The Brady law requires that all licensed gun dealers conduct a background check on all gun purchasers. There is a significant loophole in this law, however, in that unlicensed dealers are permitted to sell guns at gun shows, through the internet, and in private sales without performing any type of background check.

The loophole has a real impact on the ability of kids and criminals to have access to guns. Guns used in the Columbine shooting and the day care center shooting in Granada Hills were purchased through unlicensed dealers at gun shows—without background checks.

Proposals have been offered to close this loophole in its most visible context—gun shows, where both licensed and unlicensed dealers gather. Other proposals would go further, mandating that all gun sales—even for guns that are sold by private sellers through the newspaper, for example—be subject to background checks.

• The Brady Act has made significant gains in improving gun safety by preventing more than 500,000 prohibited persons from purchasing guns through the use of background checks.
  
  SOURCE: GIFFORD ET AL., BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, 2000
   
  But this effort has been significantly hampered by the gun show loophole and other inadequacies in the law, which prevent background checks from being run on all gun sales.

• Requiring background checks at gun shows and for private sales would be very difficult to enforce. Therefore, the non-licensed dealers that are conducting these sales have no incentives to obey the law. Furthermore, there is no effective way to monitor whether or not background checks are being completed on private sales.

• Eighty-one percent of Americans polled believe all handgun sales should be subject to a Brady background check and a five-day waiting period.
  
  SOURCE: SMITH, 2000
   

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