The vast majority of hate crimes are directed against communities of color, religious minorities, and LGBTQ people. These hate crimes can become deadly when firearms are involved. Easy access to firearms gives a hate-filled individual the opportunity to shatter numerous lives and whole communities, as evidenced by the October 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue, when a white nationalist killed 11 worshippers and injured six more; the June 2015 shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC, when a white supremacist opened fire in a church, killing nine Black worshippers; and the June 2016 shooting at Pulse nightclub, Orlando, FL, when a gunman shot and killed 49 people and injured 53, most of whom identified as LGBTQ and Latinx.

Current federal and state gun laws do not adequately address the problem. While all felonies prohibit gun possession under federal law, most misdemeanors, including hate crime misdemeanors, do not—even though hate crimes involving firearms were the catalyst for hate crime laws in the United States. Hate crime misdemeanors can be serious, violent acts, but under federal law, a violent or threatening hate crime misdemeanor conviction does not prohibit gun possession. While nearly half of the states have laws closing this gap, most states do not. This means that in much of the country a person convicted of a violent hate crime could legally pass a background check and buy a gun.