A waiting period between purchase and handover of a firearm allows can have several purposes: • Give the government time to perform a
background check. Modern electronic systems such as the
National Instant Criminal Background Check System can produce an answer within a few minutes. • Force a "cooling off" period for any potential buyer who may wish to commit a
crime of passion. • Allow someone contemplating
suicide to reconsider their choice. Attempts at suicide by firearm have a higher success rate than most other methods, due to the fast and reliable lethality of carefully placed gunshots.
The Washington Post points to research collected by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and various papers expressing a scientific assessment that: • There is not enough reliable evidence to conclude whether or not a "cooling-off period" reduces homicides • Evidence indicates that waiting periods reduce the suicide rate, and that people who buy firearms are more likely than the general population to commit suicide (presumably because some are buying them for that purpose) As of 2015, ten U.S. states and equivalents have mandatory waiting periods, from 1 to 14 days: California, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, and Rhode Island for all guns; and Florida, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, and New Jersey for handguns only. A 2018 suicide prompted the Vermont legislature to pass a waiting period bill, but it was vetoed by governor Phil Scott in June, 2019. For all firearms Massachusetts, Connecticut and Illinois, and for handguns Nebraska, New York, and North Carolina require purchase permits, which may amount to a de facto waiting period if they are not issued immediately. == See also ==