Prohibit People With Dangerous Histories From Having Guns
Prohibit People With Dangerous Histories From Having Guns
What does this solve?
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.
Federal law prohibits certain categories of people from having guns,118 U.S.C. § 922(g) including:
- Convicted felons.
- Abusers under final domestic violence restraining orders, if they have been married to, lived with, or have a child in common with the victim.2A person who is “subject to a court order that restrains such person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner of such person or child of such intimate partner or person, or engaging in other conduct that would place an intimate partner in reasonable fear of bodily injury to the partner or child” (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8)(B)). Intimate partner is defined as “the spouse of the person, a former spouse of the person, an individual who is a parent of a child of the person, and an individual who cohabitates or has cohabited with the person” (18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(32)).
- Abusers convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence crimes.3Prior to passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), the misdemeanor crime of domestic violence prohibitor applied only to “any current or former spouse, parent, or guardian of the victim; a person with whom the victim shares a child in common; a person who is cohabiting with, or has cohabited with, the victim as a spouse, parent, or guardian; or a person similarly situated to a spouse, parent, or guardian of the victim.” BSCA expanded the prohibition to individuals who have or had a dating relationship with the victim. The law defines “dating relationship” to mean “a relationship between individuals who have or have recently had a continuing serious relationship of a romantic or intimate nature” and provides factors to determine whether such a relationship exists, including the length of the relationship, the nature of the relationship, and the frequency and type of interaction between the individuals involved in the relationship (18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(37)).
- People with dangerous mental illness.4A person who has “been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution at 16 years of age or older” (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(4)).
- Fugitives from justice.
- Unlawful drug users.
While federal law applies in every state, without matching provisions in state law, in-state officials generally cannot enforce them. States can also fill gaps left by federal law and set even stronger standards.
Featured Resources
Ensuring Effective Implementation of Laws that Disarm Domestic Abusers
Many states have not fully implemented laws that disarm domestic abusers, leaving survivors at risk.
At the Forefront of Gun Safety: Removing Illegal Guns
While gun violence continues to spike across the country, illegal gun removal programs provide real hope about progress on new solutions.
Everytown Gun Law Rankings
Our annual Gun Law Rankings measure states based on 50 key gun safety measures.
Gun Law Navigator
The Gun Law Navigator is the largest historical database of modern U.S. gun laws.
All Resources
Prohibit People With Dangerous Histories From Having Guns
All Resources
How Guns Fuel Violence Against Transgender People in America
Black trans women are bearing the brunt of a crisis of gun violence, often at the hands of perpetrators who are prohibited from owning guns.
ReportDual Tragedies: Domestic Homicide-Suicides with a Firearm
Guns are the centerpiece of the dual tragedies of intimate partner homicide and suicide. We must reduce abusers’ access to guns.
ReportParanoia and Profit: Armed Extremism and the Gun Industry’s Role in Fostering It
Meanwhile, the industry works with its political allies to make these weapons available to anyone, anywhere, at any time, demonizing those who want to keep…
ReportThe Smoking Gun
An online resource committed to exposing the gun industry’s role in our gun violence epidemic today.
Everytown Research & PolicyArmed Extremism Primer: Oath Keepers
The Oath Keepers organize around conspiracy theories and propaganda about the reasonable regulation of firearms.
Fact SheetThe Economic Cost of Gun Violence
In an average year, gun violence in America kills 40,000 people, wounds nearly twice as many, and costs our nation $557 billion.
ReportMisogyny, Extremism, and Gun Violence
The impact of violent misogyny, combined with the unique harm of violence involving guns, makes addressing it an urgent issue.
ReportArmed Extremism Primer: Sovereign Citizens
Sovereign citizens fall under the umbrella of the wider right-wing anti-government extremist movement, which can include fixation on guns.
Fact SheetCalculate the Economic Cost of Gun Violence
Examining the economic consequences of gun violence is paramount to understanding just how extensive and expensive this crisis is.
Data ToolArmed Extremism Primer: The Boogaloo
The boogaloo movement has risen to national prominence as a new and dangerous subset of the extreme right in the United States.
Fact SheetMore Than Brawlers: The Proud Boys and Armed Extremism
Many far-right groups, including the Proud Boys, use fearmongering and conspiracy theories in an attempt to stop any reform of gun laws.
Fact SheetFive Things to Know About Crime Guns, Gun Trafficking, and Background Checks
The current patchwork of state laws makes it easy for individuals to traffic firearms from states with weaker gun laws.
ReportThe Danger of No-Questions-Asked Gun Sales Between Strangers
These stories are examples of tragedies that could have been prevented if a background check was required when the shooter bought their gun.
Fact SheetUnchecked: An Investigation of the Online Firearm Marketplace
The online firearm marketplace has emerged as a growing market for anonymous gun purchases through websites such as Armslist.
Data TrackerThe Role of Guns & Armed Extremism in the Attack on the U.S. Capitol
The attack on the U.S. Capitol is the latest demonstration of the danger armed extremism poses to our democracy.
ReportUndeniable: 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.
ReportUpdate 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.
Fact SheetHow COVID-19 Has Made a Federal Background Check Loophole Even Deadlier
More background checks were run in March 2020 than at any other time since the creation of the background check system.
Fact SheetDomestic Violence and Firearm Surrender in Rhode Island
Since the law was enacted, there has been a seven-fold increase in the number of domestic abusers who were ordered to surrender their guns.
ReportGuns and Violence Against Women: America’s Uniquely Lethal Intimate Partner Violence Problem
Laws keeping guns out of the hands of abusers are associated with lower rates of violence against women and intimate partner homicides.
ReportDisarm Hate: the Deadly Intersection of Guns and Hate-Motivated Violence
Easy access to firearms gives a hate-filled individual the means to shatter numerous lives and whole communities.
Fact SheetFatal Gaps
Progress Toward a Stronger Background Check System More than ten years after the Virginia Tech shooting, progress in closing the gaps in state mental…
ReportDanger in the Land of Enchantment
Summary In October 2016, a violent felon from Deming tried to buy a gun. He had recently served time in prison for three felonies related…
ReportThe Wild Wild Web
The Toll Of Gun Violence in Nevada Federal law prohibits certain narrow classes of dangerous people from buying or possessing guns including felons, people convicted…
ReportBusiness As Usual
History of a Loophole Americans suffer from an extraordinary rate of gun violence, 20 times higher than nations with comparable levels of economic development.
ReportDomestic Abuse Protective Orders and Firearm Access in Rhode Island
Background: Limiting Abusers’ Access To Firearms Domestic abuse affects the lives of thousands of Rhode Islanders. According to the Rhode Island Judiciary Administration, police responded…
Report