Clayton Cramer.: Mandatory Background Checks: Commonsense Gun Control?

Clayton Cramer.: Mandatory Background Checks: Commonsense Gun Control?

“Everyone knows that mandatory background checks for all gun purchases is just ‘common sense.’”

It used to be common sense that heavier objects fall faster than light objects. Then Galileo did something bizarre: experiments that demonstrated that common sense on this is wrong.

Fortunately we have run this experiment. Eight states adopted mandatory background laws for either all firearms transfers or all handgun transfers between 1960 and 2012. (Why those years? Consistent and reliable murder rate data from the FBI starts in 1960.) So if this is just common sense that such laws disarm criminals, wouldn’t you expect murder rates to fall (at least a little) in those states?