The idea is simple: Criminals shouldn’t be able to legally buy guns. Because they can now — sometimes.

The proposed law to end this has a simple goal as well: Don’t let anyone buy a gun without first submitting to a criminal background check.

This is what is known as “expanded background checks,” and it’s what Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota are proposing at the Capitol.

Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, says he supports the idea, but its prospects are unclear. Republicans, who hold a slim majority in the state Senate, are leery.

Passions around gun debates are almost as abundant as misunderstandings about what current laws actually do and how proposals would change them.

So here’s a primer on expanded background checks. (NOTE: This is different from “red-flag” laws, which we’re not talking about here.)

WHAT’S BEING PROPOSED?

There are various plans floating around the Minnesota House and Senate, but the ones with critical mass have the following core: No one would be able to buy — or receive, even as a gift — a firearm (handguns, rifles and shotguns, new or used) without first passing a criminal background check that would determine if he or she is legally allowed to possess a gun.

There would be a few exceptions:

Family: For example, a father or grandfather would be allowed to give his gun, or guns, to a child or grandchild without any background check.

For example, a father or grandfather would be allowed to give his gun, or guns, to a child or grandchild without any background check. Loaners: For example, someone in a hunting party could loan a gun to another member of the hunting party for perhaps a few days, no background check required.

For example, someone in a hunting party could loan a gun to another member of the hunting party for perhaps a few days, no background check required. Test-drives: A potential buyer could be allowed to take a gun for a matter of hours, perhaps a day, to try out the gun before undergoing a background check.

A potential buyer could be allowed to take a gun for a matter of hours, perhaps a day, to try out the gun before undergoing a background check. Grandfather clause: No current gun owners would be required to submit to additional background checks unless they tried to buy another gun.

Given those exceptions, you shouldn’t call the proposal a “universal background check.” But it’s definitely an expansion of background checks from current law.

WHAT’S THE CURRENT LAW?

Under current federal law, everyone in the business of selling guns has to do a background check on buyers.

If you’re in the business of buying and selling guns, you’re supposed to have an FFL — federal firearms license — and FFL holders have to do background checks.

Exactly who qualifies as being in the business of selling guns is a murky — and often misunderstood — question when you get into low volume.

Federal law says it’s anyone “engaged in the business of dealing in firearms.” According to the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, someone liquidating Grandpa’s collection doesn’t need an FFL, but someone who sells a few guns a month from home as a side business does. This ATF document is the clearest explainer out there for an issue that isn’t all that clear.

There’s no actual threshold. On Monday, House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, misspoke when he stated at a media forum: “If you sell more than three guns a year, you’re required to have a federal firearms license.” Daudt later clarified to the Pioneer Press that what he was getting at was that if you’re selling guns for profit on a regular basis, you need an FFL. On that point, he’s correct.

That includes sporting goods stores, antique dealers, gun shops, online retailers and, yes, businesses who operate at gun shows.

‘GUN-SHOW LOOPHOLE’?

Gun-control advocates often speak of “closing the gun-show loophole.”

That’s actually a misnomer. There is no exception for sales at gun shows.

There is an exception for “private sales.” These are sales of guns by anyone who doesn’t have an FFL. Some gun shows only allow FFL dealers, some don’t.

The exception in the law is that if you want to sell a gun, and you are not a licensed gun dealer, you can sell the gun — and the buyer can buy the gun — without any background check.

That’s federal law. At least 14 states do require background checks for gun transfers.

You can get a background check for these private sales — and many do — but you don’t have to. A Republican-backed plan in Minnesota would encourage these voluntary background checks by shielding the seller from liability, but stop short of requiring them.

HOW MANY GUNS ARE WE TALKING?

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MN Gov. Tim Walz calls Friday special session; plans to extend powers How many guns are bought in private sales is a contentious question. Gun-control advocates often cite figures ranging from 22 percent to 40 percent, but such numbers are either outdated or misleading, according to several fact checks by independent groups, including PolitiFact and the Washington Post.

The best guess we have today is that 13 percent of gun sales involving non-relatives were done so without a background check. That’s based on a 2017 survey conducted by researchers at Harvard and Northeastern universities.