Background Checks Hurt Gun Sales – Oh No!

Despite America’s gun-manufacturers principal marketing arm’s (the National Rifle Association’s) effective lobbying to ban official government records of gun homicide statistics, a [non-government] “study by two New York City cardiologists found that the U.S. has 88 guns per 100 people and 10 gun-related deaths per 100,000 people — more than any of the other 27 developed countries they studied.” ABCNews.com, September 19, 2013. The subtext is that guns have so proliferated the country that to get new gun sales to spur profits, manufacturers need existing gun owners to purchase additional weapons (you’ve the basics, now buy the exotics!), and they need to make sure that the pool of available buyers is as big as it can be.

And with 40% of all guns sales going through private sellers (mostly at gun shows) where background checks do not apply, and to make sure that online sales from unlicensed sellers are as wide open as possible – again avoiding meaningful background checks – the NRA has to make sure that any American groundswell to effect limits on gun ownership be crushed into dust and extinguished as quickly as possible. But most voters accept that, as a minimum, keeping guns out of obviously foul or dangerous hands is a good idea. Bad for gun sales though, and that gun-manufacturers’ powerful lobby – the NRA – has to figure out what to do about that. And since they seem to have more power than any legislative body in the United States, they are damned good at getting their way.

Take the current ballot battles over background checks in Washington State: “A new study [of buyers and sellers in Washington State] suggests a significant portion of those buyers — at least 10 percent — would fail a background check conducted by a licensed dealer… The study, conducted by the pro-gun control group Everytown For Gun Safety, examined sales through several Web sites that serve as online portals for firearms dealers. Sites like Armslist, Northwest Firearms, Outdoors Trader, Washington Gun Trader and Gun Listings all allow sellers to list their weapons for sale, and buyers to post notices searching for specific kinds of firearms.

“Those sites featured advertisements for nearly 17,000 weapons during a recent five-month stretch, Everytown researchers found. At the same time, another 1,164 buyers posted advertisements looking for weapons. When the group matched public records with any identifying information the buyers posted, they found almost 10 percent — eight out of 81 identifiable buyers — would be barred from buying a gun from a licensed dealer…

“‘[T]he background check system is effectively preventing criminals from obtaining guns at licensed gun dealers — but unlicensed sellers who offer an open door for acquiring guns without background checks are attracting them instead,’ the authors of the Everytown report concluded.

“The prevalence of online sales, which are excluded from background check requirements, has shown up in licensed dealer sales: Since 2003, the number of gun sales denied because of a failed background check dropped by more than half. [Sure, instead buy where there aren’t any background checks!]

“Everytown is among the groups backing Initiative 594, a measure on the ballot this fall that would require background checks on the vast majority of gun transfers in Washington State, including online and at gun sales. Gun-rights activists [read: the NRA] oppose the initiative, which they say would unduly burden gun owners who try to transfer weapons legitimately, even to family members.

“Public polling shows I-594 passing by wide margins. But gun-rights advocates have their own alternative, Initiative 591, which would prohibit the state from enforcing background check measures that go beyond federal law. Some polls show that measure passing as well, leaving open the prospect of significant litigation after the election if both initiatives succeed.” Washington Post, September 17^th. What one hand gives, the other takes away.

We are truly mad letting the gun manufacturers have their way with our gun safety laws, allowing their heavily subsidized NRA free reign to continue practices that have led to the highest “death by gun” statistics in the developed world.

 I’m Peter Dekom, and I know my railing won’t bring this pernicious lobbying effort to heel anytime soon but I have to try.