What is the impact of the Brady law on gun trafficking?
A. Gun traffickers have been thwarted by Brady background checks. Before Brady background checks, gun traffickers with disqualifying criminal histories could still get their new handguns – the bread-and-butter of gun trafficking – by “lying and buying.” After Brady background checks, gun traffickers with a felony, domestic violence offense, or other disqualifying record must find someone with a clean record — a “straw purchaser” — to buy new guns for them. The use of straw purchasers complicates gun trafficking and expands the number of people involved with a trafficking operation, thus increasing the risks of apprehension. Also, Brady background checks appear to have disrupted patterns of gun trafficking. Before the Brady law, some states required background checks, but most did not. This discrepancy created a profit incentive to traffic guns from “no-check states” to “check states.” For example, before Brady background checks, Ohio (a “no-check state”) supplied guns to Michigan (a “c
