By: Emma Phillips<\/p>\n
The coronavirus pandemic has brought about many significant changes in the daily lives of Americans: social distancing measures have changed the way citizens live, work, and interact; businesses and governments have experienced unprecedented strife; and social unrest has, in some ways, reached a peak.\u00a0 But amid the chaos, a specific and unexpected change in Americans\u2019 behavior has served to illuminate a major flaw in current legislation: the sharp rise in gun purchases within the United States.<\/p>\n
March 2020 saw a dramatic increase in the attempted purchase of firearms, and the requisite background checks that accompany them; 3.7 million background checks were requested in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), 1.1 million more than the previous year.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 While these background checks are being requested according to procedure, the uptick in gun purchases combined with the coronavirus pandemic has shone a spotlight on a dangerous loophole in the current digital background check system.\u00a0 The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, passed in 1993, mandates that those who wish to purchase a firearm must pass a background check, which are currently conducted through the FBI-run NICS interface.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 It also states, however, that if three days should pass without a result returned by the background check service, then the person hoping to purchase the gun should be allowed to do so anyway, and no further regard should be paid to the pending background check.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n Since it is conducted through an electronic server, most of the background checks conducted through NICS are returned almost immediately.\u00a0 Studies have shown, however, that the FBI does often struggle to complete many background checks on time; up to three percent of background check results are delayed for three days or longer.[4]<\/a>\u00a0 Furthermore, up to 30% of the background checks of those who have been convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence have been shown to be delayed for over three days, thus allowing those convicted of those crimes to purchase firearms anyway.[5]<\/a>\u00a0 Ultimately, this loophole allows guns to fall into the hands of the criminals the law was trying to keep them from, and provides a dangerous avenue for crimes to be committed.<\/p>\n With the massive uptick in gun purchases due to the coronavirus pandemic, this avenue has widened.\u00a0 The combination of over a million more background checks being run through NICS, and the FBI only stating that it would \u201callocate more resources\u201d to the overwhelmed NICS system in July indicate that no immediate fix to this loophole is on its way.[6]<\/a>\u00a0 Ultimately, only new gun legislation or an updated NICS interface will serve to fix this problem, but with a raging pandemic, political tumult, and an upcoming election all in the forefront of the government\u2019s psyche, it does not seem to be likely to place urgent emphasis on either.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> NICS Firearm Checks: Month\/Year (Aug 31, 2020), https:\/\/www.fbi.gov\/file-repository\/nics_firearm_checks_-_month_year.pdf\/view.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> \u00a0Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, Pub. L. No: 103-159, 107 Stat. 1536.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Joshua Eaton, FBI Never Completes Hundreds of Thousands of Gun Checks<\/em>, Roll Call (Dec. 3, 2019, 11:54 AM), https:\/\/www.rollcall.com\/2019\/12\/03\/fbi-never-completes-hundreds-of-thousands-of-gun-checks\/.<\/p>\n