Online gun purchases as easy as Oswald's mail order

Washington --

Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, with a mail-order Mannlicher-Carcano 6.5mm bolt-action rifle, for which he paid $19.95 plus shipping and handling.

Fifty years later, mail-order purchases of guns are less common. But despite myriad federal and state laws regulating gun transactions, buying a firearm through the Internet is commonplace.

Where Oswald mailed his money order with a coupon torn from an ad in the National Rifle Association's American Rifleman magazine, troubled individuals today can search online and similarly get their hands on powerful weapons with no questions asked, gun control advocates say.

"Here we are 50 years later, still confronting these horrific shootings," said Sue Hornik, executive director of States United to Prevent Gun Violence. "Only now we have assault weapons that are a lot more powerful than anything on our streets when Kennedy was president."

Gun rights organizations insist Internet sales are little more than a marketing medium through which buyer and seller come together. The Internet "does not provide any legal opportunity to simply buy a firearm as if it were a pair of jeans," an NRA fact sheet states.

There are an estimated 4,000 or more websites that facilitate gun sales between buyers and sellers. Some, like Cheaper Than Dirt, have their own inventory and require that all transactions be completed through a federally licensed firearms dealer near the buyer, who runs a background check before completing the sale. Others, like Armslist, operate along the lines of Craigslist or eHarmony, bringing buyer and seller together to complete their own transactions.

Under federal law, any interstate firearms sale must be concluded by a licensed dealer with a background check through the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

The system is designed to establish whether an individual is qualified to purchase a gun. Disqualifications include felony conviction, mental illness adjudication and receipt of a restraining or protective order.

But U.S. law generally does not extend to sales within state borders. Those are governed by state laws - if they exist.

Ten states - including California - require a background check or permit to complete intrastate sales of all weapons. In addition, six states require them for handgun sales. But the remaining states do not require background checks for in-state purchases.

Bipartisan background check legislation sponsored by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., would have required background checks on all online sales, whether interstate or intrastate. The measure fell six votes short of breaking a Republican-led filibuster in April.

"Until we address this particular flaw in our policy, it's hard to imagine we can make any progress on guns," said Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research in Baltimore.

Gun rights advocates counter that anyone intent on causing mayhem will find a gun one way or another.

"People can argue that just one transaction is too many if someone gets killed, but that assumes the murder wouldn't have happened without the questionable transaction," said Jeff Knox, head of the Firearms Coalition. "That's a false assumption."