News Claims Few Use Voluntary Checks, But Fails To Ask Why

By Tom Knighton

In Virginia, if you’re at a gun show and you’re looking to buy a gun, it’s possible for the seller to conduct a background check on you. It’s not required, but it can still be done. For some, that makes them feel better about selling a gun to a complete stranger.

I get it.

However, the folks over at The Roanoke Times decided the aftermath of a mass shooting was a good time to talk about how little these voluntary checks are supposedly used.

The background check measure was designed to deter private gun sales to buyers who could not pass a background check by positioning Virginia State Police at every gun show to perform voluntary checks at the behest of unlicensed private sellers who lack access to the state database used by licensed firearms dealers.

So far, the law doesn’t appear to be yielding the results that supporters envisioned when it was put in place as part of a bipartisan gun safety deal.

…

Private sellers at the 197 gun shows held across the state between July 1, 2016, and Dec. 31, 2018, requested only 132 voluntary background checks on their customers during that period, according to data from the Virginia Firearms …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms