Do Universal Background Checks Prevent Gun Violence?

[Reptile]

Under current federal law, licensed dealers are required to run background checks on all gun purchases prior to making sales. But this law does not apply to private gun transactions between individuals either in person or online, potentially providing a “loophole” for prohibited persons to legally obtain firearms. While polls show widespread support for universal background checks, there is mixed evidence that requiring UBCs for all gun sales would prevent or reduce gun violence.

What Are ‘Universal’ Background Checks?
About 1 in 5 gun transactions in the U.S. occur without a background check, according to a 2017 study by researchers at Harvard and Northeastern University. And another study also from 2017, by the Department of Justice, found that only about 1.5% of the millions of gun background checks run by the FBI annually result in denials.

A federal universal background check law would require all firearm purchasers to pass a criminal records check done by either a state background check system or the federal National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which is administered by the FBI. The aim is to identify a larger number of individuals who should be barred from buying a gun by increasing the categories of transactions that require a background check.

Do Universal Background Checks Prevent Gun Violence?

Are they even effective?

wamu.org

 

[Racenet]

No

 

[Da_lucche]

No. To me, even the Federal 4473 background check shouldn't be something mandated by the Govt; esp for a constitutional right. It should be up to the FFL themselves if they want to run background checks.

 

[one-eyed Jack]

I also say no. If they play around with this, there may well be a "Fee" to do the check. Jack.