Background Checks and Purchase Restrictions

When I asked a number of people who support hardening background checks, what actually goes on in a background check?... They often reply with a long "Ummmm.....". So, if someone would like to take a stance against the current background check system, it would be wise to know what they're talking about.
Let's dive in.

1.) What is a background check? The definition of a background check is "The act of reviewing both confidential and public information to investigate a person or entity's history."
(Read more) A background check is required by law to purchase and register a firearm. 

2.) What is considered unacceptable circumstances? (According to Giffords Law Center)

- Those who have been convicted of violent misdemeanors (especially with a firearm)

- Those with a history of drug or alcohol abuse

- Those convicted of juvenile offenses

- Those who suffer or have suffered from severe mental illness

- Individuals on Terror Watch List

3.) Violent Misdemeanors Explained

The American Medical Association's journal on the analysis of hand gun purchasers in California discovered that people with a history of violence, especially related to a gun are seven times more likely to commit a violent crime with a firearm if allowed to purchase. 

4.) Drug and Alcohol Abuse Explained 

A number of medically certified studies have proven that alcohol consumption increases a person's tendencies to act violently and irrationally. Mental stability is a requirement for proper gun safety and drug/alcohol abuse creates a situation in which a person is likely to engage in a violent act. Also, alcohol inhibits the ability to aim properly which often results in an accidental shooting of an unintended victim. 

5.) Juvenile Offenses Explained

This may seem like an unfair rule as it is known that humans act much differently during adolescence, but according to a study conducted by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, there is an interesting correlation to adulthood. While analyzing criminal activity in Chicago, the NCBI found that individuals arrested before the age of 18, are 38% more likely to be convicted of a felony by the age of 26 when compared to others who had not been arrested. 

6.) Dangerous Mental Illness Explained 

Although mental illness is a term used in a wide variety of circumstances, Federal Law PROHIBITS ownership of firearms to those who have been "committed to a mental institution" or "adjudicated as a mental defective". However, it excludes a number of mental illnesses that are not considered "dangerous". This law is still very much a work in progress as scientific studies become more specific.

7.) Terror Watch List Explained

This should come as obvious for most but it is technical Federal Law that prohibits any person who is or has been on the Terror Watch List. Surprisingly, this is a new law enacted in 2015 due to the purchases of firearms by suspected terrorists. According to the Feinstein Senate, from 2005 - 2015, 2,265 individuals suspected of terrorism purchased a firearm or explosive because they technically did not fall under any criminal category and were only "suspected". Since then, laws have been hardened as to not allow any person suspected of terrorism to purchase weaponry. 

8.) How does the U.S. favor these Restrictions?

The United States as a whole is very much in favor of these firearm restrictions. In all circumstances, nearly 80% of all citizens favor these restrictions, including gun owners. These restrictions are all part of the background check law and are widely agreeable by the American population. 

(Read More at Giffords Law Center)

Sources:

Staff, Giffords. “Categories of Prohibited People.” Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence , Giffords Law Center Copyright 2017, 11 Mar. 2015, lawcenter.giffords.org/gun-laws/policy-areas/who-can-have-a-gun/categories-of-prohibited-people/.

Garen J. Wintemute, Alcohol misuse, firearm violence perpetration, and public policy in the United States., Prev. Med. (Apr. 2015),http://dartcenter.org/files/fckeditor/Alcohol%20Misuse,%20Firearm%20Violence.pdf;  Garen J. Wintemute, Broadening Denial Criteria for the Purchase and Possession of Firearms:  Need, Feasibility, and Effectiveness, in Reducing Gun Violence in America 77, 82 (Daniel W. Webster ed., Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013), http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/johns-hopkins-center-for-gun-policy-and-research/resources/digtal_update_Webster_Vernick.pdf; K. Vittes et al., Legal Status and Source of Offenders’ Firearms in States with the Least Stringent Criteria for Gun Ownership, 19 Inj. Prev. 26 (2013), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22729164; Mona Wright et al., Felonious or Violent Criminal Activity That Prohibits Gun Ownership Among Prior Purchasers of Handguns: Incidence and Risk Factors, 69 J. Trauma 948 (2010),http://journals.lww.com/jtrauma/Abstract/2010/10000/Felonious_or_Violent_Criminal_Activity_That.37.aspx?trendmd-shared=0. 

Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2013-2014 – Statistical Tables, at https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/bcft1314st.pdf. These statistics cover the period February 28, 1994 – Dec. 31, 2014.