The administration of US President Joe Biden announced Thursday a strengthening of the regulation of the gun trade to require sellers to check the profile of buyers. The regulations released by the Justice Department aim to end loopholes in legislation enacted in June 2022 with the support of the Biden administration, following a series of deadly shootings.
One in three adults owns at least one gun
These rules aim to clarify the definition of persons "involved in the trade" in arms, to induce sellers to acquire a license and thus oblige them to check the criminal and psychological records of their buyers. They also increase control over the trade in collectible weapons and allow the government to better track the movement of registered guns from one owner to another.
The United States has more individual weapons than inhabitants, partly because of the ease with which Americans have access to it. One in three adults owns at least one weapon and nearly one in two adults lives in a household where there is a gun. The consequence of this proliferation is the very high rate of firearm deaths, without comparison with that of other developed countries. According to the NGO Gun Violence Archive, 44,374 people were killed by firearms in 2022 in the United States, with a slight decline this year, to 28,793 deaths for the first eight months of 2023. Suicides account for nearly 55% of victims.