Executive Summary
Since 2018, a staggering number of firearms – over one million each year – have been advertised for sale online by unlicensed sellers in states lacking legal mandates for background checks. This loophole in federal law, which only requires background checks for sales by licensed dealers, creates a dangerous marketplace where individuals with harmful histories can easily acquire guns anonymously. The internet, particularly platforms like Armslist, which bills itself as the “largest free gun classifieds on the web,” has become a thriving hub for these unregulated transactions. This report, based on Everytown’s analysis of Armslist ads from 2018 to 2020 and prior investigations, exposes the alarming scope of this issue, the high risk of sales to prohibited individuals, and the ease with which these online transactions are completed. Our findings underscore the urgent need for universal background checks on all gun sales to close this dangerous loophole.
Main Findings
- Annually, an estimated 1.2 million online firearm advertisements are for sales that circumvent legal background check requirements.
- Nearly one in nine prospective buyers responding to unlicensed online sellers would fail a background check – a rate seven times greater than at licensed gun stores.
- Face-to-face transactions initiated online can be completed in under three minutes, facilitating quick, unchecked gun sales.
- In states mandating background checks for all gun sales, 84% of unlicensed sellers indicated they would require a background check. Conversely, in states without such laws, only 6% of sellers mentioned background checks.
Introduction
More than a quarter-century has passed since the inception of our federal background check law. In that time, the internet has revolutionized commerce, including firearm sales. The rise of online gun marketplaces like Armslist.com has amplified the danger posed by a significant flaw in federal law: the exemption of unlicensed gun sellers from mandatory background checks. Firearms acquired through Armslist have been traced to convicted felons, domestic abusers, gang members, and gun traffickers, often with fatal consequences.1 This loophole persists in 28 states, allowing unlicensed sellers to conduct firearm transactions without scrutiny. While numerous states have addressed this gap by requiring background checks for all gun sales within their jurisdictions, federal law lags behind, leaving a dangerous avenue for prohibited individuals to obtain firearms.
Since 2014, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund has diligently investigated the unregulated online gun market and its severe threat to public safety. Our 2018 investigation into Armslist, often likened to the “Craigslist of guns,” unveiled a vast, uncontrolled marketplace where strangers conduct unchecked gun sales online, providing easy access for criminals and other prohibited purchasers. Continuing our data collection and analysis on Armslist activity, this report highlights the critical need for universal background checks on every gun sale to enhance public safety and prevent firearms from falling into the wrong hands.
Key Findings
Over 1 Million Annual Ads on Armslist Bypass Background Checks
Armslist functions like other online classified platforms, where sellers post listings with prices, descriptions, and photos of items for sale. On Armslist, firearm ads can be placed by both licensed gun dealers (designated as “premium vendors”) – who are federally mandated to perform background checks – and unlicensed sellers (“private parties”). Background checks are generally only legally required for unlicensed sellers in states with laws mandating them for all gun sales.2 Similar to purchasing furniture online, initial contact is typically made via email, phone, or text, with the transaction finalized in person.
Everytown researchers collected over 9 million posts from Armslist between 2018 and 2020, 68% of which advertised firearms for sale.3 Analyzing these gun-sale ads revealed that the majority originated from unlicensed sellers.4 Each year, unlicensed sellers posted an average of 1.6 million ads (80% of all unique firearm sale ads) on Armslist,5 compared to 393,000 ads (20%) from licensed dealers. Of the 1.6 million unlicensed seller ads, 1.2 million (78%) were from sellers in states without universal background check laws.6
Consistent Loophole: Over 1 Million Ads Annually Lack Background Check Requirement
The substantial number of firearm sale ads circumventing background checks has remained consistently high in recent years, exceeding one million annually from 2018 to 2020. Mirroring the nationwide surge in gun sales during 2020, ads from unlicensed sellers on Armslist saw significant increases between 2018 and 2020, particularly in Arizona (120%), Alaska (98%), and Utah (60%).
Criminals Exploit Online Gun Sales Loophole with Ease
Everytown’s investigations uncovered that individuals legally prohibited from purchasing firearms actively exploit the online firearm marketplace to acquire weapons without scrutiny. In 2018, Everytown investigators posted ads on Armslist in four states without universal background checks: Georgia, Florida, Ohio, and Tennessee.7 Responding prospective buyers were then subjected to public records checks. Reviewing over 430 individuals who expressed purchase interest, investigators found that nearly one in nine would be legally prohibited from owning a firearm – a rate more than seven times higher than the denial rate at licensed gun dealers.8
These prohibited individuals had criminal histories including violent felonies, domestic abuse misdemeanors, drug offenses, and active domestic violence restraining orders.9 Alarmingly, minors under 18 were also found attempting to illegally purchase handguns.10 This investigation likely underestimates the true scope of the problem, as it could not access records related to all prohibiting criteria, such as involuntary mental institution commitment.
Rates of Prohibited Purchasers in Everytown Investigations
| Year of Investigation | State | Rate of Prohibited Purchasers Online |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Georgia | 1 in 9 |
| 2018 | Ohio | 1 in 12 |
| 2018 | Tennessee | 1 in 8 |
| 2018 | Florida | 1 in 7 |
| 2017 | New Mexico* | 1 in 15 |
| 2016 | Nevada* | 1 in 11 |
| 2015 | Oregon* | 1 in 18 |
| 2014 | Washington* | 1 in 10 |
*States now requiring background checks on all gun sales.
Rapid, Unchecked Transactions: Sales Completed in Minutes
Similar to online classifieds, Armslist-facilitated firearm sales often conclude with in-person meetings. To understand transaction dynamics, Everytown investigators contacted two unlicensed sellers in Ohio – one selling a handgun and another an assault-style rifle – and arranged meetings.
Both sales were completed in under three minutes, with neither seller attempting a background check. One seller casually mentioned he would sell the gun “assuming you haven’t beaten your wife lately, done any drugs, [and] you’re an Ohio resident,” but performed no verification, as Ohio law doesn’t require it for private sales.
State Laws Impact Seller Behavior: Background Checks More Likely Where Mandated
Everytown’s research demonstrates that state laws requiring background checks on all gun sales significantly influence whether unlicensed sellers conduct background checks. In 2018, Everytown contacted sellers in seven states: four without universal background checks (Florida, Georgia, Ohio, and Tennessee); two with universal background checks (Colorado and Oregon); and one requiring background checks for handguns only (North Carolina).
When investigators inquired with 150 unlicensed sellers about the sales process and background check requirements, a stark contrast emerged. In states with universal background checks, 84% of sellers indicated a background check would be necessary. In states without such laws, only 6% mentioned background checks. This discrepancy underscores how the absence of a federal mandate for background checks by unlicensed sellers enables prohibited individuals to easily acquire firearms online.
Seller Statements on Background Checks: Examples from Armslist
No Background Check Required
Tennessee
Investigator: “I own a few guns but I never bought anything from this site before how does it work?”
TN Seller: “It’s like a newspaper classifieds, without the paper. Just come up with a time and place to meet…. I just take your word that you are eligible.“
Background Check Required
Oregon
OR Seller: “How it goes is we go to a gun store and do a back ground check and what’s it done I give you gun you give me cash.”
Investigator: Perfect
OR Seller: “There’s one near me prolly have the whole process done in 15 minutes tops.“
Conclusion
The expansive and growing online firearm marketplace provides a readily accessible avenue for felons, domestic abusers, and other prohibited individuals to obtain firearms without background checks or questions. Everytown’s investigation reveals over one million annual ads on Armslist for firearm sales that bypass background check requirements. Alarmingly, nearly one in nine individuals seeking to buy guns online from unlicensed sellers are legally prohibited from owning them. While state laws mandating background checks correlate with higher seller compliance, the absence of such laws results in sellers largely neglecting background checks, creating a dangerous loophole.
The online firearm marketplace poses a clear and present danger. The responsible solution is to mandate background checks for all gun sales, preventing firearms from reaching those with dangerous histories. It is imperative for elected officials to modernize federal and state laws to close the deadly online sales loophole and require background checks on every gun sale.
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Everytown Research & Policy is a program of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, a non-partisan organization dedicated to understanding and reducing gun violence through rigorous research and evidence-based policy advocacy.
Footnotes
[1] Jason Meisner, “3 Men Charged with Trafficking Dozens of Guns Bought Over Armslist.com to Chicago Gang Members,” Chicago Tribune, May 15, 2018, https://bit.ly/3qoWyPY.
[2] Interstate firearm sales require firearm sales to be facilitated by a licensed firearm dealer, with procedures varying based on the type of firearm sold.
[3] Users can create posts for a wide range of products, including firearms, as well as items such as ammunition, firearm accessories, outdoor gear, and fishing equipment.
[4] Investigators collected and analyzed all of the postings on the website from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2020. A statistical software program was then used to identify and remove posts that were exact duplicates. If postings were considered exact duplicates (i.e., all content was exactly the same), then these duplicates were removed—leaving only a single unique posting.
[5] Firearms for this report are defined as handguns, rifles, and shotguns. There were three other categories of firearms posted on Armslist.com between 2018 and 2020: 27,132 of the ads were for “NFA firearms,” 46,547 of the ads were for “muzzle loaders,” and 89,770 of the ads were for “antique firearms.” These categories of firearms are excluded from the analysis as these firearms are not generally regulated by the Gun Control Act—federal law requires background checks of all transfers of NFA weapons and no background checks are required for any transfers of muzzle loaders and antique firearms, including by a licensed dealer. The data on rifle postings were further analyzed to determine the number of rifles that were “assault-style rifles” by using search terms identical to the terms used to define “assault weapons” in recent legislation, including searching for particular models (i.e., AR-15, AK-47, and XM15) and features (i.e., “pistol /2 grip,” “suppressor,” and “removable /2 stock”). Armlist.com permits users to indicate the action of the rifle and the “assault-style” search was limited to “semi-automatic” actions or else when the action field was left blank, excluding firearms identified by their sellers as manual-action firearms (which includes bolt action, break open, lever action, pump action, and single shot).
[6] As of January 2021, 16 states and DC require a background check (at the point of sale and/or via purchase permit) for all unlicensed sellers (CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, HI, IL, MA, NV, NJ, NM, NY, OR, RI, VT, VA, and WA), while six additional states require a background check only for handgun sales (IA, MD, MI, NE, NC, PA). MD and PA require background checks on sales of some high-powered rifles and shotguns; this analysis does not calculate which specific sales were covered by the laws in those states. In 2016, Nevada passed a ballot initiative requiring background checks on all guns sales, however, the former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt argued the law could not be enforced, which meant that, in practice, background checks were not required on unlicensed gun sales in 2018. However, in 2019, the Nevada legislature passed clarifying legislation requiring background checks on all gun sales, which took effect on January 2, 2020. New Mexico and Virginia passed laws requiring background checks on all gun sales in 2019 and 2020, respectively. New Mexico’s law took effect on July 1, 2019, and Virginia’s law took effect on July 1, 2020. Ads listing firearms for sale by unlicensed sellers that were posted after these laws went into place have been excluded from the totals. In addition, Vermont’s law went into effect April 11, 2018; this analysis does not calculate which sales were not covered in that state in 2018.
[7] Everytown investigators did not possess any of the firearms being listed for sale nor did they complete any transactions in this part of the investigation.
[8] Among all sales nationally where background checks were run from 1994 through 2015 (which includes background checks at dealers and in states where background checks are required on unlicensed sales), only 1.5% were denied. Jennifer C. Karberg et al., “Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2015-Statistical Tables,” (Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 2017) https://bit.ly/2uYfUVb.
[9] Using a variety of public records databases, investigators reviewed the criminal histories of each of these prospective buyers. Investigators conducted searches of publicly available court records in jurisdictions that contained current or past addresses associated with each prospective buyer and reviewed their criminal histories using identifiers such as name, address, and birthdate to match criminal records with prospective buyers. Investigators then analyzed their age and criminal histories to determine whether the prospective buyers were prohibited from purchasing firearms under federal or state law. In the course of this investigation, investigators initiated contact with law enforcement in certain instances that involved a potential imminent threat or other ongoing or recent contact with the criminal justice system.
[10] A total of 11 percent of the sample were prohibited due to criminal history or the federal age prohibitor. An additional 4 percent of the overall sample were found to be between 18 and 21 and were likely prohibited under state law from purchasing the firearm but not included in the 1 in 9 tabulation. The results of this investigation likely understate the problem, because investigators did not have access to records related to some non-criminal prohibiting criteria, such as involuntary commitment to a mental institution.
[11] If asked, investigators responded truthfully that they were not prohibited from purchasing firearms and would pass a background check if it were required.
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1 Jason Meisner, “3 Men Charged with Trafficking Dozens of Guns Bought Over Armslist.com to Chicago Gang Members,” Chicago Tribune, May 15, 2018, https://bit.ly/3qoWyPY. 2 Interstate firearm sales require firearm sales to be facilitated by a licensed firearm dealer, with procedures varying based on the type of firearm sold. 3 Users can create posts for a wide range of products, including firearms, as well as items such as ammunition, firearm accessories, outdoor gear, and fishing equipment. 4 Investigators collected and analyzed all of the postings on the website from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2020. A statistical software program was then used to identify and remove posts that were exact duplicates. If postings were considered exact duplicates (i.e., all content was exactly the same), then these duplicates were removed—leaving only a single unique posting. 5 Firearms for this report are defined as handguns, rifles, and shotguns. There were three other categories of firearms posted on Armslist.com between 2018 and 2020: 27,132 of the ads were for “NFA firearms,” 46,547 of the ads were for “muzzle loaders,” and 89,770 of the ads were for “antique firearms.” These categories of firearms are excluded from the analysis as these firearms are not generally regulated by the Gun Control Act—federal law requires background checks of all transfers of NFA weapons and no background checks are required for any transfers of muzzle loaders and antique firearms, including by a licensed dealer. The data on rifle postings were further analyzed to determine the number of rifles that were “assault-style rifles” by using search terms identical to the terms used to define “assault weapons” in recent legislation, including searching for particular models (i.e., AR-15, AK-47, and XM15) and features (i.e., “pistol /2 grip,” “suppressor,” and “removable /2 stock”). Armlist.com permits users to indicate the action of the rifle and the “assault-style” search was limited to “semi-automatic” actions or else when the action field was left blank, excluding firearms identified by their sellers as manual-action firearms (which includes bolt action, break open, lever action, pump action, and single shot). 6 As of January 2021, 16 states and DC require a background check (at the point of sale and/or via purchase permit) for all unlicensed sellers (CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, HI, IL, MA, NV, NJ, NM, NY, OR, RI, VT, VA, and WA), while six additional states require a background check only for handgun sales (IA, MD, MI, NE, NC, PA). MD and PA require background checks on sales of some high-powered rifles and shotguns; this analysis does not calculate which specific sales were covered by the laws in those states. In 2016, Nevada passed a ballot initiative requiring background checks on all guns sales, however, the former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt argued the law could not be enforced, which meant that, in practice, background checks were not required on unlicensed gun sales in 2018. However, in 2019, the Nevada legislature passed clarifying legislation requiring background checks on all gun sales, which took effect on January 2, 2020. New Mexico and Virginia passed laws requiring background checks on all gun sales in 2019 and 2020, respectively. New Mexico’s law took effect on July 1, 2019, and Virginia’s law took effect on July 1, 2020. Ads listing firearms for sale by unlicensed sellers that were posted after these laws went into place have been excluded from the totals. In addition, Vermont’s law went into effect April 11, 2018; this analysis does not calculate which sales were not covered in that state in 2018. 7 Everytown investigators did not possess any of the firearms being listed for sale nor did they complete any transactions in this part of the investigation. 8 Among all sales nationally where background checks were run from 1994 through 2015 (which includes background checks at dealers and in states where background checks are required on unlicensed sales), only 1.5% were denied. Jennifer C. Karberg et al., “Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2015-Statistical Tables,” (Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 2017) https://bit.ly/2uYfUVb. 9 Using a variety of public records databases, investigators reviewed the criminal histories of each of these prospective buyers. Investigators conducted searches of publicly available court records in jurisdictions that contained current or past addresses associated with each prospective buyer and reviewed their criminal histories using identifiers such as name, address, and birthdate to match criminal records with prospective buyers. Investigators then analyzed their age and criminal histories to determine whether the prospective buyers were prohibited from purchasing firearms under federal or state law. In the course of this investigation, investigators initiated contact with law enforcement in certain instances that involved a potential imminent threat or other ongoing or recent contact with the criminal justice system. 10 A total of 11 percent of the sample were prohibited due to criminal history or the federal age prohibitor. An additional 4 percent of the overall sample were found to be between 18 and 21 and were likely prohibited under state law from purchasing the firearm but not included in the 1 in 9 tabulation. The results of this investigation likely understate the problem, because investigators did not have access to records related to some non-criminal prohibiting criteria, such as involuntary commitment to a mental institution. 11 If asked, investigators responded truthfully that they were not prohibited from purchasing firearms and would pass a background check if it were required.
