Eighty-five percent. That’s how many Missourians support mandatory background checks for all gun buyers.
Polling data released by Mayors Against Illegal Guns shows that likely voters in Missouri overwhelmingly support expanding the gun background check system to include all gun buyers.
This is a mandate.
But sadly, some politicians in Washington, D.C. are listening to special interests instead of their own constituents. This has to stop.
Why is this important?
Background checks are the only systematic way to stop felons, domestic abusers and other dangerous people from buying firearms. But federal law only requires background checks for gun sales at licensed dealers. In the U.S., an estimated 40% of gun transfers take place without going through a licensed dealer, including online and at gun shows. That means that in 2012, 6.6 million guns were sold with no background check for the buyer.
Criminals and other prohibited gun buyers know how to exploit this loophole, and they do. A national survey of inmates found that nearly 80% of those who used a handgun in a crime acquired it in a private transfer.
Background checks take a couple minutes to complete, and they save lives. Since the system was created, it has blocked more than 2 million criminals, domestic abusers, seriously mentally ill people and other dangerous people from buying guns at licensed dealers.
Congress should pass The Fix Gun Checks Act (H.R. 137), which would require a criminal background check for every gun sale and take steps to get all of the names of felons, domestic abusers, and the dangerously mentally ill into NICS.
Gun owners nationwide strongly support this common sense proposal: a 2012 survey by Douglas Schoen found that 88% of gun owners -- including 86% of NRA members -- support criminal background checks for all gun sales.
Eighty-five percent of Missourians support mandatory background checks for all gun buyers. Please join us to reduce gun violence.
Progress Missouri