Gun Dealers Illegally Sell Them, Buyers Lie on Background Checks, No One Gets In Trouble

There are two separate issues identified in this post.  First are gun dealers selling illegally to individuals who have failed or would fail a background check.  Second are individuals lying on background checks and never facing punishment for it which encourages them to keep lying to try to buy a gun.

First, on gun dealers who have a vital role to play in stopping gun crimes. For some, what appears to be missing are the will, the competence and the incentives to play that role well.

After suing the department to get records related to background checks, the Brady Campaign found the laws are repeatedly and openly flouted. 

“In those documents, we've seen time and time again dealers going ahead and transferring guns when someone answered a question on background check form ‘I am a felon,’ ‘I am subject to a restraining order,’ ‘I was dishonorably discharged from the military,’ ” said Avery Gardiner, co-president of the Brady Campaign and Center to Prevent Gun Violences. “So, people who are not allowed to buy guns are actually answering the form honestly and still get a gun.”

But our Justice Department under AG Jeff Sessions does nothing about this.

“These documents confirm that ATF has already identified many gun dealers that repeatedly engage in knowing or negligent straw transactions, but many of them are allowed to keep their licenses to sell guns,” they wrote. “Not only have these gun dealers evaded prosecution for their criminal acts, but they also remain in business profiting from illegal gun sales, where they can continue to supply firearms to those who criminally traffic them. As an urgent matter of public safety, the Department of Justice must address these gun dealers through prosecutions and license revocations.”

More than half a million firearms are stolen each year in the United States and more than half of stolen firearms are handguns, many of which are subsequently sold illegally.  This situation is not a battle line between those favoring gun control and gun rights.

“None of the gun rights supporters that I speak to think that felons should have easy access to guns,” Gardiner said.

"If it's official DOJ policy to enforce existing gun laws, why isn't the government following its own policy?”

Second, let's discuss individuals who lie to buy a gun and face no consequences.

If you lied to buy a firearm, fear not the feds. Your chances of being prosecuted by the Justice Department for falsifying information to illegally buy a gun are almost zero.

Reviews by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System in fiscal 2017 led to 112,000 gun purchase denials because individuals were in forbidden categories.... 

How many of the cases resulted in prosecutions?  Twelve.

Criminals who attempt to subvert the background check process by lying on the required forms undermine the already incredibly weak system filled with loopholes.

....the crooks, the wife beaters and the homicidal maniacs who lie to get a gun have little reason to worry that Uncle Sam will get them for faking on Form 4473. It lists nine questions designed to cull those who should not be strapped. The questions include: “Have you ever been convicted in any court of a felony,” “Are you a fugitive from justice,” and “Have you ever been adjudicated as a mental defective.”

“We need additional investment and improved practices to prevent dangerous individuals from purchasing guns, and to punish them when they attempt to do so," said Rep. José E. Serrano,  the top Democrat on the House Appropriations justice subcommittee

At the same time that we loudly call for enhanced gun control measures, we should also demand the Justice Department aggressively enforce existing gun laws and that Congress be more aggressive in its oversight.

Sources: 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/11/lying-buy-gun-fear-not-feds/

http://lawcenter.giffords.org/gun-traffickingprivate-sales-statistics/