Weapons Background Checks
Do background checks drive criminals to possess guns illegally?
Background checks are important, first of all, because we don't want to make it easy for a dangerous person to buy a gun. And the fact that the Brady background checks have stopped over 1.4 million people from buying a gun legally shows that those background checks do work and need to be strengthened. Certainly is someone has been stopped because of a Brady background check, then they may attempt to buy a gun illegally. Not everyone's got that much stick-to-itiveness and dedication, but because of that we also need to look at the illegal marketed guns and make sure that we're taking steps to stop that illegal market in guns. Let's make sure the people that are dangerous aren't buying guns legally and then let's do everything we can to make sure they can't buy the guns illegally also.
Why are gun shows controversial?
The main controversy for gun shows is that often times, side-by-side, you'll see a federally-licensed dealer who has to do background checks and then a so-called private seller who doesn't have to do background checks. So, if an individual goes to a gun show, often times that can become a market where they can buy guns quickly, easily, with no background checks occurring. That just makes it easier for dangerous people to get guns when you don't do background checks on them. That's the main challenge that we have at gun shows.
Is there a black market for guns?
There clearly is a black market for guns. It's something that I think we need to do more as a country to figure out where the guns that are used in crimes are coming from and how they get there. One of the frustrations in my job is that it's hard to get good information. Actually the federal government, for the last four years has restricted the bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms on releasing information on where guns traced to crimes come from. So it's hard to figure out which dealers are the source of those guns, what the trafficking pattern for those guns are. But our assumption is that it's a fairly quick short period of time that a gun moves from the legal market, a legitimate dealer, to the illegal market. that's usually a sign that there have been straw purchasers, that someone's not doing background checks, that they're quote 'losing' or having a lot of guns quote 'stolen' from their place and those are the guns that end up showing up in gang members hands in communities across the country.
What reforms are needed for illegal gun ownership?
We need to strengthen law enforcement, particularly the ATF in enforcing the rules against dealers. 1% of the dealers nation-wide provide the guns that are traced to 60% of the crimes. But right now the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, it would take them 17 years to investigate every legitimate gun dealer in this country. So we need to strengthen law enforcement, we need to cut down on "straw purchasers". A straw purchase is a situation where a prohibited person goes in with someone who doesn't have a record. The prohibited person is the one who asks all the questions, checks out the gun. But then when it comes to filling out the form, they'll have the partner fill out the form. The prohibited person might even be the one handing the money over. So it's clear, it should be clear to the gun dealer, that the person really buying the gun is not the one filling out the paperwork. That's a "straw purchase". We need to cut down on bulk-sales of guns, when someone buys 85 guns at a time, that's a pretty clear sign that they're not using them for personal protection or for hunting or for their own collection. It's a sign they are going to be marketing these guns. So we need to study these patterns on where guns that are used and where crimes come from. And figure out how they're being trafficked , what the sources are, and take steps to stop that.
Why are there mandatory background checks?
I think one of the things that hopefully everyone who is concerned about guns can agree to is that we should have background checks before someone is allowed to buy a gun. If the NRA and others agree that felons shouldn't have guns, that people that had been adjudicated as mentally ill and dangerous to themselves or others because of mental illness shouldn't have guns, then, if we all agree on those prohibitions, then we should all agree that let's check to make sure that a person who buys a gun doesn't fall within one of those prohibited categories. Right now if you buy a gun from a federally licensed dealer they're required to do a background check. But if you buy from someone who is not a federally licensed dealer, a so called "private seller," a collector at a gun show, or through the classified ads, no background check is required. That means that some forty percent of sales of guns, legal sales of guns in this country, are done without a background check. So, one of the things that we are pushing for is to have background checks on all sales of guns as a way to stop some of the prohibited purchasers from getting their guns. Of course, we also want to make sure that the data system that's available has complete records of who all the felons are, of who all the folks with domestic violence restraining orders are, of who all the people that have been adjudicated a danger to themselves or others because of mental illness, we need to make sure we have complete records in there. Brady background checks, if we have full information, and we apply those to all sales, we can significantly reduce the level of violence in this country.
How do gun laws affect a person with a criminal record?
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.
How does the Brady Bill affect the average citizen?
It shows that there is a need for some restrictions to make it hard for dangerous people to get weapons, and we can do that by having background checks. Even the other groups that generally are considered 'gun rights groups' agree that felons and people that are mentally ill and dangerous to themselves, and others, should not be getting weapons. That's what the Brady background check system does. We also look at the fact some guns are not appropriate for civilian use. 50-caliber sniper rifles are the sorts of things that could shoot down helicopters, can do an assassination attempt from a mile away; that's not something that civilians should be getting automatically. But right now in this country we have varying restrictions on guns and as a result we have one of the highest levels of violence in the whole world.
