The United States leads the world in firearms violence, and the economic burden for direct and indirect costs is estimated to total $100 billion annually.

We should be doing everything in our power to make it harder for firearms to fall into the wrong hands. Boosting background check efforts has risen to the top of the agenda recently in the wake of the Virginia Tech shooting, which I believe can be taken a step further to better ensure that gun ownership is safe and legal.

President Bush recently signed into law the first major gun violence prevention measure since the Brady Law in 1994.

The National Instant Background Check System (NICS) Improvement Amendments (H.R. 2640) that Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) championed will greatly improve our background check system for firearm purchases by authorizing new grant funding to states to improve and share their records to ensure all disqualifying records of individuals prohibited from possessing a firearm are included — a key recommendation from the Virginia Tech Review Panel.

The tragic events that took place at Virginia Tech, where a court order that should have blocked the shooter was not in NICS, is one of many stark reminders of gun violence’s havoc, and that background checks are only as good as the information in the database.

With the new law, gun control and gun rights advocates alike agree on including all disqualifying records. The challenge remains for the federal government to quickly work with states to improve reporting.

Although some argue that background checks are a bureaucratic delay for law-abiding gun owners, criminals and suspected terrorists are denied guns because of background check laws.

The Brady Law requires that when a federal firearms licensee wants to sell a firearm from a gun store or at a gun show, they must contact the FBI’s NICS system to ensure that the purchaser is not prohibited from possessing firearms. But unlicensed sellers who are selling the same firearms are not required to conduct background checks in most states.

This brings us to the legislation I have been pushing for years, the Gun Show Loophole Closing Act (H.R. 96), to require background checks on all sales at gun shows, not just those performed by licensed dealers — another Virginia Tech Review Panel recommendation.

There are more than 4,000 gun shows each year in the United States and according to a 2000 report by the ATF, they are the second leading source of firearms recovered in illegal gun trafficking investigations. For public safety, requiring all sellers at gun shows to run background checks is a must. In states that already require this, like California, Illinois and Pennsylvania, gun shows still take place.

Common-sense gun safety measures like background checks work by increasing the likelihood that a prohibited purchaser will not slip through the cracks, a point on which I believe both sides should agree.

By continuing to improve our background check system, we can better protect our citizenry from gun violence while protecting Americans’ right to bear arms under the Second Amendment.

Castle is a member of the House Education and Labor Committee.