Tag Archives: background checks

Advocates ‘Elated’ as Biden DOJ Closes Gun Show Loophole

“To be clear, that ‘gun show loophole’ has been a death sentence for countless Americans, and that will change with this action,” said one gun violence prevention advocacy leader.

By Julia Conley. Published 4-11-2024 by Common Dreams

Advocates rally in favor of gun control measure. (Photo: Peter Cedric Rock Smith//flickr/cc)

The White House on Thursday honored “the will of the vast majority of the American people,” one Democratic lawmaker said, as President Joe Biden announced a final rule closing a loophole that has left tens of thousands of firearms dealers able to sell guns without running background checks on purchasers.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) will require anyone “engaged in the business” of selling firearms for a profit to register as a federally licensed firearms dealer, which will require them to conduct background criminal and mental health checks on their customers.

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Ahead of Pivotal Supreme Court Gun Case, Domestic Violence Murders by Firearm Surge

“Intimate partner firearm homicide is increasing as the Supreme Court debates whether people subject to domestic violence restraining orders should be allowed to possess firearms,” said the president of national gun control group Brady.

By Julia Conley. Published 10-20-2023 by Common Dreams

March for Our Lives rally in Washington DC, 2018. Photo: Phil Roeder/flickr/CC

As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear a case centered on a law that restricts access to firearms for domestic abusers, an analysis out Thursday shows how “the safety of domestic violence survivors, their families, and the American public” will be placed at risk if the court loosens those restrictions.

The group behind the report—Brady: United Against Gun Violence, whose founders fought to require background checks for firearm sales—determined that firearm homicides committed by an intimate partner went up by 22% from 2018-22, with states that have weak gun regulations seeing the most domestic abuse-related murders.

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How the NRA evolved from backing a 1934 ban on machine guns to blocking nearly all firearm restrictions today

NRA conventiongoers, like these at the gun group’s 2018 big meeting, browse firearms exhibits.
Loren Elliott/AFP via Getty Images

Robert Spitzer, State University of New York College at Cortland

The mass shootings at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket and an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, just 10 days apart, are stirring the now-familiar national debate over guns seen after the tragic 2012 and 2018 school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, and Parkland, Florida.

Inevitably, if also understandably, many Americans are blaming the National Rifle Association for thwarting stronger gun laws that might have prevented these two recent tragedies and many others. And despite the proximity in time and location to the Texas shooting, the NRA is proceeding with its plans to hold its annual convention in Houston on May 27-29, 2022. The featured speakers include former President Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican. Continue reading

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‘No Time to Waste’: New Nationwide March For Our Lives Protests Set for June 11

“Together, we rose up four years ago. One million of us demanded change. We built a movement. We voted for new leaders. And the gun deaths increased. Now is the moment we march again.”

By Brett Wilkins  Published 5-26-2022 by Common Dreams

March For Our Lives student protest for gun control St. Paul, Minnesota March 7, 2018. Photo: Fibonacci Blue/flickr/CC

Four years, over 100 school shootings, and more than 170,000 U.S. firearm deaths after the first March For Our Lives rallies in 2018, the student-led gun control advocacy group announced Wednesday that it would stage a new nationwide day of protest on June 11 following Tuesday’s Robb Elementary School massacre in Texas.

“Together, we rose up four years ago. One million of us demanded change. We built a movement. We voted for new leaders. And the gun deaths increased,” March For Our Lives tweeted. “Now is the moment we march again.” Continue reading

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As Nation Suffers 18th School Shooting in 45 Days, Trump Budget Would Slash Funding for Background Checks

The president’s 2019 budget would cut allocations to enhance national database system by 16 percent

By Julia Conley, staff writer for CommonDreams. Published 2-15-2018

Funding cuts for background checks in President Donald Trump’s new budget proposal would make it more difficult for states to compile criminal records of prospective gun owners. (Photo: Erik Jaeger/Flickr/cc)

As a Florida community reels from the nation’s latest mass shooting—the 18th school shooting in the first 45 days of 2018—President Donald Trump is pushing for a new federal budget that would call for cuts to programs that aim to keep guns out of the hands of people with criminal records.

The National Criminal Records History Improvement Program and the NICS Act Record Improvement Program provide funding to states to improve their reporting of domestic violence and other violent crimes in order to include perpetrators in the national background check database for gun purchases. Continue reading

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