Background Checks

Clayton Cramer has a paper on the effect of background checks on the murder rate.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2249317

It's a pdf of 9 pages so is not a tough read. The conclusion is that they don't have any detectable effect.

The interesting stat is that 47% of crime guns were straw purchases which checks don't stop, 26% were stolen, and another 8% were "retail diversion" whatever that is. The remaining 19% were presumably come by legitimately which raises questions as to the exact nature of the crime committed with them by seemingly otherwise law-abiding gun owners.

Observation: Modern statistics is what changed Witch Doctory into modern psychology. Make of that what you will.