Expanded background checks for gun buyers make sense

[LuckyTheDog]

“We don’t need new gun laws. We just have to start enforcing the gun laws we already have.”

That’s the voice of conventional wisdom I have been hearing for decades. It’s also the best argument for universal background checks for all gun purchases. OK, I get that expanded background checks would require new legislation and would constitute a “new gun law.” But at its heart, it’s about enforcing existing laws. It is about making gun purchases harder for people who are currently forbidden to own firearms.

So, why would anybody be against that?

Some of the arguments seem a bit paranoid. Take, for example, the rant recently posted on Facebook by Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-South Carolina. Duncan apparently believes that screening gun buyers would lead inevitably to the establishment of a national gun registry database. Duncan thinks that this leaves the door open to (I kid you not) a Rwandan-style massacre carried out by crazed liberals.

More here: http://blogs.detroitnews.com/politics/2013/04/16/expanded-gun-checks-make-sense/

^^ My latest Detroit News blog post

[Robb]

1. You have my sympathy and respect.

Open-comment news pages make our nation appear insane.

[LuckyTheDog]

2. I post once a week...

... and every week, people call me an idiot, in different, sometimes creative, ways.

[Eleanors38]

3. I support this as well.

There is a sticking point in the current negotiations (last I heard) wherein the BG data for new non-dealer purchases would be held for a longer period of time, as compared with the BG checks as they are done currently through dealer purchases. There was a recent posting in the Gungeon where even the ACLU objected to this provision as it would treat people differently. Others objected because this would be a first step towards registration. We'll see what plays out. If there is no permanent record of registration, and everyone has equal protection of the law, I have no objection to expansion. The only other sticking point is whether family members could pass on firearms to other family members, or loan out the arm to a friend without going through the gyrations of a BG check. I think this can be worked out.

Frankly, I support a simple approach: Strengthen and open up NICS to everyone (now, its only for FFLs), and then activists could push their individual states to enact BG check laws as they see fit. I would support this as well.