensed
sellers without background checks on the purchasers. This “private sale
loophole” results in guns getting into the hands of criminals who would
otherwise not be able to buy firearms. Requiring background checks for
all private sales will reduce illegal trafficking and treat all
transfers equally.
What would it really do?
In Illinois, persons buying firearms from private sellers at
gun shows must undergo a background check.1 However,
other private handgun sales are not subject to a background check to
ensure the buyer is lawfully able to purchase and possess
firearms. This loophole allows some buyers to avoid a background
check, and could allow convicted felons or other dangerous
individuals access to handguns. Requiring those who privately sell
or transfer handguns to request the Department of State Police to
conduct a background check ensures that the transaction will be
subject to all other applicable federal, state, and local laws. Exceptions include transfers of a firearm between
spouses, from parent to child or grandparent to grandchild.
What does the public think?
- Eight in 10 Illinois voters strongly
support mandating background checks before the sale of guns by
private individuals. Sixty percent of all voters with firearms behavior
(including voters who are gun owners, members of the NRA, hunters
and/or FOID cardholders) expressed strong support of this measure. To
read more polling results from the 2007 Voter Survey on Gun
Regulations, click
here.
- A January 2007 Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and The
Tarrance Group survey, on behalf of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, found
that 92 percent of Americans support background checks.2
- According to a CBS News/NY Times Poll in May 2000, 71% of
Americans think that laws covering handgun sales should be stricter.3
What are the facts?
-
In 2004, there were 8,084,000 applications for firearm
transfers or permits in the U.S. About 126,000 (1.6%) of the
applications were rejected by the FBI and state or local agencies. A felony conviction or
indictment, a domestic violence misdemeanor conviction or restraining
order, and other criminal history were the most common reasons for
rejection by the FBI and by state or local agencies.4
- Nationwide, 40% of gun transactions occur through unlicensed
sellers and no-questions-asked private deals that require no background
checks.5
- A 2000 report by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives found that unlicensed sellers were involved in about
one-fifth of trafficking investigations and associated with nearly
23,000 illegal guns.6
-
Roughly 20% of gun trafficking investigations involve
transfers by unlicensed sellers who are not required to conduct a
background check.7
- Every year, hundreds of prohibited persons are stopped from buying guns in Illinois through background checks.8
Have Other States or Jurisdictions Enacted Similar
Legislation?
California, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia require
background checks for all private gun sales. Connecticut and
Pennsylvania require background checks on all private handgun sales.
Maryland requires background checks on private transfers of “regulated
firearms,” which include handguns and assault weapons. California has
the most comprehensive law, requiring that every firearm sale,
including those by private sellers, is subject to a background check
conducted by a licensed dealer.9
Final Thought
Closing the “private sale loophole” for handgun sales
would mean that all handgun buyers are treated equally, so
that they would be subject to the same requirements whether they buy
from a licensed gun shop, at a gun show, or from a private seller. This
would help ensure that persons buying handguns are legally eligible to
do so, and it would also help law enforcement track the owners of
weapons used in crimes.
Pending Legislation
HB758 (Sponsored by Rep Harry Osterman, Co-Sponsored by Reps Elizabeth
Coulson and Barbara Currie)
This bill would require the private transfer of firearms to
occur at the place of business of a federally licensed firearm dealer
who will conduct a background check of the buyer and follow all other
applicable federal, State, and local laws. Exceptions exist for
transfers between spouses, parent and child, or grandparent and
grandchild. Transfers at gun shows are also exempt, as they are already
subject to background checks.
To read
and
check the status
of
the House bill, click
here
1
430 Ill. Comp. Stat. 65/3.
2
Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Strong Public Support for Tough
Enforcement of Common Sense Gun Laws, January 2007, page 12
3
Mike Dorning, Happy To Bear Arms, Chicago Tribune, May 23, 2000,
at 12.
4
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs. Background
Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2004. October 2005
5
Philip Cook and Jens Ludwig.
Guns in America: National Survey on
Private Ownership and Use of Firearms, National Institute of Justice
Research in Brief, May 1997
6
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, U.S. Department of the Treasury,
Following the Gun: Enforcing Federal Laws Against Firearm Traffickers
xi (2000).
7
Ibid
8
Bureau of Justice Statistics, Background Checks for Firearm Transfers,
2006 – Statistical Tables.
9
Legal Community Against Violence, Regulating Guns in America: An
Evaluation and Comparative Analysis of Federal, State and Selected Local
Gun Laws,
Aug. 2006;
Violence Policy Center, Closing the Gun Show Loophole: Principles for
Effective Legislation, Feb. 2001
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