General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIs there a way to monitor gun purchase or permits records
So that we who prefer to be safe could check the social media accounts of the buyers? Maybe some of these crazed shooters could be stopped if people knew they had bought a gun and got the word out.
A lot of employers check social media before hiring an employee, I think people applying for gun permits or buying guns should be checked too. But since the NRA will never allow that, at least the public should be able to check.
NickB79
(19,276 posts)To post the names of gun owners on Facebook?
You can see just how sideways that would go, right?
And no, it has been illegal to do what you proposed since the National Instant Background Check Sysytem was implemented in the early 1990's.
Amishman
(5,559 posts)This is already starting to be more prevalent, can't find it now but I was reading about a bust in MA where a guy with a criminal record was caught with over a dozen home built guns. Between 3D printing and home CNC equipment, our laws aren't set up for the increasing ease of making guns at home without a lot of specialty knowledge
sl8
(13,949 posts)Lawmakers Drafting Bill That Would Allow Social Media Checks Before Gun Purchase
Hope they can do it in a legal and fair way. Seems like a logical part of a background check.
Straw Man
(6,625 posts)Last edited Tue Nov 6, 2018, 01:46 PM - Edit history (2)
That's the understatement of the century. Will this be done for every gun purchase? By whom? Police agencies don't have the manpower to perform these functions. The background check for my NY concealed carry permit took six months, and that was without a social media check.
How many social media outlets will be checked? Going back three years? How will the person's actual identity be verified through the smoke and mirrors of social media identities? What kind of content will be deemed objectionable? Will there be judicial oversight of the process? Does anyone have any idea of the scope of such an undertaking?
Without the creation of a sizable state agency dedicated to this task and this task alone, such a law would serve only as a massive impediment to all firearm purchases in New York State. I would suggest that this is by design, and this is just another salvo in the culture war that is gun control in contemporary America: another "let's stick it to the gun people" effort masquerading as "reasonable gun safety legislation." And since it is possible, even likely, that any potential perpetrator will have already procured his firearms before starting to post his screeds, this massive effort will ultimately be fruitless.
Headlines like this are a Republican strategist's wet dream.