The current background checks cannot stop the wrong person from getting a gun

The public's attitude towards gun controls has been gradually changing. Gallup's statistics show that only 47 percent Americans call for stricter gun control laws; and only a quarter of interviewees think that only policemen and other officials should be allowed to have guns; over seven in ten interviewees think guns should not be banned.

The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act requires that background checks be conducted on individuals before a firearm may be purchased from a federally licensed dealer. If there are no additional state restrictions, a firearm may be transferred to an individual upon approval by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) maintained by the FBI. According to the Brady Act, the FBI only has three days to do a background check after they receive the application. If they do not give feedback to the dealer, then it means the applicant is qualified to purchase a gun.

Statistics show that FBI went through 21 million applications last year, and only 1.1 percent of applications were rejected. The current background check obviously cannot stop the wrong person from getting a gun. One of the major reasons is because the background check does not cover "private gun sales" that pass through the Internet and gun fairs. Invisible trades like these make up 20 percent of total gun sales in the US.

A quarter of Americans do not feel safe in the areas around their homes

In April 2013, President Barack Obama's proposal to strengthen background checks on gun purchase was rejected by the Senate. After the midterm elections, since the US Congress is now dominated by the Republican Party, the possibility of amending gun control laws is even smaller.

One principal reason why people oppose stricter gun control laws is that the murder rate in the US is now the lowest in 57 years, even though gun ownership is at its peak. The Gallup poll shows that almost a quarter of adults in the U.S. say there is an area within a mile of where they live where they would be afraid to walk alone at night. An Ethiopian cab driver told journalists his experience of being robbed at gunpoint three times. "You can never tell what will happen during that day after you leave home, maybe you will never come back again." 

This article is edited and translated from 《袭击案难阻美国购枪热》，source: People's Daily, author: Li Boya