Taking Gun Background Checks into Their Own Hands

Some gun safety advocates are worried about the apparent effectiveness of the current FBI Instant Background Check System. They worry that the response time and overall integrity of the program may be affected by the continued tightening of state budget.

Multiple government and privately run investigations has shown that the Brady Act, one of the corner stone of gun control laws, is apparently not that effective anymore. It is not as much as a problem with the law itself but with its implementation.

One major problem is with the continued practice of people purchasing firearms without going through background checks during gun shows which occur almost every week all around the United States.

With the rising problems in crime and guns continually falling into criminal hands, some states are now taking the law into their own hands, metaphorically and literally speaking. Colorado, one of 14 states that have launched their own state-run programs to conduct their own background checks, and they have already prevented 26 convicted felons and murderers from purchasing firearms using their state-run InstaCheck program.

In Colorado alone nearly five thousand people this November have been denied from purchasing a firearm, due to past criminal records, assault charges, or pending cases and arrest warrants.

Other states are still having their gun shops and registered dealers using the FBI Instant Criminal Background Check System, but there have been reports of delayed reports on some states. With some background check reports coming back as long as three days, which in some situations would already let the buyer purchase the firearm due to the delay.

The FBI Instant Background Check System still runs majority of the gun control background checks in the United States. It still is very effective at running background checks and preventing criminals from buying firearms, but in recent years it has been neglected and hasn't had much attention from congress or the government.

There are multiple advocates that have been pushing for stricter enforcement on the gun control laws, and perhaps an overhaul of the current laws, one of which is the Federal Brady Gun Control and Background check act of 1994, which hasn't had any improvement since its enactment.