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Infographic: Fixing Gun Background Checks

Only federally licensed gun dealers currently have to perform background checks on purchasers of firearms. A law instituting universal background checks would help further prevent gun violence.

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Arkadi Gerney is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. Kendall Bills is a Special Assistant for the External Affairs team at the Center.

Endnotes

[1] “PBS NewsHour: Shields and Gerson on Cabinet Noms, Gun Laws, Boehner’s Leadership,” December 21, 2012, available at https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec12/shieldsgerson_12-21.html.

[2] Compiled using: 1968–1980 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates from Figure 1, “Observed and predicted firearm- and motor-vehicle—related injury deaths, by year — United States, 1968–2005,” available at https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00023655.htm#00000191.gif (last accessed February 2013); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “WISQARS Injury Mortality Reports, 1981-1998,” available at https://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate9.html (last accessed February 2013); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “WISQARS Fatal Injury Reports, National and Regional, 1999 – 2010,” available at https://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_us.html (last accessed February 2013); Donna L. Hoyert and Xu Jiaquan, “Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2011,” National Vital Statistics Reports 61 (6) (2012): 40–42, available at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr61/nvsr61_06.pdf.

[3] Compiled using: Anne Leland and Mari-Jana “M-J” Oboroceanu, “American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics” (Washington: Congressional Research Service, 2010), available at https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf; “iCasualties: Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom Casualties,” available at https://www.icasualties.org (last accessed February 2013).

[4] Michael Bowling and others, Background Checks for Firearms Transfers, 2009–Statistical Tables (Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, 2010), available at https://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/html/bcft/2009/bcft09st.pdf. Supplemental data from: Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Operations 2010 (U.S. Department of Justice, 2010), available at https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics/reports/2010-operations-report/2010-operations-report-pdf; Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Operations 2011 (U.S. Department of Justice, 2011), available at https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics/reports/2011-operations-report/operations-report-2011.

[5] Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Operations 2011.

[6] “Federal Denials: Reasons Why the NICS Section Denies,” available at https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics/reports/20130205_denials.pdf.

[7] Philip J. Cook and Jens Ludwig, “Guns in America: Results of a Comprehensive National Survey on Firearms Ownership and Use” (Washington: Police Foundation, 1996), available at https://www.policefoundation.org/sites/pftest1.drupalgardens.com/files/Cook%20et%20al.%20%281996%29%20-%20Guns%20in%20America.pdf.

[8] Caroline Wolf Harlow, Firearm Use by Offenders (Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, 2001), available at https://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/ascii/fuo.txt.

[9] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “WISQARS Fatal Injury Reports, National and Regional, 1999 – 2010,” available at https://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_us.html (last accessed February 2013).

[10] Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, “Report of Active Firearms Licenses – License Type by State Statistics,” January 10, 2013, available at https://www.atf.gov/about/foia/download/ffl-type-by-state-2013/0113-ffl-type-by-state.pdf.

[11] U.S. Postal Service, “Postal Facts 2012” (2012), available at https://about.usps.com/future-postal-service/postalfacts-2012.pdf.

[12] McDonald’s, “Financial Highlights,” available at https://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/investors/financial_highlights.html (last accessed February 2013).

[13] “Loxcel Starbucks Store Map FAQ,” available at https://www.loxcel.com/sbux-faq.html (last accessed February 2013).

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Authors

Arkadi Gerney

Senior Fellow

Kendall Bills

Special Assistant and Projects Coordinator

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