Pros And Cons Of Background Checks

Background Checks Really Work According to a 2007 Harvard School of Public Health and Research Center study, per 100 people in the U.S., 88 of them have a gun (Lopez). The topic of gun control has been a controversial issue in the United States for decades, without coming to any conclusions. Supporters of gun control believe that mandating guns can work with the Second Amendment. Opponents of gun control believe that controlling guns violates the Second Amendment. The United States should enact federal legislation to require background checks for all gun transfers. Mandating checks for gun transfers will prevent the mentally ill and criminals from accessing guns, respect the Second Amendment, and reduce the amount of gun violence in the U.S.

In 1968, Congress passes the Gun Control Act after Martin Luther King (shot in 1968) and Robert F. Kennedy (shot in 1963) were both shot dead from separate assassinations. The Gun Control law ended all gun sales using mail and banned the sale of guns to criminals, and the mentally ill. Years later, in 1993, The Brady handgun violence prevention act was enacted after the attempted assassination on Ronald Reagan, in Washington D.C, The White House Press secretary James Brady was shot and later died from his injury (“Gun Control”). The Brady Gun Control act restricted gun sale purchases by requiring a 5 day waiting period on handguns, so a background check could be made on potential buyers. years after this law was placed, the FBI stated that homicides and gun assaults reduced significantly (“Gun Control”). Furthermore, In 1998 the National Instant Check System (NICS), was a background check system placed to verify buyers who were eligible for purchasing a gun. Between 1993-2006, homicides involving guns went down 32% after these laws were enacted (“Gun