The Pros And Cons Of Gun Control Laws

According to Christopher Ingraham with the Washington Post, there are now more guns in circulation than there are people in the United States, with that number exceeding 300 million. Gun manufacturers often use the second amendment as a means to increase their sales. I think as business majors, we can all appreciate a good marketing strategy. So what exactly are the laws behind purchasing a gun? We’ll begin with background checks in Louisiana: According to Smartgunlaws.org, Federal laws require federally licensed firearm dealers (but not private sellers, who are those that are not licensed dealers) to initiate a background check on the purchaser prior to the sale of a firearm. Louisiana law also states that concealed handgun permit holders

Louisiana also states that machine guns, submachine guns, and weapons with the serial or ID numbers removed are also illegal. Louisiana also does not have a waiting period for gun purchases, meaning that I could walk into a store today, purchase a gun and leave immediately with the gun. Obviously there are some restrictions of who can and cannot own a gun. According to the Department of Justice, those who cannot own a gun include: those who have been convicted of certain felonies, such as murder, manslaughter, aggravated battery, violating uniform controlled substance laws; those convicted of crime of violence, such as felony burglary, felony illegal use of a weapon; and crime defined as an attempt to commit these

As previously mentioned, federally licensed gun sellers are required to run background checks. But not all sellers are required to be licensed. Some of these unlicensed sellers sell at gun shows. Private sellers without a federal license do not have to meet the same requirements as licensed sellers. This exception is often referred to as the “gun show loophole”. So why do we call it the gun show loophole? It is referred to gun shows because they are easily accessible marketplaces for people who do not want to be subjects to a background check. At these gun shows, the marketplace will have non-licensed gun sellers who are able to bypass these background checks. There is a loophole in the sense that is has not been clear how many firearms one has to sell before one is required to obtain a license. According to Amy Sherman with politifact.com, reported that professors at Northeastern and Harvard universities conducted a gun survey in 2015. These findings that I am about to read to you have yet to be published. The national survey of 4,000 non-institutionalized adults found that 22% of the people who purchased guns- at gun shows, stores, or elsewhere underwent no background check. When these researchers excluded purchases between family and friends, that number dropped down to 15%, which equates to approximately 5 million gun owners whose most recent purchase did not