As 2015 Legislative Sessions Near, Americans for Responsible Solutions and the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence Outline Laws State Legislators Can Pass to Close Loopholes in the Background Check System

December 9, 2014 – Americans for Responsible Solutions (ARS), the gun violence prevention organization founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, retired combat veteran and NASA astronaut Captain Mark Kelly, and the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence released a new report today outlining steps state legislators can take to expand background checks for unlicensed gun sales in their state.

The new resource, “ Commonsense Solutions: State Laws to Expand Background Checks for Unlicensed Gun Sales, ” is being released as states around the country prepare for their 2015 legislative sessions and one day after a broad group of over 200 state legislators announced a new coalition, American State Legislators for Gun Violence Prevention.

The resource describes the key features of a strong state background checks law, including:

1. Close dangerous loopholes by expanding the universe of gun sales subject to a background check. The report outlines how to implement the background checks requirement on sales and transfers of firearms by utilizing the existing network of licensed gun dealers, with key exceptions that are described;
2. Proper record-keeping by firearms dealers, consistent with current law, so that law enforcement can enforce the background check requirement. Laws expanding background checks should also ensure the maintenance of records that can be used for public safety; and,
3. Address the cost of processing background checks. A gun dealer who conducts a background check on behalf of an unlicensed transferor should be compensated for processing the sale.

 Click here to view the full toolkit.

The resource is the latest publication in the Commonsense Gun Laws Partnership, a project of ARS and the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence that offers a series of proposals that state legislators around the country can adopt to address the loopholes in current federal law intended to prevent criminals, domestic abusers and the dangerously mentally ill from accessing guns.

“With our federal gun laws weakened by the gun show and internet loophole and Congress unwilling to close them, state legislators around the country are asking what they can do to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals. Leaders in the 30 states that have not already closed gun check loopholes are looking for responsible proposals that simply expand the existing system of background checks,” said Americans for Responsible Solutions 501(c)(4) Director Peter Ambler. “We hope that state legislators from around the country can seize the opportunity in 2015 to help make their communities safer from gun violence.”

“Over 90 percent of Americans support background checks, yet most states still lack universal background check laws,” said Robyn Thomas, Executive Director of the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which tracks and analyzes gun laws in all 50 states. “We know that in far too many cases, people prohibited from owning firearms—felons, domestic abusers, the mentally unstable—exploit gaps in the law to purchase guns through private sales. Our latest toolkit with Americans for Responsible Solutions gives state lawmakers the resources they need to expand background checks and save lives.”

Existing federal law requires that individuals seeking to buy a gun at a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) pass a background check to prevent those deemed “prohibited purchasers” – including convicted felons and those who have been adjudicated as dangerously mentally ill – from accessing firearms. Since the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) was implemented in 1998, background checks have denied firearms transfers to over 2 million prohibited purchasers.

But there are gaping holes in our laws that allows prohibited purchasers to acquire firearms from “private sellers” at gun shows, on the internet, and elsewhere with no background check and no questions asked. These shortcomings in our public safety laws has allowed up to 40 percent of all gun transfers to take place without a background check.

In practice, this means that those wishing to purchase a gun have two easily available options – a federally licensed seller that will require a background check and an unlicensed seller that won’t. In a recent Department of Justice survey, 80 percent of criminal inmates said they got their guns through private means – no background check necessary.

Americans overwhelmingly support expanding background check requirements for gun sales, and 19 states have already enacted laws to expand the current background check requirement to at least some unlicensed sales. These laws utilize the existing background check system – a system that is known to work – in order to save lives by preventing criminals from accessing guns.

Americans for Responsible Solutions (ARS) was founded by Congresswoman Giffords and Captain Kelly in January 2013 in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting to find sensible ways to reduce gun violence and encourage elected officials to enact responsible firearms policies that protect the Second Amendment. The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence (formerly known as the Legal Community Against Violence) was founded after the 1993 shooting in San Francisco that left eight dead. Today, it is the only national law center focused on providing comprehensive legal expertise in support of gun violence prevention and the promotion of smart gun laws that save lives. As a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, the Law Center is dedicated to preventing the loss of lives caused by gun violence by providing trusted, in-depth legal expertise and information on America’s gun laws.