The FBI recently shared data from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) that shows that there have been a lot more gun background checks in Oregon recently.
The law says that gun shops have to do a background check on everyone who buys a gun. However, gun sellers who do business in other places, like on social media or at gun shows, have been able to sell guns without checking out the buyers. The Biden administration has been working on the rule to change that since last spring. It was made public under a part of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022.
The data, which came out earlier this month, shows how many background checks for guns were done through the NICS from January to March of this year. They do not, however, show how many guns were sold.
The number of background checks for guns in Oregon changed by 43% from February to March, according to the figures.
Oregon did 33,195 background checks in February. In March, that number rose to 47,440.
But Oregon wasn’t the only state that saw a rise; Alaska and Idaho both saw changes of 34%.
In February, 5,200 background checks were done in Alaska. In March, that number went up by over 1,000. In February, 16,601 background checks were done in Idaho. By March, that number had grown by 5,000.
During the two months, over 300,000 background checks were done each month in Kentucky, making it the state with the most reviews.
The information comes at a busy time for the 2024 race. Former President Donald Trump, who is expected to be the Republican nominee for president in 2024, told the National Rifle Association in February that if he was elected again, he would undo gun laws that were put in place by Biden and Harris.
At the NRA’s Presidential Forum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Trump said, “Every single Biden attack on gun owners and manufacturers will end on my very first week back in office, maybe on my very first day.” He also said, “No one will lay a finger on your firearms.”
While Biden was in office, his government kept pushing for background checks to be done on everyone.
Also, last week, Vice President Kamala Harris announced a new rule for gun sales that is meant to close the so-called “gun show loophole.”
In a news conference, Harris said that the rule now says all gun dealers have to check the backgrounds of people who buy guns.
“I am proud to announce that all gun dealers now must conduct background checks no matter where or how they sell their merchandise.“
She said this before the announcement: “Everyone in our country has a right to live free from the horror of gun violence.” That’s what I think. Still, one in five Americans has a family member who was killed by a gun today. We know what to do to stop these terrible events. You can’t say that you either support the Second Amendment or want to take away everyone’s guns.
People who want stricter gun laws have long said that fewer mass killings, which happen all too often in the U.S., would happen if gun control laws were stricter.
Gun rights supporters, on the other hand, say that gun control laws would go against the Second Amendment, which says, “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” They say that strategies that improve mental health and security will help lower gun violence.
