Report: Background Checks Have Blocked More Than 2 Million Gun Sales

Gun dealer Mel Bernstein takes down an AK-47 assault rifle from a sales rack at his own Dragonman's shooting range and gun store, east of Colorado Springs, Colo., on Feb. 5, 2013.
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Federal background checks have blocked more than 2.1 million gun purchases since the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act went into effect on Feb. 28, 1994, according to numbers released Friday by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

The organization, which advocates for stronger gun-control measures, released a report looking at the impact of the Brady law on its 20th anniversary.

According to the report, the law has blocked more than one million purchases by felons, 291,000 by domestic abusers, and 118,000 by fugitives.

The Brady Campaign took the occasion of the law’s anniversary to reiterate its call for stricter background check legislation.

“Lives have been saved by the Brady law as we have seen the undeniable evidence showing gun homicides have decreased since the law took effect 20 years ago,” Dan Gross, the president of the Brady Campaign, said in a statement. “We need Congress to expand Brady background checks to make it harder for criminals and other dangerous people to get guns online, in classified advertisements or at gun shows.”

The full report is available online here.

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