10 children die from gun violence each day. More children and teens die from firearms than from cancer, pneumonia, influenza, asthma, and HIV/AIDS combined. America needs common sense gun safety policies to prevent gun violence from claiming any more young lives.
- Close the Gun Show Loophole
Gun shows are temporary venues for the sales of guns and ammunition, typically held at meeting halls or fairgrounds in which both licensed and unlicensed dealers can sell firearms. The Gun Control Act of 1968 requires anyone in the business of selling guns to have a Federal Firearms License (FFL), to keep a record of their sales, and to perform Brady background checks on potential customers to screen against sales to criminals and juveniles. However, as the law currently stands, private dealers who are not "engaged in the business" of selling guns for a profit are not required to have a license. As a result, these unlicensed sellers at gun shows are not required to keep a record of sales or to perform Brady background checks on potential buyers. Closing the Gun Show Loophole would require unlicensed sellers at gun shows to perform background checks under the same guidelines as licensed dealers, making it more difficult for guns to fall into the wrong hands, including those of juveniles and former convicts.
- Encourage Safe Storage Laws
Gun safety devices, such as trigger locks, should be required to be sold with all new handguns to prevent children from being able to load and fire them. Additionally, every state should enact and apply strict enforcement of Child Access Prevention (CAP) laws that call for stiff penalties for adults who leave their firearm unsecured and easily accessible to children. Such laws encourage responsible gun ownership by adults, while safe storage devices could prevent youths from loading and firing guns without adult supervision.
- Require the Licensing of All Gun Owners and the Registration of All Firearms
Currently, we treat a car as more dangerous than a gun. Just as we require potential drivers of vehicles to become licensed before they may drive legally, potential gun owners should be required to become licensed prior to owning a gun. Potential gun owners should be required to demonstrate that they know federal and state gun laws, in addition to knowing how to safely operate and store a gun. Furthermore, requiring gun owners to register their firearms at each point of sale and transfer, much like motor vehicle registration, will aid police in tracking the transfer of firearms to juveniles or criminals. Such a system of licensing and registration would deter secondary sales to illegal markets and would create heightened responsibility and more accountability for firearm ownership.
- Apply Consumer Safety Standards to Firearms
Currently, toasters and teddy bears are more regulated than American-made guns. No consumer safety standards are applied to the gun industry, nor does any federal agency have the authority to regulate the design, manufacture, or distribution of firearms and ammunition. Consumer product safety regulations for firearms would provide oversight and the authority to set safety standards, issue necessary recalls of defective firearms, and require the incorporation of safety features, such as internal trigger locks and indicators that show whether the chamber of a gun is loaded.
- Limit Handgun Purchases to One a Month
"Gun-running" occurs when an individual purchases multiple guns in one transaction and transports them to a state with weaker gun laws to sell in illegal markets. Restricting gun buyers to one gun purchase per 30 days would curb the gun-running market, which supplies the guns that are more often used in crimes.
For further information, please contact the Violence Prevention and Youth Development Division at 800-CDF-1200, option #4 or email yvrc@childrensdefense.org. |
