Background Checks for Firearms Sales and Loans: Law, History, and Policy

This article examines past and present systems requiring that a person receive permission before buying or borrowing a firearm. The article covers laws from the eighteenth century to the present. Such laws have traditionally been rare in the United States. The major exceptions are antebellum laws of the slaves states, and of those same states immediately after the Civil War, which forbade gun ownership by people of color, unless the individual had been granted government permission. Today “universal background checks” are based on a system created by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his “Everytown” lobby. Such laws have been enacted in several states, and also proposed as federal legislation. Besides covering the private sale of firearms, they also cover most loans of firearms and the return of loaned firearms. By requiring that almost all loans and returns may only be processed by a gun store, these laws dangerously constrict responsible firearms activities, such as safety training and safe storage. Massachusetts, Connecticut, and California are among the jurisdictions which have enacted less restrictive, more effective legislation which create controls on private firearms sales, without inflicting so much harm on firearms safety.

An Act of Assembly of Barbadoes to regulate sales at outcry and the proceedings of persons executing the office of Provost Marshall General ofthe said island and their under officers, 1763

An Act of Assembly of Barbadoes to regulate sales at outcry and the proceedings of persons executing the office of Provost Marshall General of the said island and their under officers (leaf 1) ; A state of some matters relative to the office of Provost Marshall, and to the passing of this bill (leaf 9) ; Observations drawn up by Jonathan Blenman Esq. his Majestys Atty. Gen. in Barbadoes ... on the Act as it had been first brought in 1761 (leaf 13) ; and two leaves laid in ; Power of attorney, granted to Christopher Scandrett, signed by Francis Reynolds and his son Thomas (25 April 1766) ; Petition of Francis Reynolds to the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations (1766).

Sales at auction of property of the late Caleb Gannett Esq. of Cambridge, 1818

Eleven-page handwritten list of items sold from the estate of Caleb Gannett, dated May 29, 1818. Items are arranged by house location (such as "in the kitchen") and entries consist of the item name, the purchaser, and the price. The list includes a substantial section of "books in Office sold June 3, 1818." The verso of the last page includes the note: "Account of Sales at auction of the personal estate of C. Gannett- copied from auctioneer's book."

Account of articles included in auction sales--not inventoried, [1820 February]

One-page handwritten list of items sold at auction but not appraised.

Letter from Francis Sales to William Tudor,

One letter regarding the travel and activities of Peruvian politician Manuel Lorenzo de Vidaurre, including an including an excerpt of correspondence from Vidaurre in French.

Letter from Josiah Quincy to Francis Sales, 1835 October 12

Brief one-page handwritten letter to Francis Sales from Harvard President Josiah Quincy that accompanied the diploma for Sales's honorary master's degree.

Letter from Frances Sales to Josiah Quincy, 1835 October 22

One-page handwritten letter thanking President Quincy for his October 12, 1835 message and accompanying diploma. The document is pasted on the verso of a sheet also holding Sales's 1854 letter of resignation (HUG 1763 Box 1, Folder 3, Item 2).

Letter from Francis Sales, 1848 March 30

Handwritten copy of a brief letter in French presumably to Francois Arago congratulating him on his appointment in the French Provisional Government following the 1848 Revolution and the formation of the French Second Republic. Both Arago and Sales were from the Pyrénées-Orientales region of France.

Letter from Francis Sales to Dominique-Francois Arago, 1849 October 1

Three-and-a-half page handwritten copy of a letter in French from Francis Sales to Francois Arago on two folio-sized leaves. The letter begins with a short sketch of Sales's life and appears to be written to Arago in relation to his role as a political leader in the French Republic.

Letter from James Walker to Francis Sales, 1852 January 30

One-page handwritten letter from James Walker, in his capacity as a member of the Harvard Corporation, responding to Sales's letter of resignation due to health problems.

Autobiographical sketch of Francis Sales, 1853

Three-page handwritten draft of a biographical sketch of Francis Sales from his birth to immediately following his arrival in the United States. There is a penciled note on the last page: "Life of my father written by himself in 1853" presumably written by Mary Catherine Sales.

Copy of the Corporation vote regarding the death of Francis Sales, 1854 February 25

One-page handwritten copy of the Harvard Corporation vote of condolence following the death of Francis Sales.