Are Background Checks Effective?
“Background Check”
Summary
Studies show that requiring background checks for firearm purchases reduces the risk of violence and lowers homicide rates, especially when applied to private sales. While the system has flaws and does not eliminate all gun violence, it is a proven tool that helps keep guns out of the hands of prohibited individuals. Ongoing federal efforts aim to strengthen and expand these checks.
Sources 60 searched
- Effects of Comprehensive Background-Check Policies on Firearm Fatalities in 4 States - PMC
Research on background checks suggests that denying firearm purchase to individuals who are legally prohibited from gun ownership leads to reductions in the risk of violence among those denied individuals (5, 6).
- The mitigating effect of low firearm background check requirements on firearm homicides in border states - PMC
This study provides evidence that there may be a mitigating effect on the reduction of firearm homicides in states that require background checks or PTP on private sales when there is a state in close proximity that did not have these laws. Limited counties at certain distances may have contributed ...
- Office of Public Affairs | Justice Department Announces New Resources to Improve Firearm Background Checks and Reduce Gun Violence | United States Department of Justice
The Justice Department today announced several actions to improve firearm background checks and reduce gun violence. The Department is releasing model legislation and information that would help states permit the sharing of juvenile criminal ...
- Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2021 | Bureau of Justice Statistics
Background checks Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act Firearms Firearm Inquiry Statistics (FIST) Program National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS)
- Research Suggests Gun Background Checks Work, But They're Not Everything : NPR
A recent study of offenders in the Chicago area found most obtained their guns from "personal connections, not from gun stores or by theft." While that study suggested to some that background checks are ineffective, one of the authors, Duke University's Philip Cook, disagrees.
- Opinion | Background Checks Are Not the Answer to Gun Violence - The New York Times
Lawmakers from both parties acknowledge that errors in the background check system let felons obtain guns, as we saw when a deranged man, Devin Kelley, killed 26 people at a church in Sutherland Springs, Tex., in November.
- Gun background check system riddled with flaws | PBS News
SEATTLE — Recent mass shootings have spurred Congress to try to improve the nation's gun background check system that has failed on numerous occasions to keep weapons out of the hands of dangerous people.
- Statistics, Data & Public Opinion - Guns & Gun Control - Research at Boston University
Crime in the United States This link opens in a new window An annual publication for more than eight decades, this report contains a compilation of the volume and rate of violent and property crime offenses for the nation and by state. Individual law enforcement agency data are also provided for those contributors supplying 12 months complete offense data.
This fact check is free and donation-based. $1 powers ~30 fact-checks.
