March 20, 2013
This is a pretty well written opinion article about the “universally bad idea” behind so-called “universal background checks”.
Some particular elements of concern are:
* “A mandate for truly “universal” background checks would put the federal government squarely in the middle of every sale, loan or gift of a firearm between private individuals. In other words, it would criminalize all private firearms transfers, even between family members or friends who have known each other all of their lives.” Take note of that “loan” part. If you haven’t read the federal or state proposals affecting you, you should. In some of these bills, a “transfer” is literally any physical transfer of possession or ‘access’ to a firearm outside some very specific and very limiting circumstances. These proposals truly can make criminals of millions of people because it would put the government (federal and/or state) in between every transaction. Most of the proposals I’ve read about also include a service charge for the privilege of them doing so. The government wants to put itself between you and your long-time, trusted friend – and charge you for it!
* Problems with the NICS database NOT already containing the names of people who should already be prohibited for purchasing a firearm are well known, documented, and summarized in this article.
* Likewise but lesser known or publicized, NICS also contains names of people who should NOT be in the database, preventing law abiding people for exercising their 2nd Amendment rights. This is the first article I’ve seen that attempts to quantify that number. “In addition to its data problem, NICS is currently bogged down by hundreds of thousands of records that it shouldn’t contain. These include the records of veterans who have been arbitrarily disqualified by the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as records that are incomplete or inaccurate — “a common occurrence,” according to the Justice Department.” Hundreds of thousands in the current implementation of the system. How much worse will that be if they expand use of the system without fixing it first?
* There is also a question of enforceability. How can these requirements, if passed into law, be enforced? How will they know if two friends have “transferred” a firearm as a loan to take to a shooting range? Some of the proposals require that the transferee keep a paper record of their transfers. That paper trail starts to sound like the beginnings of a registration system, doesn’t it? Federal firearms registration is currently illegal.
There are other problems also mentioned in the article.
http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/288877-a-universally-bad-idea
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March 21, 2013
The people who have been using the NICS system for background checks for firearms sales oppose proliferation of its use for private sales.
http://www.nssfblog.com/survey-federally-licensed-firearms-retailers-overwhelmingly-oppose-universal-background-checks/
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Related blogs:
http://us2ndamendment.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-sad-strange-and-ineffective-story.html
http://us2ndamendment.blogspot.com/2013/03/firearms-registration-does-not-reduce.html
http://us2ndamendment.blogspot.com/2013/03/more-opinion-about-so-called-universal.html
http://us2ndamendment.blogspot.com/2013/03/opinion-universal-firearms-registration_17.html
http://us2ndamendment.blogspot.com/2013/03/canadian-warns-american-gun-owners.html
http://us2ndamendment.blogspot.com/2013/03/serious-lack-of-common-sense-and-reason.html
http://us2ndamendment.blogspot.com/2013/03/opinion-universal-firearms-registration_17.html
http://us2ndamendment.blogspot.com/2013/03/opinion-background-checks-for-firearms.html
http://us2ndamendment.blogspot.com/2013/03/violent-crime-firearms-background-checks.html
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