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Colin Goddard, a student who was shot four times at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, worked with the Brady Campaign to record how easy it is to buy guns without a Brady criminal background check from many irresponsible unlicensed sellers. 

Colin’s undercover footage of gun shows has sellers making statements such as “There’s no tax.  There’s no paperwork.  That’s worth something.”  The buyers didn’t even have to show a driver’s license. 

Colin’s goal is to encourage Americans to call on Congress to close the loophole that allows dangerous people to buy weapons at gun shows without a Brady background check. 

As part of the campaign, Colin sent an email to Brady supporters with a short video of his ordeal at Virginia Tech urging them to forward his video and sign a petition to Congress demanding that it close the gun show loophole.

Our national policy should be: no background check, no gun, no excuses.

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Click here to view Colin Goddard’s undercover footage showing how guns can be easily purchased at gun shows without a background check.

PROBLEM: The Brady Law requires criminal background checks of gun buyers at federally licensed dealers, but there is a loophole at gun shows and other venues where unlicensed dealers operate. In most states convicted felons, domestic violence abusers, and those who are dangerously mentally ill can walk into any gun show, flea market, or even log on to the internet and buy weapons from unlicensed sellers, no questions asked.

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold used two shotguns, an assault rifle and a TEC-9 assault pistol to shoot 26 students at Columbine, killing 13. All four guns came from gun show sales. Their friend, Robyn Anderson, bought three of the guns for them from unlicensed sellers. After the massacre, Ms. Anderson stated that had she been required to undergo a background check, she would not have purchased the guns.

THREAT: Allowing dangerous people such as convicted felons and domestic abusers to buy guns from unlicensed sellers without a Brady criminal background check threatens the safety of our families and communities.

URGENCY: We must act now to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people to stop future tragedies like the one at Columbine High School. There is no federal law to require extending Brady background checks to all gun show purchases. Only seventeen states have taken steps to extend Brady background checks for firearm purchases at gun shows.

SOLUTION: Congress must pass legislation to require Brady criminal background checks on all gun sales and in the short-term, close the gun show loophole, requiring Brady criminal background checks at gun shows. More states must pass legislation to require universal background checks and to close the gun show loophole to put pressure on Congress to act.

GET ACTIVE:  Contact your Representative and Senators to urge them to support the closing the gun show loophole.  The Senate bill is S. 843.  The House bill is H.R. 2324.

Q. What is the purpose of a Brady criminal background check?

A. The purpose of a Brady background check is to find out if a prospective gun buyer is prohibited from purchasing a firearm. When a prospective gun buyer attempts to purchase a gun at a federally licensed dealer, state or federal law enforcement authorities must do a Brady criminal background check.

The Brady Law requiring a background check took effect in 1994, after a 7-year battle with the NRA. It initially required purchasers to wait up to five days for a background check to occur before being allowed to purchase a handgun. This provision of the Act expired in 1998 when the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) came online. NICS is managed by the FBI. The system runs database checks on criminal and other disqualifying records.

The Brady Law is named in honor of James Brady, who was President Ronald Reagan’s Press Secretary in 1981 when both men were shot in an attempted assassination of President Reagan.

Q. Why is a Brady criminal background check important?

A. The Brady criminal background check is important to keep dangerous guns out of the hands of dangerous people. It is a critical law enforcement tool that prevents criminals and other prohibited purchasers from buying guns at gun dealers.

Since 1994, the Brady Law has stopped 1.8 million criminals and other prohibited people from purchasing firearms from licensed dealers (US DOJ, 2009, Table 1).

Q. Are all gun sales covered by the Brady Law?

A. No. There are loopholes that need to be addressed. The Brady Law applies only to sales by licensed gun dealers, not to sales by unlicensed sellers. It is estimated that over forty percent of gun acquisitions occur in the secondary market. That means that they happen without a Brady background check at a federally licensed dealer (Cook, p. 26).

Q. What are the loopholes and why are they a problem?

A. We make it too easy for dangerous people to obtain dangerous weapons. Convicted felons, domestic violence abusers, and those who are dangerously mentally ill can walk into gun shows or flea markets and buy firearms from unlicensed sellers. No questions are asked. In addition to gun shows and flea markets, criminals use classified ads and even the internet to buy and sell guns without a background check.

The fact that criminals and other dangerous people can exploit these loopholes threatens the safety of our families and communities.

Our national gun policy should be: no background check, no gun, no excuses.

Q. Are criminals really using gun shows to buy guns?

A. Absolutely. Gun shows provide a huge market for gun sales completed without Brady background checks. Gun shows are a major trafficking channel according to ATF, with an average of 130 guns trafficked per investigation, and over 25,000 firearms trafficked in total over one 17-month period alone (US Dept. of Treasury, June 2000, p. 13).

Unregulated sales to criminals and traffickers at gun shows have led to deadly consequences.

Here are some examples:

Littleton, Colorado: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold used two shotguns, an assault rifle and a TEC-9 assault pistol to shoot 26 students at Columbine High School, killing 13. All four guns came from gun show sales. Their friend, Robyn Anderson, bought three of the guns for them from unlicensed sellers. After the massacre, Ms. Anderson stated that had she been required to undergo a background check, she would not have purchased the guns.

Oklahoma City, Okalahoma: Timothy McVeigh, and his sidekicks Michael Fortier and Terry Nichols, admitted to stealing $60,000 worth of shotguns, rifles and handguns from an Arkansas gun collector's ranch. Fortier admitted that he sold many of the stolen weapons at gun shows.

Waco, Texas: Branch Davidian cult leader David Koresh used Texas gun shows to purchase many firearms. According to an ATF arrest warrant, Koresh and his cult made "regular purchases of weapons and ammunition [from] flea markets and gun shows." In the end, authorities estimated that Koresh had at least 200 automatic and semi-automatic assault rifles stockpiled, plus thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Q. Are terrorists exploiting these loopholes?

A. Yes. Terrorists are also buying at gun shows. Foreign terrorists also find gun shows in the United States to be inviting marketplaces to supply themselves with guns: Hezbollah purchases. On September 10, 2001, just one day before the devastating attacks against the United States, Ali Boumelhem was convicted on a variety of weapons violations plus conspiracy to ship weapons to the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon. He and his brother Mohamed had purchased an arsenal of shotguns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, flash suppressors and assault weapons parts from Michigan gun shows without undergoing background checks. Al-Qaeda purchases. On October 30, 2001, Muhammad Navid Asrar, an illegal Pakistani immigrant, was also convicted of weapons charges. Over the course of seven years, Asrar frequented gun shows, buying several weapons, allegedly to supply the al-Qaeda terrorist organization. He remains under investigation by a federal grand jury on suspicion of involvement with al-Qaeda. 

To help keep guns out of the hands of terrorists, the Brady Campaign supports the Terror Gap bill. 

Q. Are there states that have extended Brady background checks to close the loopholes?

A. Seven states require background checks no matter where a gun is purchased. Of these seven, two states (California and Rhode Island) require background checks on all firearm purchasers. Five states (Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) require background checks on all handgun, but not long gun, purchasers. Thirty-three states have done nothing to close the gun show loophole. Seventeen states have taken steps to extend Brady background checks for firearm purchases at gun shows. To review your state’s gun laws, click here.

Q. What is the evidence that requiring background checks for every sale, no matter where it takes place, would make a difference?

A. California has strong gun laws that require all sales to go through retail dealers, including those at gun shows. A study that compared California gun shows with gun shows in states with looser laws found that California's regulatory policies were associated with a decreased incidence of anonymous, undocumented gun sales and illegal straw purchases at gun shows. California gun shows were not hurt by the restrictions. California’s shows had more attendees per vendor than shows in the other states (Wintemute, p. 150).

Q. Are gun owners in favor of background checks for all gun sales?

A. Yes, 67 percent of gun owners favor requiring a background check for every sale, regardless of location. Eighty-four percent of people who live in a house with a gun (but are not the owner of the gun) favor a background check for every sale, and 80 percent of non-gun owners support this policy (Smith, p. 53).

Q. What is the solution?

A. Congress must pass legislation to require Brady criminal background checks on all gun sales, including closing the gun show loophole. More states must pass legislation to require universal background checks to put pressure on Congress to act. Allowing dangerous people such as convicted felons and domestic abusers to buy guns from unlicensed sellers without a Brady criminal background check threatens the safety of our families and communities. We must act now to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. Our national gun policy should be: no background check, no gun, no excuses.

Q. What can I do?

A. Contact your Representative and Senators to urge them to support the closing the gun show loophole.  The Senate bill is S. 843.  The House bill is H.R. 2324.

Sources

Cook, PJ and J Ludwig, Guns in America: Results of a Comprehensive National Survey on Firearms Ownership and Use.  (Washington, DC: Police Foundation, 1996).  Although a handful of states require background checks at gun shows, in most states, private sales are completely unregulated.

U.S. Department of Justice. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2008: Statistical Tables (August 2009) at http://ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/html/bcft/2008/bcft07st.htm

U. S. Department of Treasury, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, Following the Gun: Enforcing Federal Laws Against Firearms Traffickers (June 2000): Table 3, page 13.

Wintemute GJ, “Gun shows across a multistate American gun market: observational evidence of the effects of regulatory policies,” Injury Prevention 13:3 (2007):150-5.