The Charleston Loophole is a rule that enables gun venders to sell guns to people if the FBI does not complete their background check within three days. This way, people who would not have passed the background check are still able to obtain firearms. This loophole is what enabled the shooter who killed nine people at the Mother Emanuel AME Church to get a gun. Recently, the House of Representatives passed a bill in an attempt to close the Charleston Loophole. Jim Clyburn authored the bill and has been trying to get it passed since 2015. This law will make the time limit longer; instead of only having to wait three days, firearm venders will have to wait ten days before selling someone with an unfinished background check a gun. While this is definitely a step in the right direction, many claim that this bill won't help that much. Representative Tom Rice claims that the issue with this loophole is not the time limit, but a lack of information for the FBI to use when conducting background checks. In order to find people's full criminal record, the FBI must search three distinct databases. However, when doing firearm background checks, the FBI is only legally allowed to use two out of the three. The third database, the one that the FBI cannot use, is the most detailed of the three. Rice introduced a bill that would give the FBI full access to search the National Data Exchange database, but this bill has yet to be passed by the House of Representatives.
Overall, while this will definitely help in reducing the effects of this deadly loophole, there is still much more work to do. If you want to learn more about how to contact your representatives or take other actions, please visit the action section of this website!
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authorMy name is Emma and I am a Girl Scout working on my Gold Award. On this page, you can find posts about what I have learned about the issue of Gun Violence throughout my project. Archives |