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April 19, 2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Matt Bennett
202-775-0300 x 212
 

New Report Shows 32 States with Gun Show Loophole
are Flooding the Nation with Crime Guns

Concludes Background Checks Don't Hurt Gun Shows

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Washington, DC—Thirty-two states that fail to require criminal background checks at gun shows are flooding the nation with guns used in crimes, according to a new report released today by the Americans for Gun Safety Foundation.

The report, titled "No Questions Asked: Background Checks, Gun Shows and Crime," finds that criminals in the 18 states that require gun show background checks are getting thousands of guns each year from states without such checks.

In addition, the report finds that "requiring background checks at gun shows will not affect the millions of enthusiasts who attend gun shows each year, but is clearly an essential part of a comprehensive strategy to make it harder for criminals to get guns."

This report shows that background checks won't restrict the rights of law-abiding citizens to buy guns.

"This report shows conclusively that gun shows without background checks have become firearms convenience stores for criminals—it's cash and carry, with no questions asked," said AGS Foundation President Jonathan Cowan. "This report also shows that background checks won't stop any of the 4,500 gun shows held each year, or restrict the rights of law-abiding citizens to buy guns." The study combines information from a broad range of organizations to get the best picture yet available of the effects of the gun show loophole. The information comes from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; reports issued by the U.S. Departments of Treasury, Justice and the General Accounting Office; news reports; gun show publications; and data from Internet sites of the National Rifle Association and the National Association of Arms Shows.

The gun show loophole refers to the ability of participants at gun shows to sell firearms without conducting the background checks that licensed gun dealers are required to make under the Brady Law. An unlicensed seller is anyone who does not have a federal firearms license or does not sell for business. There is no limit on the number of guns an unlicensed seller may sell.

The 32 states
that have failed to close
the gun show loophole are:  Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Several senators have announced plans to introduce legislation in coming weeks designed to close the gun show loophole nationwide.

Criminal background checks for gun purchasers are virtually instant: 72% are completed within several minutes, 95% within two hours, and only one in 30 lasts more than a day. The length of background checks is legally limited to three business days.

The checks that take more than twenty-four hours are 20 times more likely to uncover a prohibited buyer than those completed within two hours, because when a check turns up a felony arrest it takes time to determine if the person was actually convicted of the crime. A felony conviction is the most common reason that a potential buyer is denied a handgun.

Here are more details of the key findings of the new report::

	States that do not require background checks at gun shows are flooding the nation with crime guns.
	•	Nine of the ten states that supply the most crime guns to out-of-state criminals do not require background checks at gun shows. The nine are: Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, Indiana, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Arizona.
	•	In states that require background checks at gun shows, 44% of guns traced to local crimes were originally sold in another state. In states that don't require background checks, only 24% of guns traced came from outside the state where the crime was committed.
	•	"States that do not require gun show background checks are far more likely to export crime guns to other states," the report says.
	Since passage of the Brady Law, gun shows have become a major source of crime guns.
	•	According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, from 1996 to 1998 alone gun shows were the nation's second leading source of guns recovered in illegal gun trafficking investigations, accounting for 26,000 illegal firearms.
	•	Extensive local evidence supports this finding; including, for example, a recent investigation of Arizona gun shows that uncovered 1,500 illegal firearms.
	Closing the gun show loophole does not adversely affect the gun show business.
	•	Of the five states that host the most gun shows, three of them—Pennsylvania, Illinois and California—currently require criminal background checks or a firearms ID card to purchase a gun.
	•	Whether or not a state requires background checks at gun shows has no bearing on how many gun shows are offered in each state. So far in 2001, an average of 22 gun shows are scheduled in states that require background checks, compared with 24 in states that do not require the checks.
	•	"There is no factual basis for the claim that background checks impair gun shows or put them out of business," the study finds.

"This study erases all of the myths about the gun show loophole," Cowan said. "It proves that with the right laws, we can have the best of both worlds: fast, accurate background checks at gun shows that will stop criminals from getting guns without putting gun shows out of business."

About the Americans for Gun Safety Foundation

The Americans for Gun Safety Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan organization. The Foundation seeks to educate the public about: supporting the rights of individuals to own guns, the need for better laws and stronger enforcement of existing laws to help keep guns out of the hands of criminals and children, and safe and responsible gun ownership.

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