How to get a gun Without a Background Check

Gun Watch ^ | 7 August, 2013 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

 A homemade submachine gun

Obtaining a gun without a background check in the United States (and much of the world) is a fairly easy process, and is becoming easier all the time.  Here are some of the common methods of obtaining a gun without a background check.

1. Have someone who can pass the background check buy it for you.  This is illegal to do for someone who is forbidden from possessing guns.  It is known as a straw purchase.  The BATFE says that it is the most common method for criminals to obtain guns.   In most states it is not illegal to buy a gun for someone who may legally possess one, as a gift.

2.  Steal it.  This is a common method for criminals to obtain guns.  If you are of the persuasion that thinks more government is the answer to every problem, you might want to make it illegal for people to have their guns stolen, or to require that guns be locked up in vaults, making them harder to steal. 

The Supreme Court has already ruled that it is unconstitutional to require people to have their guns locked up.  People have a right to have loaded handguns (the type most commonly used in crime) unlocked in their home as ruled in the Heller decision.   This ruling was extended to the states in McDonald.  The Newtown shooter stole the guns he used, and murdered his mother in order to do so.

3.  Buy it from someone who stole it.  Another very common source for criminals.  Stealing immediately breaks the ability to "trace" the firearm, rendering "tracing" nearly useless for solving crimes.   It can be used for demonizing the original victim the gun was stolen from, though.  Guns that are used in crime in tight gun control states, that come from states that have greater freedom in obtaining guns (often with lower crime rates), were purchased an average of 11 years before.  With over 300 million firearms in the United States, methods two and three are a large and uncontrollable source of guns for criminals.  Tens of millions of these guns were made before 1968, have no serial number, and cannot be traced.

 A minuscule fraction of the guns available in  the United States, millions legally without  serial numbers


3. Make your own.  More common than people think.  Because homemade and small shop made guns are not traceable, they seldom end up in any official statistics.  They are even made in prisons, and it is hard to think of a more tightly controlled environment.  Homemade guns may not win target competitions, or be very good as hunting arms, but they usually work just fine for crimes.  The tighter the firearms regulations, the more homemade guns are made.  There are many YouTube videos on how to make homemade guns.

Because machine tools are relatively cheap and commonly available, sophisticated homemade guns are becoming more common.  I have not seen any published figures on the number of homemade guns.

4.  Print your own.  Some would say that this is just a subset of number 3.  However, the potential ease of use and the recent publicity qualify this as a separate category.

A simple 3D printed pistol

5. Rent one from a criminal.  It is a common practice for criminals to rent guns for a crime from a criminal associate.  No background check

6. Own one as part of the collective.   Some people call these collective groups gangs.  It is common for gangs to own guns and to stash them in places that can be accessed by any gang member.   No background check.

7. Buy one from a corrupt policeman/authority figure.  Police often have access to guns that are turned in without paperwork, confiscated from citizens without a receipt, or "lost" from evidence rooms.   There is a whole culture of police having and using "throw down" guns.   When a policeman needs some money, or maybe a favor, these guns become another source of guns without background checks.  Police are in a unique position to be suppliers to criminals in this regard, because of their intimate connection to criminal informants.

8.  Buy one at a gun show.  This list would not be complete without the gun show.  Guns may be sold at most gun shows by private individuals without a background check.  Most criminals avoid gun shows because there is usually a significant police presence.  A National Institute of Justice study (admittedly from 1997) shows that about 2% of guns procured by criminals come from this source.

9. Buy a gun from private parties that advertise on various media such as newspapers, Internet sites, the local advertiser, garage sales, and other sources.  This certainly happens.  It is uncertain what percentage of criminals guns come from these sources, but certainly some do.    The same BATFE study from 2000 (referenced in source 1) estimates that about 20% -30% of guns obtained by criminals come from private sellers, which would include private sellers at guns shows and criminal associates selling stolen guns.

Extending background checks to private sales would have no effect on methods 1-7.  Because most of  the guns obtained by criminals are already outside of legal channels, requiring background checks on the fraction obtained from legal channels would not have much effect on crime, as substitution of another method would be likely.    It is clear that those who push for universal background checks are not really interested in checking the background of those buying guns, but are primarily interested in recording the gun information preparatory to creating a de facto gun registration. 

When offered a background check bill without a path to gun registration, those who claimed to want universal background checks immediately rejected it.

Private sales are the safety valve that prevents background checks from becoming gun registration.  Because of the many ways that background checks can be evaded, background checks are not a viable method of reducing crime.

  ©2013 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.

Link to Gun Watch

[marktwain]

Most people have not thought very much about background checks.

[cripplecreek]

I think they’re just as pointless as restrictions on what free men can own guns.

[donmeaker]

Guns are 14th century technology.

Anyone with moderate intelligence and 14th century intelligence can make a gun.

So long as guns are not registered, guns can be bought or sold privately.

[4rcane]

using leftist logic, a background check is racist

[MileHi]

I think they’re just as pointless as restrictions on what guns free men can own guns.

That seems better

[Las Vegas Ron]

This is illegal to do for someone who is forbidden from possessing guns.

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Seems simple enough for me.

[taxcontrol]

Even if they are registered, they can still be stolen and manufactured.

[JRandomFreeper]

Apparently all you have to do to get free guns without background checks is have a drug cartel in Mexico, or try to overthrow a secular middle-eastern government.

/johnny

[Malone LaVeigh]

Make your own.

Not too long ago, I remember how the parts kit for a Sten Gun was being sold. There used to be ads in Shotgun News. The kit contained everything but the receiver tube had been torched, rendering it ineffective. Then some entrepreneurial type started selling metal tubes with a stencil glued to it that showed where the appropriate holes went. Anybody that wanted a cheap submachine gun could put one together for less than $200.

(If you didn't mind a little visit from the BATFE)

[marktwain]

” Apparently all you have to do to get free guns without background checks is have a drug cartel in Mexico, or try to overthrow a secular middle-eastern government.”

I should have added those to the list, but I wanted to get it out there...

Maybe I could elaborate on the corrupt policeman.

But I like the general “smuggle them” line, especially if done by a state sanctioned actor..

[Still Thinking]

When offered a background check bill without a path to gun registration, those who claimed to want universal background checks immediately rejected it.

That version is slightly better than what exists today, but it doesn't make improper retention of information by government physically impossible. There is a way to do so and insure truly anonymous background checks (and I actually wouldn't object to universal background checks if done that way) but if they wouldn't even go for that one, they obviously wouldn't go for a real one. Since, when you offer them what they claim they want (UBC) without the thing they say they don't (back door registration) and they reject it, you know they're lying. Course, they're politicians, so that's just to be assumed.

[MtBaldy]

I’m pretty sure No. 1 is a flat out lie. Most criminals buy stolen guns from either the criminal who stole it or another criminal who bought it from the criminal who stole it. Oh, and there’s no background check.

[cripplecreek]

There is a way to do so and insure truly anonymous background checks (and I actually wouldn't object to universal background checks if done that way)

Background checks for what?

[cripplecreek]

The guy who killed firemen in NY state on Christmas morning used a straw buyer.

Personally I would have never let him out of prison after he beat his grandmother to death with a hammer but I’m funny that way.

[Standing Wolf]

Because of the many ways that background checks can be evaded, background checks are not a viable method of reducing crime.

Anyone who's at all seriously concerned about crime ignores guns and concentrates on the root cause of crime: criminals.

How hard was that to figure out?

[JRandomFreeper]

never let him out of prison his grave...

There, fixed it.

/johnny

[cripplecreek]

I’ve been walking around with an unregistered penis for years and haven’t raped anyone.

[marktwain]

“I’m pretty sure No. 1 is a flat out lie. Most criminals buy stolen guns from either the criminal who stole it or another criminal who bought it from the criminal who stole it. Oh, and there’s no background check.”

I suspect, but have not checked (there was not a link to the full study), that the BATFE figures include all guns traced. Guns traced are not crime guns, in the way that most people would think of it. There is also an enormous difference in guns included as crime guns for simple possession by a person without any criminal record.

Most people would not count those guns as “crime guns” either.

If we only looked at guns used in violent crimes, I think we would obtain significantly different figures.

[cripplecreek]

Any man too dangerous to own a gun is a man too dangerous to walk the streets. Seems simple to me.

Hell we used to hand guns back over to people when they got out of jail for anything less than a hanging offense.

[JRandomFreeper]

I 100% agreement with that. If they can't be let out, give 'em a dirt nap.

But even felons that have served their sentence have a right to self defense.

/johnny