See other pages of this guide for more information on buying and transferring firearms , restrictions on felons , and licenses to carry firearms. There are many reasons a person might fail a background check or otherwise be barred from purchasing or possessing a firearm. Below is information about some possible reasons.
For information about restrictions on convicted felons, see the felons and firearms page of this guide. Under the restrictions of the federal Gun Control Act, it is illegal for a person "who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance" to possess, receive, or transport firearms or ammunition.
This has raised concerns that participating in a medical marijuana program may cost patients their rights to possess firearms. However, the Texas Department of Public Safety has stated in an FAQ that they do not believe participation in the state's CUP program disqualifies a person from possessing a firearm or obtaining a Texas License to Carry, although it's possible that a patient's underlying condition may disqualify them.
The following links provide more information and context but do not yet address how Second Amendment rights may be affected by the use of CBD or hemp-derived products as that is still a developing area of law.
Search this Guide Search. Gun Laws This guide provides information on Texas and federal gun laws including: background checks, open carry, concealed carry, handgun licenses, restrictions for felons, and local regulation of firearms and shooting ranges. It is strongly recommended that you contact an attorney for advice specific to your situation. If you have questions about anything in this guide, please ask a librarian. Disclaimer: The State Law Library is unable to give legal advice, legal opinions or any interpretation of the law.
Background Checks. Plus: How to contact us. We report stories that would go untold. Generous readers sustain our work. A step-by-step guide to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which vets anyone who attempts to buy a gun through a federally licensed firearms dealer.
In the United States, anybody who wants to buy a gun from a federally licensed firearms dealer FFL is subject to a background check.
The overwhelming majority of gun background checks take just minutes to clear the would-be buyer. And then there are the people who slip through the cracks and obtain guns they should have been barred from possessing — sometimes with deadly consequences. Yet none were stopped, because of omissions and loopholes in the system. Anything that makes a person too high-risk to possess lethal firepower, in the eyes of the law. Those include criminal and mental health history , dishonorable military discharges, unlawful immigration status, an open warrant, a documented history of domestic violence, and drug use.
Felony convictions are the most common reason for the gun background check system to reject an applicant, resulting in , denials during the 21 years that NICS has been in operation. More than , fugitives, , domestic offenders, and , unlawful drug users have also been blocked. The bar for denying someone on mental health grounds is very high, requiring that a person has been declared unsound or involuntarily confined to a psychiatric institution by a court or other authority.
Fewer than 43, people have been denied under this criterion. To ascertain whether an applicant should be disqualified from owning a gun, the FBI draws from three databases. The Interstate Identification Index is a giant repository of criminal convictions used by an array of law enforcement agencies for a range of purposes. That includes those related to mental health and immigration status. However, some states like Connecticut add nearly all prohibiting records to the NICS Indices because they typically result in a quick denial, without any need for further investigation by the FBI.
States voluntarily supply records to the databases that make up the NICS system, and they do a spotty job of it. According to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report , at the end of there were 7. Mental health records present a particular problem. The Virginia Tech massacre, committed by a gunman whose history of severe psychiatric illness had not been forwarded to the the FBI, exposed shortfalls in mental health reporting to the NICS Indices. Several states have since made progress in correcting those omissions, but others have remained resistant, citing privacy laws.
Current federal law does not require background checks on sales between unlicensed parties. This means that people with dangerous histories can easily circumvent the background check system simply by purchasing their firearm online or at a gun show. An Everytown investigation showed that as many as 1 in 9 people arranging to buy a firearm on Armslist. And the unlicensed sale marketplace is large: the same investigation found that in there were 1. A survey found that nearly a quarter of Americans—22 percent—who acquired a firearm in the two years prior did so without a background check.
Requiring background checks on all gun sales is proven to reduce gun violence. When Connecticut passed a law requiring background checks—both for a handgun purchase permit and at the point of sale—its firearm homicide rate decreased by 40 percent and its firearm suicide rate decreased by 15 percent. The most common federal background check legislation would simply require that unlicensed sellers meet their buyers at a gun dealer. Gun owners are already accustomed to this process, because they do it every time they buy a gun from a dealer.
The online firearm marketplace has emerged as a growing market for anonymous gun purchases through websites such as Armslist. Loopholes must be addressed to ensure that guns are not sold without a completed background check.
Updating federal and state laws to require background checks on all gun sales is a common-sense way to keep guns out of the wrong hands. School leaders and policymakers must support and implement strong gun safety laws and school-based interventions. These stories are examples of tragedies that could have been prevented if a background check was required when the shooter bought their gun.
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