Stephanie
Diamond Member
- Jul 11, 2004
- 70,230
- 10,864
SNIP:
By Chris W. Cox - 03/18/13 06:59 PM ET
Will trampling the rights of law-abiding gun owners really do anything to help keep our children safe? Will piling unnecessary weight on a federal regulatory system thats already drowning help keep guns out of the wrong hands? The answers, of course, are no which is why a so-called universal background check system should be dismissed by any lawmaker who is serious about protecting constitutional freedom and improving public safety.
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.
Such a sweeping and intrusive new mandate would crush the current National Criminal Instant Background Check System (NICS), which is already overwhelmed.
Under current law, anyone who purchases a firearm through a retail channel whether its online, in a gun shop or at gun show must first clear a check through the NICS. Federal law at this time prohibits more than 10 categories of individuals from purchasing firearms, including felons, the mentally ill, drug users and others.
But it cant be effective unless the NICS database contains good and complete data which it currently does not.
According to FBI data, as of 2011, 23 states and the District of Columbia submitted fewer than 100 mental health records to NICS. Seventeen states submitted less than 10 records, and four states submitted no mental health records at all, not to mention the fact that states arent submitting all the felony records theyre supposed to send to NICS.
In addition to its data problem, NICS is currently bogged down by hundreds of thousands of records that it shouldnt 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.
Lack of enforcement is also crippling the current system. Although its a federal crime to submit false information on a federal firearms purchase form, only 62 out of 72,659 such cases were prosecuted in 2010 and only 13 of those resulted in convictions. This means that prohibited persons who are caught by NICS are being turned loose to obtain firearms elsewhere, rather than being prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
According to Vice President Biden, the reason for this near total lack of enforcement is that we simply dont have the time or the manpower to prosecute everybody who lies on a form, that checks a wrong box, that answers a question inaccurately.
How then does it make any sense to add countless law-abiding Americans to an already overwhelmed and crippled system? Shouldnt the immediate focus be on getting a meaningful increase in the enforcement rate? Shouldnt Congress and the White House be working to get mentally ill people and felons into the database so we can actually have a chance at preventing them from purchasing firearms?
These objectives would be the focus if the goal was public safety. But it isnt.
What were seeing with this current debate is symptomatic of a problem that has plagued Washington for a long time. Tragedy strikes, and very well-meaning sentiment builds around a worthy cause. Unfortunately, it isnt very long before the cause gets co-opted by politicians who care less about the cause itself and more about how the cause can help them advance a personal political agenda.
All of it here
Read more: A universally bad idea - The Hill
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook
By Chris W. Cox - 03/18/13 06:59 PM ET
Will trampling the rights of law-abiding gun owners really do anything to help keep our children safe? Will piling unnecessary weight on a federal regulatory system thats already drowning help keep guns out of the wrong hands? The answers, of course, are no which is why a so-called universal background check system should be dismissed by any lawmaker who is serious about protecting constitutional freedom and improving public safety.
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.
Such a sweeping and intrusive new mandate would crush the current National Criminal Instant Background Check System (NICS), which is already overwhelmed.
Under current law, anyone who purchases a firearm through a retail channel whether its online, in a gun shop or at gun show must first clear a check through the NICS. Federal law at this time prohibits more than 10 categories of individuals from purchasing firearms, including felons, the mentally ill, drug users and others.
But it cant be effective unless the NICS database contains good and complete data which it currently does not.
According to FBI data, as of 2011, 23 states and the District of Columbia submitted fewer than 100 mental health records to NICS. Seventeen states submitted less than 10 records, and four states submitted no mental health records at all, not to mention the fact that states arent submitting all the felony records theyre supposed to send to NICS.
In addition to its data problem, NICS is currently bogged down by hundreds of thousands of records that it shouldnt 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.
Lack of enforcement is also crippling the current system. Although its a federal crime to submit false information on a federal firearms purchase form, only 62 out of 72,659 such cases were prosecuted in 2010 and only 13 of those resulted in convictions. This means that prohibited persons who are caught by NICS are being turned loose to obtain firearms elsewhere, rather than being prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
According to Vice President Biden, the reason for this near total lack of enforcement is that we simply dont have the time or the manpower to prosecute everybody who lies on a form, that checks a wrong box, that answers a question inaccurately.
How then does it make any sense to add countless law-abiding Americans to an already overwhelmed and crippled system? Shouldnt the immediate focus be on getting a meaningful increase in the enforcement rate? Shouldnt Congress and the White House be working to get mentally ill people and felons into the database so we can actually have a chance at preventing them from purchasing firearms?
These objectives would be the focus if the goal was public safety. But it isnt.
What were seeing with this current debate is symptomatic of a problem that has plagued Washington for a long time. Tragedy strikes, and very well-meaning sentiment builds around a worthy cause. Unfortunately, it isnt very long before the cause gets co-opted by politicians who care less about the cause itself and more about how the cause can help them advance a personal political agenda.
All of it here
Read more: A universally bad idea - The Hill
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook
