Criminal Background Checks

Currently, prospective gun purchasers are required to show identification and undergo a criminal background check only when purchasing a gun from a licensed firearm dealer. Unlicensed dealers and individuals sell approximately half of all guns in Wisconsin.

WAVE favors legislation that would extend the current background check system to all gun transactions.

View our growing coalition of partners who support background checks on all gun sales

Updates and Events

White House weighs broad gun-control agenda in wake of Newtown shootings

Washington Post, By Philip Rucker
The White House is...

Madison Mayor Paul Soglin: Close loophole that caters to criminals

Simple and common sense fixes to Wisconsin’s gun laws could have prevented the recent tragic Brookfield shootings.

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It's time to close loophole in Wisconsin's gun laws

We support a proposal that would require a background check for everyone buying a gun.

Milwaukee Journal...

Research

Poll: Majority Of Americans, Including Gun Owners, Support Tougher Restrictions

“– 90 percent of Americans and 90 percent of gun owners support fixing gaps in government databases that are meant to prevent the mentally ill, drug abusers and others from buying guns. — 86...

National Study Says Background Checks On All Gun Sales Will Prevent Gun Violence

(Milwaukee, WI) – A landmark study released today by the UC Davis, Violence Prevention Research Program adds to the growing body of research that concludes that requiring regulation of all gun...

Private-Party Gun Sales, Regulation, and Public Safety

The New England Journal of Medicine
Garen J. Wintemute, M.D., M.P.H., Anthony A. Braga, Ph.D., and David M. Kennedy

In 2007, a total of 12,632 people in the United States were...