07. Loopholes in prior gun safety laws
Loopholes in prior gun safety laws prevented them from being as effective as necessary.
The 1993 Brady Law, which required federal background checks for guns purchased from licensed retailers, did not require such checks for guns bought through private sales. Today, 40 percent of guns are bought from private sellers. The 1994 assault weapons and large capacity magazine ban did not apply to weapons and magazines manufactured prior to the ban, allowed importation of rifles that could accept large capacity magazines, and allowed the manufacture and sale of “copy cat” assault weapons with only small differences from banned models.