There are some different estimates for the percentage of males who have felony convictions by race, but the relative ranking is clear, with black males having the highest rate among black males followed by Hispanic males. These differences help explain such as how the NICS background check system works.
As the above video of Dr. Lott’s congressional testimony explains, there are clear errors in the National Instant Criminal Background Check INICS) that are related to the race of law-abiding people who are trying to buy guns. Each year, the NICS system stops hundreds of thousands of people from buying guns. If the NICS system stops a prohibited person with a felony conviction from purchasing a gun, these are among the easiest cases for the government to win. They have the felon’s signature, swearing that he isn’t a felon, provided a government-issued ID, and is likely on video attempting to make the purchase. Yet, despite hundreds of thousands of cases, only a couple dozen cases are brought. Why the difference? If you talk to people involved in enforcing these laws, they aren’t real cases. It is one thing to stop a felon from buying a gun, but it is something quite different to stop someone simply because they have a similar name and birthday. The problem is that people tend to have similar names to others in their racial group: Hispanics have names similar to other Hispanics, and blacks tend to have names similar to other blacks. So, groups with high rates of felony convictions are more likely to have the names of law-abiding people confused with criminals.
