How do gun laws affect a person with a criminal record?
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How do gun laws affect a person with a criminal record?
Paul Helmke (President, The Brady Campaign) gives expert video advice on: Do background checks drive criminals to possess guns illegally?; Why are gun shows controversial?; Is there a black market for guns? and more...
Right now if someone is a felon, they are under the 1968 Gun Control Act. You are not supposed to be able to buy a gun. Under the Brady background check law, when that person goes in to buy a gun you check whether they are a felon or not. If they show up in the database they are not allowed to buy the gun legally. The problem is that a lot of folks with felony records might not have those records in the system. There have been some estimates that maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of all felony records are not in the federal database system, which means that a felon could go in and buy a gun legally.