America is mourning. A mentally ill young student decided to put an end to his resentment by killing many bright and productive minds at Virginia Tech school last week. Much has been said about this perturbed character's behavior"s life on campus; his odd demeanor, his perpetual silence, creepy writings, and previous mental record. But, did those selling firearms to this troubled person know all this? Probably not, because this mentally ill person bought firearms and ammunition from an Internet dealer. This heartbreaking story reminds us of a reality: the American Federal and State firearm control legislation is claiming cyber-era adjustments.
The Gun Control Act of 1968 ("the Act") is the Federal central gun control legislation in the United States. It requires whoever imports, manufactures, or deals in firearms to obtain a federal firearm license. The Act prohibits both the selling a handgun to a 'resident' of other state and shipping handguns across state lines. Thus, violation of the Act occurs when handguns are sold over the Internet to ‘individuals' in another state.
The Brady Act of 1993 complements the above-mentioned Federal Gun Control Act. The Brady Act requires all Federal Firearms Licensees who sell firearms to conduct a background check on customers and keep records of their sales. Other important Federal US laws on firearms are the National Firearms Act, and the Arms Export Control Act. Besides these Federal laws, each US state has enacted its own firearm control laws.
According to the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the Brady Act, a firearm dealer must have a Federal license and it may not sell its products to ‘individuals' (it may sell them to other licensed dealers) in other states. For an online sale to be legal under the Act, the Federal firearm licensee must conduct its sale through a local firearm licensee dealer. Then, following the Brady Act, a background check must be conducted. Once, the individual passes the background check, the local dealer provides the firearm. This is exactly what happened in the Virginia Tech case last week.
These legal requirements and protocol were followed by the troubled young man but still, the Gun control Act and its complementary legislation did not prevent this tragedy. It is evident that two main loopholes in the firearm control legislation exist.
First, background checks only cover criminal records. Mentally ill individuals are free to buy any firearm they want as long as they do not have any criminal record. Their medical records are not part of the background check. Indeed, they are protected by privacy laws. Medical records should be private but we must draw the line between those ordinary medical records and medical records ‘blaring' about hazardous traits of those citizens purchasing firearms.
Second, internet is being used as secondary market by under-licensed dealers that overlook Federal and state regulations. Firearms are daily sold online in private websites and public auction sites like eBay. Some state authorities have successfully prosecuted them under the existing Federal and State law regulations. For instance, in 2005 the Government of Missouri sentenced a man who was selling illegal firearms online. Is this a common prosecutorial action? Maybe not, until that day when specific legislation for the online sale of firearms is passed.
Since online sale of firearms may involve interstate commerce activities, Federal regulations apply. But, why is Congress taking so long to update these regulations? The cyber-gun market is becoming a serious threat for our society but Congress seems more willing to protect firearm manufactures from lawsuits. On 2005, Congress passed Public Law 109-92, called "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act," whose first-described purpose says: "the purpose of this Act is to prohibit causes of action against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and importers of firearms or ammunition products, and their trade associations, for the harm solely caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearm products or ammunition products by others when the product functioned as designed and intended."
Well, citizens looking for a more regulated online firearm control may need the same firearm manufacturers' lobbying ‘resources' to get this update passed sometime in the future.