Database Summary

The Background Check and Licensing Policies for Firearm Purchase Database includes state-level data from 1980-2019 on factors relevant to the design, implementation, and enforcement of background checks and licensing policies for firearm transfers. This includes policy details (e.g. fingerprinting required, license duration), information about related policies (e.g. state prohibiting criteria), and criminal history database details. Data are collated from multiple public sources.

The database is a collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions and made available via the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) on OpenICSPR. Access the database here.

AVAILABLE CONTENTS

• Data Dictionary
• Data Labels
• Data Numeric

Design, Implementation, and Enforcement Components

This database characterizes variation in the design, implementation, and enforcement of comprehensive background check and purchaser licensing (permit-to-purchase) policies across states, from 1980 through 2019. Design, implementation, and enforcement elements were chosen based on their hypothesized ability to influence the effectiveness of comprehensive background check and purchaser licensing policies:

• Design elements include policy characteristics such as whether the background check is completed at the point of sale or during a permitting process, the ease of completing the permitting process, and whether and which additional firearm prohibitions the state includes (e.g. violent misdemeanor conviction).
• Implementation elements include the quality and completeness of prohibiting records and the ways in which these data are shared across agencies.
• Enforcement elements include the presence and severity of penalties for violating these laws and the presence of complementary laws such as anti-straw purchasing policies.

Citation

McCourt, Alex, Patel, Ayush, and Kagawa, Rose. Background Check and Licensing Policies for Firearm Purchase: Design, Implementation, and Enforcement Elements by State (1980-2019). Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2021-07-15. https://doi.org/10.3886/E145221V1

Learn More

• Access the Background Check and Licensing Policies for Firearm Purchase Database on openICPSR