Universal Background Checks: Why Not?

One of the recent responses to the school violence last year was the idea of making universal background checks a reality.  Many folks like the idea, as it would seem to do more to keep guns out of the hands of those who might misuse them; at least more than a simple hi-cap magazine ban, or so-called 'assault weapons' ban.

So why wouldn't the average Joe (that's my name, so I can say that) support universal background checks?  I can think of three reasons:

(1) Background checks are already the law in every case where they should be used.

It is ALREADY a federal felony to be engaged in the business of buying and selling firearms and ammunition without having federal firearm dealers license.

It is ALREADY a crime for a federally licensed dealer to sell a gun without doing a background check – that's all dealers, everywhere, including at retail stores, gun shows, flea markets or anywhere else.

Further, it is ALREADY a federal felony to sell, trade, give, lend,  rent or transfer a gun to a person you know or should have known is not legally allowed to own, purchase or possess a firearm.

The penalty for selling a gun to a person who is a criminal, mentally ill, mentally incompetent, or an alcohol or drug abuser is a 10-year federal felony.  That's now, today, with no changes to the law.

It is even a federal felony to submit false information on a background check form for the purpose of purchasing a firearm.

We need to enforce the laws we already have; laws that both gun owners, the NRA, and the left agree on. Yet according to a 2012 report to the Department of Justice, more than 72,000 people were turned down on a gun purchase in 2010 because they didn't pass the background check.  Yet, only 44 of those cases were prosecuted.  Why, when criminals are caught in act of lying on the form to illegally  purchase a firearm, are they not prosecuted? On Thursday, January 10, 2013, in the White House meeting of President Obama's Gun Agenda Task Force, Vice President Joe Biden answered that question, telling NRA's Director of Federal Affairs, James Baker, that the Obama administration didn't have time to prosecute people for lying on the federal background check form.

So the answer, according to Biden is, 'We don't have time to prosecute criminals who break the law, so we need more laws.'

Now there's government efficiency for you!

(2) Universal background checks will turn normal conduct into a criminal offense.

Universal background checks are background checks on EVERY transfer, sale, purchase, trade, gift, rental, and loan of a firearm between any and all individuals.

Imagine a grandfather who wants to give a family shotgun to his 12-year-old grandson having to do a background check on his grandson before giving him the shotgun.

Or a friend having to do a background check on his lifetime best buddy before lending him a hunting rifle.

Or, if your mother had a prowler at her home, having to do a background check on your own mom before you could give her one of your guns for protection.



The so-called 'gun show loophole' is a myth; a straw man built for political purposes.  Every gun sold at a gun show by any of the attendees must go through that respective state's NICS (Federal) background check system.  If you don't believe me, go to a gun show near you, walk up to a table, and ask to buy a gun with no paperwork.  The nice man behind the table will at best laugh at you.  He'll probably call security over.  No one selling guns at a gun show wants one of his guns to end up being used in a crime. 


(3) It tramples on the rights of the law-abiding citizens while doing little to hamper the efforts of criminals.  The one analogy I've seen lately that best describes this is:

Using gun control to prevent violent crime is like trying to prevent drunk driving by making it more difficult for sober people to buy cars.

This agenda focuses on peaceable citizens, not violent criminals who obtain guns on the black market to carry out unspeakable crimes already prohibited under federal and state laws.  Instead of stopping crime and eliminating criminal conduct, they are creating more criminals--they are targeting you.

Gun control has never been about the guns, it is about control.  The left knows they can never quash our constitutional republic as long as we, the people, can defend ourselves.  We'd best not give up that right, especially in small chunks like this universal background checks idea.



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Stats cited above came from: http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/articles/2013/1/universal-background-checks-%E2%80%93-absolutely-not.aspx