I guess I must have decided I missed polarizing topics. (also this seemed important)
"The study focused on Armslist.com — a popular classified site similar to Craigslist.org that facilitates private sales of firearms and ammunition based on location — and analyzed listings in 10 states where senators voted against a background-check compromise this spring.
At any given time, more than 15,000 guns were for sale in those states, according to the study, and more than 5,000 of them were semi-automatic weapons. Nearly 2,000 ads were from prospective buyers asking to purchase specifically from private sellers, where no background checks are required."
Ok already I can hear the cries of "
Bullshit! Guns have to go through an FFL dealer!"
Yes and no, from what I can tell.
You see that depends on the state. And most states do not require that for private person to person sales, especially if the buyer says he is a hobbyist.
“Today, private parties sometimes sell large numbers of new and used firearms while claiming hobbyist status and exemption from the requirements imposed on licensed retailers,” according to Inside Gun Shows: What Goes on When Everybody Thinks Nobody’s Watching, a 2009 report from the Violence Prevention Research Program at University of California Davis.
http://www.governing.com/gov-data/safety-justice/gun-show-firearms-bankground-checks-state-laws-map.htmlSome states require back ground checks and some gun shows require it... but I cant' find an over arching federal law that would require it automatically.
Even in states where back ground checks are required, that still doesn't mean people who shouldn't be allowed guns aren't using online sales to try to get them..
The intentions and background of the prospective buyer were hidden, as is customary on such sites. The person posting these ads, however, left a phone number, enabling The New York Times to trace them to their source: Omar Roman-Martinez, 29, of Colorado Springs, who has a pair of felony convictions for burglary and another for motor vehicle theft, as well as a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction — all of which bar him from having guns. Yet he was so determined he even offered to trade a tablet computer or a vintage Pepsi machine for firearms.
.....
A 2011 undercover investigation by the City of New York examined private party gun sellers on a range of Web sites, including Armslist, to see if they would sell guns to someone who said that they probably could not pass a background check. (Federal law bars sales to any person the seller has reason to believe is prohibited from purchasing firearms). Investigators found seventy-seven of 125 online sellers agreed to sell the weapons anyway.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/us/seeking-gun-or-selling-one-web-is-a-land-of-few-rules.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0and
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/want-buy-gun-without-background-check-armlist-can-helpso can we agree that maybe the current law is insufficient and that yes indeed there is a loop hope or two that people can use to get around back ground checks? And yes I would say that lack of enforcement is part of the problem. But enforcement is part of the law. we cant' separate one from the other.
