| 1. Licensed gun dealers have no requirements
to report multiple sales of long guns, like the semiautomatic assault
style weapons sought by terrorist organizations. So someone can buy
long guns by the hundreds and there is no requirement that these sales
will be reported to law enforcement.
2. Licensed gun dealers have to report to federal law enforcement
whenever someone buys two or more handguns in 5 business days. But
if someone buys a gun, say, every six days the sales do not get
reported.
3. Guns manufactured in the United States do not have to meet
any federal consumer safety requirements -- unlike television sets,
cribs, washing machines and toy guns, which do.
4. The gun industry and the tobacco industry are the only US industries
not subject to safety regulation by the Consumer Product Safety
Commission or another federal agency.
5. The minimum age for handgun possession under federal law is
18.
6. Federal law permits juveniles under the age of 18 to possess
long guns -- rifles and shotguns, including assault weapons and
large capacity ammunition clips manufactured before 1994.
7. There are minimal regulations on the sale of ammunition. No
dealer licenses, no background checks and no transfer records.
8. It is legally permissible to purchase .50 caliber sniper rifles.
These can kill a person -- or hit an industrial target like an oil
refinery -- a mile and a half away.
9. Licensed gun dealers must be approved by and register with
the federal government. But in most states, someone can be an unlicensed
"private" seller of guns. A "private" seller has no obligation to
conduct criminal background checks on buyers or keep transfer records
for law enforcement - as long as he/she claims to be a "hobbyist"
and is not "engaged in the business" of selling guns.
10. A "private" seller of guns can advertise and set up tables
at a gun show or flea market right next to federally licensed gun
dealers who must obey all the rules. Timothy McVeigh sold guns at
gun shows as a "hobbyist." In one two-year period in the late 1990s,
one fifth of all federal gun trafficking investigations involved
unlicensed "private" sellers. On average, each of these "hobbyists"
was involved with 75 gun sales.
11. The Brady background law originally included a 5-day mandatory
waiting period for handgun sales. Congress did not renew the waiting
period.
12. Today, licensed dealers are allowed to sell guns after three
days even if a background check is not completed. As many as 5 percent
of background checks are not complete within 3 days. During a 2
1/2 year period, more than 10,000 felons were able to buy guns because
their background check was not completed in 3 days.
13. Attorney General John Ashcroft has proposed requiring that
the FBI destroy records of approved gun purchases within 24-48 hours
of a completed background check. This prevents law enforcement from
identifying whether a person under investigation for another crime,
including terrorism, has purchased a firearm.
14. Police can only trace a serial number back to the first retail
sale of a new gun by a licensed gun dealer. Therefore, if someone
buys a secondhand gun from a "private" seller, the gun can't be
traced back to its illegal seller or the purchaser.
15. If federally licensed gun dealers fail to report stolen or
missing guns, they generally face only misdemeanor charges even
though thousands of guns are stolen annually from gun stores. The
rifle used by the metro DC snipers was allegedly stolen from a gun
store, the same store that "lost or misplaced" 238 guns in three
years.
16. Gun owners are not required to report thefts of their guns
to law enforcement. Nearly half a million guns are stolen annually.
17. Common carriers -- like trucking companies -- do not have
to report missing gun shipments.
18. Licensed dealers convicted of felonies may continue to conduct
business through all appeals.
19. No gun manufacturer has any policy restricting sales of their
guns to dealers or wholesalers with a history of selling guns used
in crime.
20. Federal inspectors are barred from conducting surprise inspections
of a gun dealer more than once a year and they have no power to
impose fines or suspend licenses even if the inspectors have evidence
that the dealer is continuing to sell guns that are used in crime.
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