Do you really need to pass background check before you buy a gun?
People feel safe if armed. According to some estimates and publications, roughly 50% of the US households currently own guns, but how big may be percentage of those who acquired their firearms legally or without intentional use of the law loopholes allowing them avoid background check they must normally go through as gun purchasers?
Virginia law contains no provisions obliging gun sellers who aren’t licensed dealers to conduct any sort of background check on buyers acquiring guns from them at open-air gun shows, even if the same law requires that background check is performed when they buy from gun dealers who are licensed. This obvious law loophole constitutes real threat making it possible for certain felons and/or mentally ill people to creep their way towards purchasing some firearms. Assault rifle can easily (and absolutely legally?) be bought at a gun show from an unlicensed gun dealer with no questions asked. Surely, the loophole needs to be closed so that all gun buyers at gun shows would submit to background check regardless of the type of dealers they buy firearms from.
The situation in some other randomly taken states, such as California, Arizona, Texas, or New Mexico, whose primary firearms market as of the end of 2008 is estimated to exceed impressive number of approximately 10,000 active licensed gun dealers, is not different. In these four states current firearms control laws contain only provisions for background check for buyers who would buy from licensed weapons dealers, but no background check is required for firearms sold and bought between private citizens. No criminal background check is required by the law if you buy at gun shows, over the Internet, or through classifieds.
But even in the states with stricter law provisions for background checks on gun buyers, quite surprisingly the further routing of the weapon very often can’t be traced. Say, in the state of Delaware, the authorities are obligated to destroy records of approved gun purchases not later than 60 days after the successful passing of background check by someone wishing to obtain a gun. This must be done to comply with another State law prohibiting state agencies maintain databases of gun owners. But you can still perform a basic free criminal background check on person over the Internet digging criminal records available online, but this will most likely take a big amount of your time if you are not using some kind of online investigative service and trying to do it all yourself and gather all that information at your own for your background investigation.
In the USA, where private citizens across the nation own at least 200 million guns, fears that firearms held in the hands of the Americans, are hardly being controlled effectively, seem to be valid. Whatever arguments against or in the favor of the right for private ownership of guns, one thing can hardly be disputed: legislature regulating background checks on gun buyers does need improvement. As we know, the same attitude is shared by Barack Obama, who, according to CNN.com, soon after the election proposed introduction of background checks for buyers at gun shows along with calling to impose a complete ban on private ownership for several types of military-style automatic and semiautomatic rifles that could be used by criminals.
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