It is time to pass universal background checks for the entire country. Will they save all the gun violence problems? Clearly not. We canât expect them to. What then? If the purchase of every gun in the United States required the purchaser to clear through NICS (National Instant Background Check System), unqualified buyers would not load the trunks of their cars with guns, then drive across state lines to sell (illegally) to unqualified buyers in neighboring states. If you take as an example Chicagoâs epidemic of gun deaths: 769 in 2020. A recent study by the Chicago Police Department, Mayor Rahm Emanuelâs office, and the University of Chicago Crime Lab showed 60 percent of the guns used in crimes were purchased outside of Illinois. Of those states of origin, none had universal background checks. This made it easy to make money buying guns out of state, bringing them into Chicago and selling them to willing customers from the back of trucks.