Prohibited Gun Possessors
Prohibited Gun Possessors
What is the problem?
Keeping guns out of the hands of people who are likely to harm themselves or others—before they act—is the most effective way to prevent gun violence.
Federal law requires background checks on all gun sales from licensed firearm dealers to ensure that gun buyers do not fall into one of the categories of people prohibited by law from having a gun. But the law does not require background checks on sales from unlicensed sellers, including online or at gun shows—making it easy for a prohibited person to acquire a gun. Federal law also fails to prohibit certain categories of people with particularly dangerous histories, and it does not provide a process through which people who are likely to commit violent acts against themselves or others can be blocked from having access to guns.
What are the solutions?
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Background Checks on All Gun Sales
Background checks are the foundation of any comprehensive gun violence prevention strategy. Current federal law requires that background checks be conducted whenever a person attempts to buy a gun from a licensed gun dealer. This is to ensure that the buyer is not legally prohibited from having the gun. Since federal law began requiring these background checks in 1994, background checks have blocked millions of sales to people with felony convictions or other prohibiting histories.[mfn]United States Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Publications & Products: Background Checks for Firearm Transfers,” https://bit.ly/2F4vMYw. Data on federal- and state-level denials were obtained from the BJS reports for the years 1999–2010 and 2012–2020. Local-level denials were available and included only for the years 2012, 2014–2018, and 2020 from the BJS reports. Data for the years 2011 and 2021 were obtained by Everytown for Gun Safety from the FBI directly. Though the majority of the transactions and denials reported by the FBI and BJS are associated with a firearm sale or transfer, a small number may be for concealed-carry permits and other reasons not related to a sale or transfer.[/mfn]
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Prohibit People With Dangerous Histories From Having Guns
People with dangerous histories should be prohibited from having guns. Federal law prohibits gun possession by certain categories of people. States also set standards for who is too dangerous to have guns. People prohibited by federal or state law will fail a background check if they try to buy a gun from a licensed dealer.
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Extreme Risk Laws
When a person is in crisis and considering harming themselves or others, family members and law enforcement are often the first people to see the warning signs. Extreme Risk laws, sometimes referred to as “Red Flag” laws, allow loved ones or law enforcement to intervene by petitioning a court for an order to temporarily prevent someone in crisis from accessing guns.
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Close the Charleston Loophole
Under federal law, gun purchases may move forward by default after three business days—even if a background check has not been completed.[mfn]18 U.S.C. 922(t)(1)(B)(ii).[/mfn] While more than 90 percent of federal background checks are completed in minutes,[mfn]FBI, “National Instant Criminal Background Check System 2022 Operations Report,” 2023, https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/nics-2022-operations-report.pdf/view.[/mfn] those that take longer than three business days are four times as likely to be denied.[mfn]Everytown Research analysis of Federal Bureau of Investigation, NICS Operations Reports 2015–2019, https://bit.ly/36nWN6X. Of the 76,693 checks that were delayed past three business days and resolved within 90 days annually, 4,059 checks were later found to have resulted in illegal sales—or 5.3 percent. Each year, of the 7,732,373 checks processed by the FBI that were immediately resolved, 102,717 were denied—or 1.3 percent.[/mfn]
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Gun Dealer Reform
Laws on how gun stores conduct their business have not been strengthened since the 1960s. Congress should pass comprehensive gun dealer reform.
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Require Prohibited People to Turn in Their Guns
Requiring people to turn in their guns when they become legally prohibited from having them helps keep guns out of the wrong hands. Under federal law, there is no affirmative requirement that people who are prohibited from having guns turn in firearms that they already have.
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Stop Downloadable Guns
Downloadable guns,[mfn]Everytown for Gun Safety, “The Danger of Downloadable Guns,” January 17, 2020, https://www.everytown.org/report/the-danger-of-downloadable-guns/.[/mfn] or 3-D printed guns, are serious threats to our communities. The key to stopping the spread of downloadable guns is to stop the spread of the computer code that is used to 3-D print the firearm or its parts.
Featured Resources
Undeniable: How Long-Standing Loopholes in the Background Check System Have Been Exacerbated by COVID-19
Loopholes must be addressed to ensure that guns are not sold without a completed background check.
Update Background Check Laws
Updating federal and state laws to require background checks on all gun sales is a common-sense way to keep guns out of the wrong hands.
All Resources
Prohibited Gun Possessors
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