Democrats need to think way bigger on guns

[GURPS]

RAND found “limited” to “moderate” evidence that background checks in general reduce violent crime, including homicides, and suicides. But that was for all background check systems, not just the universal ones that these latest studies looked at, and it was before the newer studies were published. In fact, RAND cautioned that the research just on closing the background check loopholes, to make the system more universal, was “inconclusive” when it came to firearm homicides. The newer studies fill in that gap — and they don’t look good for comprehensive background checks.

In short: Establishing a background check system, as the US has already done on a national scale, likely has an effect. But making the system more comprehensive or universal doesn’t seem to have a significant effect on its own, at least at a population level.

That doesn’t mean background checks are useless. Policies that are proven to be far more effective, such as a gun licensing system, are built in part on background checks — to make sure that, say, someone’s criminal record doesn’t prohibit him from getting a license. To that end, comprehensive background checks may be worth enacting even if they don’t do much on their own.

As Cassandra Crifasi, a researcher (and gun owner) at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, put it to me, “There’s some challenges with background check systems as they currently stand, but you can’t have the other laws function without requiring a background check for every sale.”

Democrats need to think way bigger on guns




People that sell Firearms illegal are not going to be stopped by some UBC Law ... NO Mass Shooter has used a Firearm purchased via a Private Party Sale - they acquired them legally on their OWN of they were acquired via straw purchases - RE Columbine and San Beredino

 

[GURPS]

In terms of my own views, I think the biggest thing is that the specter of confiscation reared its ugly head. As NY governor Cuomo put it, "Confiscation could be an option". Also, with the passage of the NY law, citizens were expected to turn in or destroy magazines that were suddenly illegal. With this remark, the genie left the bottle and it is going to be very difficult to get it back in.

The unfortunately truth is that in the absence of Universal Gun Registration that a Universal Background Check is all but meaningless. This can't be overemphasized, so let's repeat it. In order for a UBC to have any meaning, it requires gun registration and this is a problem. It is a problem because, as the gun community correctly argues, registration leads to confiscation.

There is only one reason for the government or law enforcement to know who has what guns. That they can take them when it has been decided that Joe and Jane Citizen are no longer allowed to have a particular gun and to prevent Joe or Jane from refusing to comply with the forced ban.

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One member of that forum, who goes by the name Hot Guns, claims to be a licensed gun dealer with an FFL. Hot Guns recently reported that a while back he was subjected to an audit by the BATFE. Regulations require him to keep copies of the Federal Form 4473 for each firearm purchase; in fact this form is required for each inquiry into the NICS background check system.

Supposedly the NICS records are purged after a period of three months. Even though these records are supposed to be purged, the auditor had copies of the records going back at least one year and demanded to see the corresponding 4473 forms. When Hot Guns questioned how and why they were inquiring for these records as they were supposed to have been purged, he received the response from the auditor, "That is what we are supposed to say." In other words, the records are not purged and the government is using the form 4473 as a backdoor form of registration. Apparently this is proving insufficient and some desire to use the recent tragedy to bring registration to the forefront.


http://jpfo.org/articles-assd03/why-i-oppose-background-checks.htm