June 22, 2021.
About 42% of those denials were because the would-be buyers HAD FELONY CONVICTIONS ON THEIR RECORDS. Group ‘Everytown for Gun Safety’ research found that 16% of would-be gun buyers in 2020 were prohibited by state law, like the extreme-risk protection orders or red-flag laws passed in several states.
ANOTHER 12% WERE RELATED TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, either people subject to a protective order or convicted of a misdemeanor domestic violence crime.
• According to the data, the rate of barred would-be gun buyers also increased somewhat over the previous two years, from about 0.6% to 0.8%. That could be in part because many of the people who tried to get guns in 2020 were buying them for the first time and may not have been aware that they were legally barred from owning them, said Adam Winkler, a UCLA Law professor specializing in gun policy.
“Some may have a felony conviction on their record and not think about it,” he said.
• Making a false statement in connection with a background check is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a hefty fine, BUT FEW PEOPLE ARE PROSECUTED FOR WHAT WOULD AMOUNT TO LYING ON THE FORM filled out before a gun purchase, he said.
• In 2017, just 12 of the 112,000 people denied a gun purchase, ABOUT 0.01%, WERE FEDERALLY PROSECUTED, largely due to limited resources for the time-intensive investigations, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report.
• Gun rights groups have pushed back against the proposal, and Alan Gottlieb, founder of the group the Second Amendment Foundation, said the increase in denials might be partly because more states have been updating their records of restricted people. There are sometimes false positives as well, he said. “A day doesn’t go by that our office doesn’t get complaint calls from people who’ve been denied wrongly,” he said.
• The data also comes as a growing number of conservative-leaning states drop requirements for people to get background checks and training to carry guns in public.
• Texas last week became the latest state of about 20 to drop permitting requirements amid a push that began gathering steam several years ago. Gun rights groups say those requirements are an unfair burden for law-abiding gun owners, but firearm safety groups worry it’s a dangerous trend that will allow more firearms in the wrong hands.
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