Firearms Facts in America

Firearm Myth: H.R. 8/ S. 42 Only Apply to Firearms Sales/Transfers at Gun Shows.

Firearm Fact: "Universal" Background Checks Legislation Criminalizes Otherwise Law-Abiding Gun Owners.

"Universal" background check laws, as referred to by gun control advocates, would essentially make it illegal for private individuals to transfer guns to each other, even if they are close friends, neighbors, co-workers, or family members.

It may seem like these laws would prevent felons and other prohibited individuals from obtaining firearms, but in reality, most criminals acquire guns through illegal means such as the black market. These laws end up criminalizing the simple act of handing a firearm to another person, without actually making anyone safer.

Firearm Myth: "Universal" Background Checks Would Have Stopped High-Profile Shootings.

Fact: High-Profile Shooters PASSED Background Checks.

Going back to the VA Tech shooting in 2007, Not a single one of the cases did a perpetrator buy his weapon through an "unregulated private sale," through "the Internet," or in "the parking lot at a gun show."  

Recent attackers and alleged attackers who have passed background checks for their guns. These include the attackers in the following incidents:

• Thousand Oaks, California
• Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, Pennsylvania
• Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Florida
• Sutherland Springs, Texas
• Las Vegas, Nevada
• Pulse nightclub, Florida
• Umpqua Community College, Oregon 
• Roanoke news crew shooting, Virginia
• Lafayette theater shooting, Louisiana
• Chattanooga National Guard shooting, Tennessee
• Charleston church shooting, South Carolina
• Santa Barbara campus shooting, California
• Navy Yard, Washington, DC
• Sikh Temple, Wisconsin
• Aurora Theater, Colorado 
• Tucson, Arizona
• Fort Hood, Texas

Firearm Myth: 97% of Americans Support So-Called "Universal" Background Checks.

Firearm Fact: When put before voters, these measures did not come close to garnering 97 percent of the vote.

The gun control lobby likes to cite that 97 percent of Americans support so-called "universal" background checks. However, when put before American voters, the measures did not come close to garnering 97 percent of the vote. In some instances, they failed to get a majority of the vote or barely passed. The following ballot initiatives on "universal" background checks show the statewide support in the context of how much money gun control advocates spent versus those opposed to it. 

• In 2014, supporters of a Washington State ballot initiative, I-594, outspent opponents by almost 19-1. Despite the supporters' overwhelming financial advantage, the measure garnered only 59% of the votes.
  
  
• In Nevada, a 2016 "universal" background check ballot initiative passed by less than one percent of the vote, despite Bloomberg and Everytown outspending opponents by a margin of 3-1.
  
  Nevada's poorly written background check law has since been found unenforceable by the state Attorney General, in part because the FBI refuses to conduct the expanded background checks. The Bureau has determined that the State of Nevada "…cannot dictate how federal resources are applied."
  
  
• In Maine, a majority of voters rejected an Everytown-backed 2016 ballot initiative on "universal" background checks despite a more than 6-1 spending advantage by gun control proponents.

Firearm Myth: "Universal" background checks are a gun safety measure.

Firearm Fact: "Universal" background checks have nothing to do with addressing crime.

Proponents of expanded background checks claim that they want to stop dangerous people from obtaining firearms, but there is no evidence that expanded background checks are useful for this purpose.

Just last year, a study by anti-gun researchers confirmed that expanded background checks in California did not reduce gun homicides or gun suicides. This finding is consistent with a review of past studies on expanded background checks by the RAND Corporation that found that "evidence of the effect of private-seller background checks on firearm homicides is inconclusive."

These studies confirm that anti-gun members of Congress aren't interested in actually addressing violent crime; they're just trying to deflect the blame on law-abiding gun owners.