{"id":56414,"date":"2020-06-27T13:07:21","date_gmt":"2020-06-27T18:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=56414"},"modified":"2020-06-27T13:07:21","modified_gmt":"2020-06-27T18:07:21","slug":"56414","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=56414","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

‘TL DR”, No.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

But other research has found different outcomes. The state of California has had a comprehensive background check law on the books for 10 years. Researchers at UC Davis School of Medicine have studied gun violence in CA during that period and\u00a0found\u00a0there was no change in the number of gun homicides or gun suicides. The researchers use the term \u201ccomprehensive background check\u201d instead of universal background check. And\u00a0another study\u00a0by the same authors found that the repeal of comprehensive background check laws in Tennessee and Indiana had no effect on gun homicides or suicide rates in either state.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Do Universal Background Checks Prevent Gun Violence?<\/a><\/p>\n

Under current federal law, licensed dealers are required to run background checks on all gun purchases prior to making sales. But this law does not apply to private gun transactions between individuals either in person or online, potentially providing a \u201cloophole\u201d for prohibited persons to legally obtain firearms. While polls show widespread\u00a0support<\/a> for universal background checks, there is mixed evidence that requiring UBCs for all gun sales would prevent or reduce gun violence….<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What Are \u2018Universal\u2019 Background Checks?<\/h2>\n

About 1 in 5 gun transactions in the U.S. occur without a background check, according to a 2017\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0by researchers at Harvard and Northeastern University. And another\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0also from 2017, by the Department of Justice, found that only about 1.5% of the millions of gun background checks run by the FBI annually result in denials.<\/p>\n

A federal\u00a0universal background check<\/a>\u00a0law would require all firearm purchasers to pass a criminal records check done by either a state background check system or the federal National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which is administered by the FBI. The aim is to identify a larger number of individuals who should be barred from buying a gun by increasing the categories of transactions that require a background check.<\/p>\n

How Do They Work?<\/h2>\n

In a state with a universal background check law, a criminal background check is done every time a gun sale is initiated \u2014 whether it\u2019s in person at a federally licensed dealer, online, at a gun show or between individuals. If the purchase is made online, the vendor sends the firearm to a licensed dealer, who then runs a background check before completing the sale. The check looks for criminal convictions, a history of mental illness and\u00a0other factors<\/a>\u00a0that would bar someone from buying a gun.<\/p>\n

If the purchase is made at a gun show, either the state police is on hand to run the background checks before sales are completed or the seller has a background check set up with NICS at their booth before any sale can be completed.<\/p>\n

Proponents of universal background checks\u00a0argue<\/a>\u00a0they reduce gun violence by identifying more prohibited purchasers and prevent gun violence that could be perpetrated by criminals who are able to purchase weapons. Some gun rights groups, however,\u00a0oppose<\/a>\u00a0expanding background checks as unnecessary government intrusion, because they argue most criminals get their guns from family, friends and \u201cblack market\u201d street purchases, which would continue to occur. Some also\u00a0argue\u00a0<\/a>UBCs are unconstitutional because such laws might lead to the establishment of a federal gun registry in order to track purchases outside of dealers.<\/p>\n

Are UBCs Effective?<\/h2>\n

Research is mixed as to whether universal background check requirements can reduce gun violence. Some studies have found that UBCs can reduce gun violence and violent crime generally. But other research has found that these policies haven\u2019t led to reductions in gun violence, even after being in place for several years.<\/p>\n

The RAND Corporation recently completed a meta-analysis of 18 different gun control policies and\u00a0found<\/a>\u00a0\u201cmoderate\u201d evidence that universal background checks decreased both violent crime (including homicides) and suicide rates. A similar, 2017\u00a0review<\/a>\u00a0of academic literature on gun policies by Harvard University found that more comprehensive background check laws were associated with lower rates of firearm homicides.<\/p>\n

But other research has found different outcomes. The state of California has had a comprehensive background check law on the books for 10 years. Researchers at UC Davis School of Medicine have studied gun violence in CA during that period and\u00a0found<\/a>\u00a0there was no change in the number of gun homicides or gun suicides. The researchers use the term \u201ccomprehensive background check\u201d instead of universal background check. And\u00a0another study<\/a>\u00a0by the same authors found that the repeal of comprehensive background check laws in Tennessee and Indiana had no effect on gun homicides or suicide rates in either state.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health looked at comprehensive background check laws in large, urban counties in the U.S. and\u00a0found<\/a>\u00a0they were actually associated with an\u00a0increase\u00a0<\/em>in firearm homicides in those counties. That study found \u201cno benefit\u201d of a CBC law\u00a0without an accompanying permit-to-purchase law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So, while the research is mixed on the ability of UBC laws to prevent or reduce gun violence by themselves, several studies have shown that coupled with other gun laws, there can be a documented effect. For example, a 2016\u00a0review<\/a>\u00a0of gun policy studies in 10 countries by researchers at Columbia University found that countries that combined several gun control laws \u2014 licensing\/permit requirements, minimum age restrictions, and background checks, for example \u2014 had success decreasing gun violence.<\/p>\n

The Future of Universal Background Checks<\/h2>\n

As of May 2020,<\/strong>\u00a0more than a dozen states<\/a>\u00a0have a universal background check law on the books. And in February 2019, the Democrat-led House of Representatives passed a federal universal background check\u00a0bill<\/a>\u00a0that would require a background check for all gun sales, regardless of the platform. The law exempts transfers between family members, however, and some temporary transactions like lending a gun for hunting. So far, the U.S. Senate hasn\u2019t taken up the House\u2019s UBC bill, nor has it proposed one of its own.<\/p>\n

At the federal level, we\u2019ve seen a focus on UBCs because unlike other gun control proposals, they don\u2019t involve banning the purchase of specific weapons or ammunition and\u00a0enjoy bipartisan support<\/a>, even from gun owners. But barring a change in Republican control of the Senate and\/or the presidency, this legislation is\u00a0unlikely<\/a>\u00a0to move forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘TL DR”, No. But other research has found different outcomes. The state of California has had a comprehensive background check law on the books for 10 years. Researchers at UC Davis School of Medicine have studied gun violence in CA during that period and\u00a0found\u00a0there was no change in the number of gun homicides or gun … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rkba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56414"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56415,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56414\/revisions\/56415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}