Skip to content
    Primer

    Background Checks

    4.13.2021

      Summary

      Background checks are common sense, constitutional, and save lives—and they have overwhelming support from the American public, including among Republicans and gun owners. Current federal law requires that background checks be conducted whenever a person attempts to buy a gun from a licensed gun dealer. This is to ensure that the buyer is not legally prohibited from having the gun.

      While federal law requires background checks for all gun sales by licensed gun dealers, it does not require background checks for guns sold by unlicensed sellers, including online, at gun shows, and to strangers. This loophole enables people with felony convictions, domestic abuse restraining orders, and other people with prohibiting histories to buy guns with no questions asked. Our background check laws should be updated and these loopholes should be closed.

      Background Check and/or Purchase Permit

      22 states have adopted this policy

      AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY

      Alabama has not adopted this policy

      Alaska has not adopted this policy

      Arizona has not adopted this policy

      Arkansas has not adopted this policy

      California has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      All firearms (handguns, rifles, and shotguns)
      When is the background check performed?
      Point-of-sale

      Colorado has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      All firearms (handguns, rifles, and shotguns)
      When is the background check performed?
      Point-of-sale (for all guns) and permit to purchase (for assault weapons)

      Connecticut has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      All firearms (handguns, rifles, and shotguns)
      When is the background check performed?
      Permit to purchase and point-of-sale

      Delaware has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      All firearms (handguns, rifles, and shotguns)
      When is the background check performed?
      Permit to purchase (for handguns) and point-of-sale (for all guns)

      Florida has not adopted this policy

      Georgia has not adopted this policy

      Hawaii has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      All firearms (handguns, rifles, and shotguns)
      When is the background check performed?
      Permit to purchase

      Idaho has not adopted this policy

      Illinois has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      All firearms (handguns, rifles, and shotguns)
      When is the background check performed?
      Permit to purchase and point-of-sale

      Indiana has not adopted this policy

      Iowa has not adopted this policy

      Kansas has not adopted this policy

      Kentucky has not adopted this policy

      Louisiana has not adopted this policy

      Maine has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      All firearms (handguns, rifles, and shotguns) sold at a gun show or as a result of an advertisement
      When is the background check performed?
      Point-of-sale

      Maryland has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      All firearms (handguns, rifles, and shotguns)
      When is the background check performed?
      Permit to purchase (for handguns) and point-of-sale (for all guns)

      Massachusetts has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      All firearms (handguns, rifles, and shotguns)
      When is the background check performed?
      Permit to purchase

      Michigan has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      All firearms (handguns, rifles, and shotguns)
      When is the background check performed?
      Permit to purchase

      Minnesota has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      Handguns and semiautomatic military-style assault weapons
      When is the background check performed?
      Permit to purchase or point-of-sale

      Mississippi has not adopted this policy

      Missouri has not adopted this policy

      Montana has not adopted this policy

      Nebraska has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      Handguns only
      When is the background check performed?
      Permit to purchase

      Nevada has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      All firearms (handguns, rifles, and shotguns)
      When is the background check performed?
      Point-of-sale

      New Hampshire has not adopted this policy

      New Jersey has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      All firearms (handguns, rifles, and shotguns)
      When is the background check performed?
      Permit to purchase and point-of-sale

      New Mexico has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      All firearms (handguns, rifles, and shotguns)
      When is the background check performed?
      Point-of-sale

      New York has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      All firearms (handguns, rifles, and shotguns)
      When is the background check performed?
      Permit to purchase (for handguns and semiautomatic rifles) and point-of-sale (for all guns)

      North Carolina has not adopted this policy

      North Dakota has not adopted this policy

      Ohio has not adopted this policy

      Oklahoma has not adopted this policy

      Oregon has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      All firearms (handguns, rifles, and shotguns)
      When is the background check performed?
      Permit to purchase and point-of-sale

      Pennsylvania has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      Handguns only
      When is the background check performed?
      Point-of-sale

      Rhode Island has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      All firearms (handguns, rifles, and shotguns)
      When is the background check performed?
      Point-of-sale

      South Carolina has not adopted this policy

      South Dakota has not adopted this policy

      Tennessee has not adopted this policy

      Texas has not adopted this policy

      Utah has not adopted this policy

      Vermont has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      All firearms (handguns, rifles, and shotguns)
      When is the background check performed?
      Point-of-sale

      Virginia has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      All firearms (handguns, rifles, and shotguns)
      When is the background check performed?
      Point-of-sale

      Washington has adopted this policy

      Does the law cover only handgun purchases, or also rifle and shotgun purchases?
      All firearms (handguns, rifles, and shotguns)
      When is the background check performed?
      Permit to purchase and point-of-sale

      West Virginia has not adopted this policy

      Wisconsin has not adopted this policy

      Wyoming has not adopted this policy

      How it works

      Background checks keep guns out of the wrong hands.

      Unchecked: An Investigation of the Online Firearm Marketplace Data Tracker

      Current federal law does not require background checks on sales between unlicensed parties. This means that people with dangerous histories can easily circumvent the background check system simply by purchasing their firearm online or at a gun show.

      An Everytown investigation showed that as many as 1 in 9 people arranging to buy a firearm on Armslist.com, the nation’s largest online gun marketplace, are people who cannot legally have firearms. And the unlicensed sale marketplace is large: the same investigation found that each year, there are 1.2 million ads offering firearms for sale that would not legally require a background check to be completed.

      Background checks are proven to reduce gun violence. State laws requiring background checks for all handgun sales—by point-of-sale check and/or permit—are associated with lower firearm homicide rates, lower firearm suicide rates, and lower firearm trafficking. When Connecticut passed a law requiring background checks—both for a handgun purchase permit and at the point of sale—its firearm homicide rate decreased by 40 percent and its firearm suicide rate decreased by 15 percent.

      By the numbers

      78k

      There are nearly 78,000 licensed gun dealers in the US, more than the number of McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, and Wendy’s locations combined.

      Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, “Inside the Gun Shop: Firearms Dealers and their Impact,” July 6, 2023.

      Myth

      Closing these loopholes in our background check laws would be burdensome.

      Fact

      The most common federal background check legislation would simply require that unlicensed sellers meet their buyers at a gun dealer. The gun dealer will then run a background check in exactly the same way as for sales directly from the dealer’s store. There are tens of thousands of active gun dealers across the county—more than all McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, and Wendy’s locations combined—so there are many places to get a background check done. Gun owners are already accustomed to this process, because they do it every time they buy a gun from a dealer.

      Who supports background checks?

      More than four in five voters in every state in the country agree that no gun sale should take place without a completed background check. (Hover map to see data by state.)

      Source: State by State Support for Background Checks

      Last updated: 3.29.2021

      Learn more

      Reports & Fact Sheets

      Other Resources

      The Latest

      125

      Did you know?

      Every day, 125 people in the United States are killed with guns, twice as many are shot and wounded, and countless others are impacted by acts of gun violence.

      Everytown Research analysis of CDC, WONDER, Provisional Mortality Statistics, Multiple Cause of Death, 2019–2023; Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project nonfatal firearm injury data, 2020; and SurveyUSA, Market Research Study #26602, 2022.

      Last updated: 11.8.2024