background checks at gun shows

Do background checks stop criminals?

Yes. In 1994, Congress passed the Brady Bill, which required gun stores to perform criminal background checks on all gun buyers. In just five years, these background checks blocked 536,000 convicted felons and other illegal buyers from getting a gun.

Because the Brady Bill does not apply to private gun dealers, however, criminals who cannot buy at a gun store can skirt the law and obtain guns from private sellers at gun shows with no questions asked.

So far, eighteen states have closed this loophole and require background checks for all gun show sales, whether the gun dealer is a licensed seller or not. In 32 states, however, this loophole in the law remains open, making it easy for criminals to get guns at gun shows.

What happens when there are no background checks?

When background checks are not required, criminals—even convicted felons—can easily buy guns with no questions asked. There are more than 4,000 gun shows each year, and most people who attend gun shows either as sellers, buyers, or enthusiasts are law-abiding citizens. But some are not, and this underground element has exploited the lax rules at gun shows to arm criminals.

	Gun shows are the second leading source of illegal guns recovered in gun trafficking investigations.
	source:  Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, June 2000
	In Arizona, police recovered 1,500 illegal guns during a 15-month undercover sting of gun shows.
	source:  The Arizona Republic, February 11, 2001
	The Police Department in Portland, Oregon, found that more than one-fourth of the illegal guns taken from gang members and juveniles have come from gun shows.
	source:  The Oregonian, February 23, 1999

States that have closed the gun show loophole have started to block illegal gun trafficking while still allowing gun shows to operate successfully. For example, Pennsylvania and Illinois rank second and fourth in the number of gun shows in America but rank 15th and 18th in the number of crime guns exported to other states, in part because background checks are required at gun shows. Texas and Florida, which have not closed the gun show loophole, rank first and third in the number of gun shows, and they rank fourth and first in the number of crime guns exported to other states.

These and other statistics show that when the gun show loophole is closed and background checks are required, criminals do have a harder time getting access to guns.

Are background checks fast and easy?

For most buyers, a criminal background check takes only a few minutes. For nearly all buyers, it takes a maximum of a couple of hours. Only 1 in 30 background checks lasts more than a day, and those are the criminal history checks most likely to uncover a felon.

It's important to remember that gun shows themselves are not the problem. The problem is the lack of background checks for gun show purchases. Gun shows should be safe for families, sportsmen, and enthusiasts—but not for criminals.

Fast, accurate criminal background checks will keep criminals out of gun shows and preserve this unique American tradition for collectors, hunters, and enthusiasts.