Only one in five Americans buys a gun without a background check, survey finds

[Kang Colby]

The share of Americans who obtained a gun without first undergoing a background check is dramatically lower than previous estimates, researchers at Harvard and Northeastern universities have determined. The finding re-shapes one of the most prominent assumptions of the US gun control debate.

Just 22% of current gun owners who acquired a firearm within the past two years did so without a background check, according to a new national survey by public health researchers at Harvard and Northeastern universities shared in advance with the Trace and the Guardian.

For years, politicians and researchers have estimated that as many as 40% of gun transfers are conducted without a background check – a statistic based on an extrapolation from a 1994 survey. Gun rights activists had decried that estimate as outdated and inaccurate.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/02/guns-state-background-checks-study

Excellent article. I encourage people to read this fully and discuss.

[Control-Z]

1. One out of five,

one fifth, 20 percent - no matter how I think it, write it or say it, it is far worse than I would have imagined. Scary.

[Straw Man]

2. You realize, of course ...

... that only a tiny percentage of these "one out of five" were bought for, or will ever be used for, a nefarious purpose. People in states that don't require a background check for an in-state private sale routinely buy and sell firearms without background checks. It was even legal in New York until 2013.

What these numbers don't account for is the trade in guns among criminals who can't legally buy, sell, or own a firearm anyway, and don't respond to surveys like this. That's the number I'd be scared of.

[virginia mountainman]

4. I don't understand why it is "scary"

A huge majority of recent "high profile murders, and mass shooters" all passed the background check with flying colors...

The only one I can think of off hand that didn't was the Sandy Hook Shooter, and he stole his guns right before.

I used to view background checks as important, I don't anymore, it is hard to ignore the reality of their pure ineffectiveness, in stopping someone who is above all else, determined to kill.

[Doug.Goodall]

3. How many of that 22% had a BG check on another purchase?

Since most gun owners own more than one gun, what would be the number of gun owners who have never had a background check?

[yagotme]

5. LEGAL gun owners,

probably statistically small. Criminals, on the other hand...

[Eleanors38]

6. More crappy data promulgated by MSM. Surprise, surprise.