The Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort is again calling for background checks on all gun sales in the state. A report released Thursday by the International Association of Chiefs of Police has gained the support of WAVE because it gives government officials more than 40 recommendations for reducing gun violence — including requiring background checks for gun sales. Both the IACF report and a statewide, bipartisan poll commissioned by WAVE show support for legislation requiring all gun sales to go through a licensed salesman. Jeri Bonavia, executive director of WAVE, said background checks are essential to ensure guns do not end up in the hands of dangerous individuals. "We only do background checks if a person is buying a gun from a licensed gun dealer," Bonavia said. "An unlicensed deal is a no-questions-asked transaction, [and account for] about 50 percent of all gun sales in the state of Wisconsin." If background checks for all gun sales were law, Bonavia said, the only people who would be unable to purchase a gun would be violent individuals who should not have access to weapons. "What we're asking [the Legislature] for is the same thing the chiefs of police want," Bonavia said. Bonavia added gun owners would still be able to sell their firearms if all sales went through a third-party vendor who performed a background check on the potential buyer. But John Wilcox, public relations officer for the Wisconsin Rifle and Pistol Association, said the push for background checks is irrelevant, because of a law requiring background checks for gun sales enacted back in November 1998. "If somebody is saying we need a law like that, we've had one for 10 years," Wilcox said. "There is not a loophole." Wilcox added the government licenses firearm dealers, and therefore actively participates and checks potential gun buyers. Additionally, guns won at banquet hall events are not given to the winner until a check is performed. Wilcox said gun violence is not a problem in the state, and people with the desire to do so will continue to cause danger and harm regardless of gun restrictions. "We have a people problem, not a gun problem," Wilcox said. "Violence is running amuck [and] transcends guns, knives or baseball bats." Gun violence, Wilcox added, has never been a problem when guns are only accessible to reliable individuals. But Bonavia said more than 400 people in Wisconsin are killed annually by gun violence. "In every part of the state people are concerned about gun violence," Bonavia said. A common sense solution, Bonavia said, is facing opposition by the small percentage of the state in the pro-gun lobby. The WAVE report shows strong support for every gun sale going through a licensed dealer, Bonavia said. "It doesn't matter if people [live] in urban or rural areas," Bonavia said. "Nor does it matter if they're gun owners or NRA members." Bonavia said the state Legislature should enact many recommendations from the IACP report to make Wisconsin safer.