Reply #31: Allow me to outline my idea [View All]

[slackmaster]

I'll keep this deliberately brief.

1. Make the NICS checks available to private individuals.

2. A person who wants to sell a gun _may_ use NICS to check the background of a prospective buyer.

- Seller pays a small fee.

- Buyer provides same data required by dealers.

- Buyer gets a snail-mail notification that he or she has been checked and who performed the check. This will discourage use of the system for other than intended purposes.

- Performing a check under false pretenses would be a misdemeanor.

3. If the buyer comes up clean, seller gets a confirmation number (similar to what dealers get) and definitive defense against prosecution in the event the buyer turns out to be a prohibited person who slipped through the cracks.

4. If seller elects _not_ to perform check on a buyer, seller can be charged with providing a gun to a prohibited person (e.g. felon) if the buyer is a prohibited person and the transaction comes to the attention of authorities.

This system would address several problems apparent in other proposals to "close the gun-show loophole":

- Addresses all private sales, not just ones conducted at gun shows.

- Allows sellers to transfer guns to well-known friends, relatives, etc. without going through the hassle and expense of a background check,

- Protects everyone's privacy and confidentiality,

- Does not create a gun registry (which kills the idea in the minds of the most zealous gun-grabbers),

- Does not put the federal government in the position of regulating private, intrastate transfers of ordinary personal property (for which it would have arguably no Constitutional authority),

- Does not require involvement of an FFL holder. Dealers typically charge a fee for private-party transfers or consignment sales,

- Would not interfere with existing state systems that do not use NICS, e.g. California where all transactions go through FFL holders.

I've gotten all kinds of different responses to this idea including "WHO GIVES A FLYING FUCK?", "Yeah, surrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre", and "As a seller I prefer to keep buyers fully at arm's length; I will not be accountable for their criminal activity", etc.