GunsWhat we know about the effectiveness of universal gun background checks

By Alex Yablon

Published 11 January 2019

This Tuesday, newly dominant House Democrats revealed legislation that would require all gun buyers go through a background check, regardless of whether they buy a weapon from a licensed dealer, collector at a gun show, or stranger in a parking lot. Universal background checks are popular and enjoy political momentum. Poll after poll shows they win near universal approval. But it’s worth asking how effective universal background checks are at reducing gun violence. And the real-world evidence that they reduce crime is more complicated than the political momentum might suggest.

This Tuesday, newly dominant House Democrats revealed legislation that would require all gun buyers go through a background check, regardless of whether they buy a weapon from a licensed dealer, collector at a gun show, or stranger in a parking lot.

Universal background checks are popular and enjoy political momentum. Poll after poll shows they win near universal approval. According to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted immediately after the school shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, last February, 97 percent of American voters said they approved of the policy, with identical levels of support among respondents living in households with a gun.

But it’s worth asking how effective universal background checks are at reducing gun violence. And the real-world evidence that they reduce crime is more complicated than the political momentum might suggest.

“The direct evidence on effectiveness is limited,” said Duke University public policy expert Philip Cook, who has studied background checks. “It’s very plausible that a state that tries to close this huge loophole and devotes resources to enforcing it will have good results. But not every program is going to be equally effective. It takes a real, concerted effort to get people to change the way they have been doing things for so long.”

Why expand the federal gun background check system?
Current federal law subjects a gun sale to a background check only if the seller is a licensed dealer “engaged in the business” of selling firearms. That means collectors who occasionally set up booths at gun shows or individuals who advertise a couple of weapons on a classifieds website like Armslist don’t have to vet their customers.