Democrats Shouldn't Get Hopes Up On Gun Buyer Background Checks

In the days following last weekends mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, a number of prominent Democrats have reiterated their call for the Senate to pass universal background checks.

Earlier this year, the House passed two bills, HR8 and HR112 , that would require background checks for all gun purchases, including sales at gun shows and direct sales between individuals.

As we learn more about what happened at Gilroy, my heart is with the victims and their loved ones.

It's been over 5 months since the House passed #HR8 and #HR1112 to expand and enhance our background check system. When will this legislation receive a vote in the Senate?

Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) July 29, 2019","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Rep. Katie Porter","author_url":"https://twitter.com/RepKatiePorter","cache_age":86400,"description":"As we learn more about what happened at Gilroy, my heart is with the victims and their loved ones.It's been over 5 months since the House passed #HR8 and #HR1112 to expand and enhance our background check system. When will this legislation receive a vote in the Senate? Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) July 29, 2019\n\n","provider_name":"Twitter","title":"Rep. 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As we learn more about what happened at Gilroy, my heart is with the victims and their loved ones.

It's been over 5 months since the House passed #HR8 and #HR1112 to expand and enhance our background check system. When will this legislation receive a vote in the Senate?
Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) July 29, 2019

The need for legislation is obvious. Guns cause more than 36,000 deaths per year and account for nearly three-quarters of all homicides. Americans make up 4% of the worlds population but own nearly half of its firearms . Ninety-two percent of Americans , including 83% of gun owners , support universal background checks.

Theres just one problem: Without a much larger package of reforms, the bills passed by the House have little chance of reducing gun crime or mass shootings.

Background checks work to prevent violence in many cases, but research indicates that they need to be accompanied by a more comprehensive set of reforms if we want them to significantly reduce gun fatalities, said Rose Kagawa, a gun violence prevention researcher at the University of California, Davis.

Over the last three years, numerous studies have documented that background checks alone have limited effects on gun violence. In February, a study of Californias comprehensive background check law found that it had no effect on crime or suicide rates. Last year , researchers noted that when Indiana and Tennessee repealed their comprehensive background check laws, they didnt experience an uptick in gun crime. Another found that in urban areas, comprehensive background checks were associated with an increase in firearm homicides.

The reason for this is that the effectiveness of background checks, like every other government policy, depend heavily on how theyre implemented.

The United States already has a number of background-check measures in place. The 1993 Brady Bill requires licensed gun dealers to perform background checks on all their customers. Many states have gone further, requiring fingerprints, safety training and longer waiting periods.

No matter how strict these measures are, though, the data behind them is patchy at best.

The background check system isnt going to work if the database of people who arent allowed to buy guns is essentially empty, said Matthew Lang, an economist at University of California-Riverside who has written numerous studies on gun control.

States differ wildly in their procedures for gathering and maintaining background-check information. According to FBI data , Montana has just 38 residents who are barred from purchasing firearms. Oregon and Oklahoma have roughly the same population, but Oregon has 10 times more people banned from buying guns. Any effort to make background checks national and meaningful, Lang said, would have to ensure consistency across states.

Theres no uniform way to work with this database, Lang said. Its not preventing the people you need to prevent from buying guns.