On Thursday, President Joe Biden took a giant step toward making us safer from gun violence by making it harder for someone who shouldn’t possess a gun to buy one. Next week will mark the 25th anniversary of the deadly massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado. The 13 victims murdered that day were killed by two students firing guns lawfully acquired without any background checks.
Since Columbine, many other mass shootings have been linked to guns purchased without the benefit of a background check, and lawmakers and officials have mightily struggled to eliminate this often fatal gap in gun safety, known as the gun show loophole. The new rules should take effect in one month. It’s not a moment too soon.
When the proposed changes were opened up for 90 days of public comments, two-thirds of the 400,000 responses favored the new rule.
The gun show loophole is sometimes called the “private sale exception.” That’s because it allows those who sell guns at private or informal settings, such as gun shows or flea markets, to do so without initiating the law enforcement background checks on their customers that are required of federally licensed gun sellers who often conduct business at brick-and-mortar firearms stores. The new rule, to be enforced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), redefines sellers required to conduct background checks as anyone “engaged in the business” of selling guns at a profit.” Those sellers must now register as a federally licensed firearms dealer and submit buyers' data for criminal records and mental health queries even if they only deal in a small number of transactions.
The U.S. Justice Department noted that the new requirement will apply to more than 23,000 currently unlicensed dealers and cover tens of thousands of gun sales annually. That means thousands of gun sales previously conducted in a kind of double-blind transaction, with law enforcement in the dark as to whether the seller is a criminal or the buyer a potential mass shooter, will now be exposed to safety measures. Importantly, despite what naysayers might claim, the rule will not apply to selling private gun collections or passing on a grandfather’s old hunting rifle to his grandchild.
This new regulation really isn’t new. It simply takes the existing background check requirements already mandated at gun stores and applies them equally at sales happening in other places. The criminal or adjudicated mentally ill customer who would be turned away at the gun store, will now be turned away at the gun show or flea market. This isn’t infringing on anyone’s Second Amendment rights; it’s just acting responsibly. Responsible gun owners don’t want their rights tainted by violent offenders who give them a bad name. In fact, when the proposed changes were opened up for 90 days of public comments, two-thirds of the 400,000 responses favored the new rule.
You might think that this approach to increased gun safety makes perfect sense, and that it simply treats everyone equally, regardless of where they buy their gun. So, who would complain? Well, for starters, there are Republican Sens. John Cornyn, of Texas, and Thom Tillis, of North Carolina, who intend to introduce a joint resolution expressing disapproval and demanding that the new measures be overturned. Why would Cornyn, whose home state experiences almost 4,000 deaths by guns per year, and Tillis, who loses almost 1,300 of his constituents a year to gun deaths, not want safer communities?
According to Gallup, more than half of Americans think laws governing gun sales should be stricter. If certain members of Congress aren’t motivated by what their constituents want, perhaps they’re driven by their own self-interests. Tillis has been one of the top recipients of money from the National Rifle Association over the course of his career for more than $4 million so far. Cornyn has benefited from NRA funds to the tune of almost $80,000 over his tenure; a mere pittance compared to Tillis. But Cornyn has announced his intention to run for Senate GOP leader when Mitch McConnell vacates that position. Maybe Cornyn needs to take in as much NRA money as McConnell has — reportedly more than $1 million — if he wants to curry favor with his party and the NRA. It seems like some of our elected officials believe the threat of losing NRA money is greater than the present danger of constituents’ lives lost to gun violence.
The new mandated background check for gun show sales makes us safer. Our safety shouldn’t depend on where potential mass shooters buy their gun. And, our lives shouldn’t depend on how much money our Congress members get from the NRA.