Gun Safety
Virginia has a long tradition of responsible gun ownership.
To uphold that tradition, we must change how easy it is for people to use firearms irresponsibly. We need gun safety reforms that include universal background checks, closing background check loopholes, investing in mental health resources, and encouraging more states to adopt red flag laws. We can protect the Second Amendment while also implementing common sense gun ownership restrictions that protect our communities and our families from gun violence.
CARL'S PRIORITIES:
Stronger Gun Control Legislation
Data consistently shows that states with stronger gun control legislation have lower rates of firearm-involved homicide, suicide, and accidental death.
Gun control laws are overwhelmingly managed as state issues. However, Legislation at the federal level can bolster states with weaker gun controls, those with strong controls but high ownership, and regulate the gun industry overall, or offer funding for crisis management for people at risk of harming themselves or others.
Federal regulation is necessary to plug holes left by patchy state laws. Guns can be easily trafficked across state lines, and a quarter of traced guns used in a crime were brought in from another state. Four out of 5 of these traceable trafficked guns came from a state that is generally seen as having weaker gun laws. Recent federal legislation has targeted raising the age of ownership for certain types of guns, ensuring that all guns are traceable, stronger accountability for gun trafficking, gun safety requirements, eliminating access to bump stocks, and reducing the availability of large capacity ammunition feeding devices.
60%
of Americans say it is too easy to legally purchase a gun in this country.
A majority of guns used in crimes come from a small group of gun dealers, however, legislation protects these problematic dealers from being identified.
Federal regulations around gun access have the greatest impact on violent crime and suicides, with more limited or inconclusive impact on other aspects of the gun debate such as mass shootings and unintentional injuries.
Holding multiple stakeholders accountable for when “things go wrong” is one way to address the chain of events that needs to take place for a “bad gun” to end up in “bad hands” at a “bad time.” This includes the industry, dealers, sellers, and shooters.
Increase Background Checks
90%
of Americans support background checks prior to transfer of a handgun to a purchaser, an overwhelming bipartisan majority.
Federal law currently requires all licensed gun dealers to obtain a background check on the gun purchaser from the Brady act of 1993. Twenty one states have further laws requiring background checks which are more restrictive and supersede the federal regulation. A loophole in the federal law however, is that gun sales from online sellers, at gun shows, or from unlicensed gun sellers are not subject to the background check requirement. New legislation aiming to close this loophole at the federal level is currently being addressed in Congress. In the past 4 years, other loopholes such as the “boyfriend” loophole which did not flag some violet domestic partners as ineligible for obtaining a gun have been closed.
There are other weaknesses in the background check legislation that can allow people to obtain a firearm if a background check is not performed in a timely manner. Holding the dealer/seller responsible in some way, whether by fines or criminal statute, could ensure that the background check system stays effective. Recent gains in background checks now expand the definitions of domestic abusers who would not pass a background check to obtain a firearm.
Data how an associated reduction in domestic partner homicide in states where similar restrictions were in place before the recently passed federal laws.
Limit Access to Assault Weapons
Data consistently shows that states with stronger gun control legislation have lower rates of firearm-involved homicide, suicide, and accidental death.
Gun control laws are overwhelmingly managed as state issues. However, Legislation at the federal level can bolster states with weaker gun controls, those with strong controls but high ownership, and regulate the gun industry overall, or offer funding for crisis management for people at risk of harming themselves or others.
Federal regulation is necessary to plug holes left by patchy state laws. Guns can be easily trafficked across state lines, and a quarter of traced guns used in a crime were brought in from another state. Four out of 5 of these traceable trafficked guns came from a state that is generally seen as having weaker gun laws. Recent federal legislation has targeted raising the age of ownership for certain types of guns, ensuring that all guns are traceable, stronger accountability for gun trafficking, gun safety requirements, eliminating access to bump stocks, and reducing the availability of large capacity ammunition feeding devices.
A majority of guns used in crimes come from a small group of gun dealers, however, legislation protects these problematic dealers from being identified.
Federal regulations around gun access have the greatest impact on violent crime and suicides, with more limited or inconclusive impact on other aspects of the gun debate such as mass shootings and unintentional injuries. Holding multiple stakeholders accountable for when “things go wrong” is one way to address the chain of events that needs to take place for a “bad gun” to end up in “bad hands” at a “bad time.” This includes the industry, dealers, sellers, and shooters.