‘Historic’ action by justice department closes ‘doggone dangerous’ loophole in Biden administration’s fight against gun violence
The sale of firearms on the internet and at gun shows in the US will in future be subject to mandatory background checks, the justice department said on Thursday as it announced a “historic” new action to keep weapons out of the hands of criminals.
The closing of the so-called gun show loophole, which exempts private transactions from restrictions that apply to licensed dealers, has long been a goal of the Biden administration, and is specifically targeted in the rule published in the federal register today.
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The White House estimates that 22% of guns owned by Americans were acquired without a background check and that about 23,000 more individuals will be required to be licensed as a dealer after the rule’s implementation.
Even without a registry, that makes selling it without a check a clear crime.
Now as long as the seller “doesn’t know” the buyer can’t pass a background, that gives them plausible deniability. Which has the unintended effect of sellers not even asking the name of the buyer.
If every “private seller” knew they were breaking the law, and there was a good chance they’d be prosecuted if caught, they’d be a lot more likely to follow the law and go thru a FFL.
We don’t need to only do something that works 100% of the time, working 90% is still pretty good too…
I wonder if you could make it where you could be considered an accessory to a crime if you sold a gun without a background check to a person who then committed a crime with it.
But I hear you, dont let perfection be the enemy of good.
That’d be quite a bunch of bullshit if they did. Those should stay two separate laws with two separate punishments.
That wouldn’t be reliable to trace gun ownership history without the GOP-contested national gun registry. I’d even be for a “states’ rights” solution similar to how vehicle ownership is tracked via the Title with the state’s DMV. It will never be perfect, but “not perfect” shouldn’t be the blocker of “any action at all”.
We have that in Mich, for pistols anyway. Which is kinda surprising since this state is otherwise very pro-firearm (no waiting period, no mandatory safety stuff, etc)
Failure to update a transfer for a pistol in Michigan is a misdemeanor, so it’s not that oppressive, just really annoying.
Most of us who private sale do not sell to people who don’t have ccws, or aren’t in good standing with the communities we all take part in. On top of that, criminals will not follow this law and those that do will just do what they already do. Straw purchases.
I have never witnessed any seller give any thought to wether the buy had a CCW or not.
I have. Multiple times.
It does seem like a reasonable cya for selling to some one but I’ve just never seen it happen. The attitude around me tends to be indifference at best and more often contempt for performing any inquiries into the buyer’s eligibility.
Anecdotal, but I’ve read comments in the past exactly like OPs.
I get that argument “on paper” but i don’t know that there is evidence to support that in reality. I’d probably say most people already responsibly sell their guns, but there are plenty of people who don’t do any due diligence.
Those well intentioned people don’t have the tools to properly do a background check to confirm and those people that just don’t do any due diligence would both benefit from this type of law.
Obviously criminals who have no intent to ever comply would still do their thing, but it would be a good thing to give the well intentioned people the ability and requirement to do their due diligence.
Also, it sounds like those people that don’t sell to non-ccws already tacitly support this idea. They are using a CCW as a proxy for a background check.