In 1993 congress wanted to update the previous gun control act, not only did the firearm retailers have to keep permanent copies of the ATF form 4473, they now needed to notify the FBI or their state equivalent for a rapid background check through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. This procedure went into effect in 1998. The FBI is required to do the background checks in all states except for the states that have their own “Point of Contact”, with today’s technology and the use of the internet, these background checks can be done in a matter of …show more content…
There is a black market for firearms that makes it an easy way for the criminals to purchase firearms illegally. The state of Illinois has some of the toughest gun laws in the country, but also some of the highest rates of gun violence. In Illinois anyone who purchases a firearm with through a dealer or in a private sale must have a Firearm Owners Identification card, also if someone transfer a firearm to someone privately they must for the next ten years keep a record of said transfer (Cook, Harris, Ludwig, & Pollack, 2015). From 1982 to 2010 in the city of Chicago, there were additional laws where it was illegal to even own or possess a handgun within city limits. Today all handguns must be registered. A study in 1994 showed that only sixty percent of all firearms were purchased from a licensed firearm dealer and that the remaining forty percent were private transfers. These forty percent were considered the secondary market. In 2013 this secondary market became the main focus in debates for stricter gun control, and a push to require universal background checks. Many offenders of violent crimes are either under the age of twenty-one or by the time they reach adult age have already been convicted of a felony, prohibiting the legal purchase of a firearm, or handguns in particular. So tougher gun laws on dealers may not have an …show more content…
Only twelve percent of the felons obtained their guns from a licensed dealer legally. The remaining obtained them through family, friends, and on the streets. Almost all the juvenile offenders received their guns through friends, theft, or loans from adults. Guns on the black market are hard to locate, and if they were they are extremely expensive. People pay brokers a fee to locate firearms, but it isn’t always a guarantee that they will be successful in finding a firearm. Due to the fact that it is difficult to locate guns on the black market in Chicago, only about forty percent of the armed robberies use a hand gun, on the other hand up to eighty-five percent of all murders in Chicago are committed with a handgun (Cook, Harris, Ludwig, & Pollack, 2015). This shows that if someone wants to commit murder they will go to the extreme to gain possession of a handgun, and it won’t be obtained legally. Offenders of other crimes will use other weapons to commit their crimes if they are unable to obtain a