Gun Safety Report, One Year After Parkland, 1,200 More Kids Are Dead by Gunfire, Over 1 Million Online Firearm Ads, No Background Checks Required & What Are Background Checks?

on

One Year After Parkland, 1,200 More Kids Are Dead by Gunfire

Home 2019

Gun violence  and crime incidents are collected/validated from 2,500 sources daily – incidents and their source data are found at the gunviolencearchive.org website.
1: Actual number of deaths and injuries
2: Number of INCIDENTS reported and verified

22,000 Annual Suicides not included on Daily Summary Ledger
Numbers on this table reflect a subset of all information
collected and will not add to 100% of incidents.
www.gunviolencearchive.org  www.facebook.com/gunviolencearchive
Data Validated: February 17, 2019
Our major push to update background checks in America is underway. We're keeping pressure on the House of Representatives to ensure they pass legislation to require background checks on all gun sales.

 So, we wanted to take a moment to explain a little bit more about background checks.

What Are Background Checks?


Currently, background checks are required by federal law when licensed gun dealers sell firearms. The gun dealer contacts the FBI, which runs a background check on the person trying to buy a gun to ensure guns don't fall into the wrong hands. The background check makes sure that convicted felons, domestic abusers and other people prohibited from purchasing a gun aren't sold firearms.

Why Do We Need To Update Background Checks?


A deadly loophole in federal background check law enables criminals, domestic abusers, and other people who aren’t allowed to have guns to buy them with no background checks and no questions asked if they simply go to an unlicensed seller, including at a gun show or on the Internet.

What's Next?


We're pulling out all the stops to tell the U.S. House that we must update background checks so people can't circumvent the process and guns don't fall into the wrong hands. H.R. 8, the bill to update background checks, will close deadly loopholes and save lives. We're sending emails to Representatives, having one-on-one conversations with lawmakers and calling their offices to make sure they support H.R. 8. You can help move this legislation forward by sending a message to your U.S. Representative urging them to support and pass this critical bill.
Eight years ago, a gunman shot Gabby Giffords in the head, killed six of hery constituents and wounded more than a dozen others – the House of Representatives is introducing a new, bipartisan universal background checks bill.

Here is her message:
And while I still cannot make sense of that terrible tragedy in Tucson, I have fought since then to make sure no other family or community has to endure another senseless act of gun violence.

This universal background checks bill will move us in that direction. This bill will save lives.

That it was introduced today is an honor, and I hope you also see it is a testament to our collective work fighting for change.


Shortly after I was shot, I made a decision that my new life would be lived as my old life was: in service to country.

And one of the things that means is using my second chance to make America safer from the kind of gun violence that took the lives of those around me, and changed others’ lives forever.

This bill will do more to help than almost any piece of legislation.

That is one of the reasons it is supported almost unanimously in this country. Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike all agree it needs to happen.
If we keep fighting, I believe it will.

Add your name: tell Congress to pass universal background checks:



 Do you know how many online ads selling firearms were posted in 2018 with no background checks required?

 Over 1 million.[1]

 That means over 1 million chances for people to buy guns over the internet, including those who shouldn't have them, no questions asked. Because here's the reality: our federal background checks law was originally written 25 years ago, long before the popularity of the internet and before the existence of online gun marketplaces. This dangerous online loophole needss to be closed and H.R. 8 — a landmark bill that will update our background checks law to cover all gun sales — is an important first step that Congress must take to help keep us safe from gun violence.

 To keep our communities safe, we need to update our background checks law to cover ALL gun sales, including online sales. H.R. 8 will make that the law of the land but we need Congress to act: Send a message to your representative right away, urging them to support this life-saving first step in the fight to end gun violence.

 From Sandy Hook, to Orlando, to Parkland, and hundreds more in between, this country has faced too many mass shootings and lost too many innocent lives to gun violence.

 We’ve been fighting for commonsense gun reform for years now, and despite the growing trend in mass shootings that have become all too commonplace in our schools, places of worship, and other community gathering places, Congress has done nothing to stop the carnage – until now.

 With the new Democratic majority in the House, legislators have finally introduced a bill to establish universal background checks on all gun sales, a policy 90% of Americans are behind. The bill, known as HR 8, just passed committee last night and is heading for a full House vote.

 And today, on the first anniversary of the heart wrenching tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Democrats are unveiling a much-needed bill to ban the sale of high-capacity magazines.

 Policies like these have been discussed and introduced before, but none have survived to see the light of day thanks to the powerful grip of the NRA in Congress. Today, together, we can change that.


 Will you sign our petition urging Democrats and Republicans to finally pass these commonsense bills to save lives and stop our country’s deadly gun violence epidemic?

 Tell the House of Representatives before these hearings begin: pass H.R. 8 — the universal background checks bill that will save lives from gun violence in every community across this country. 
1. "Unchecked: Over 1 Million Online Firearm Ads, No Background Checks Required", Everytown for Gun Safety Everytownresearch.org/unchecked, February 5, 2019.

Don Lichterman
Sunset Corporation of America (SCA)
Sustainable Action Network (SAN)