Fishing Forum

[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]Sorry for taking a couple days to get back to this thread, but I've been busy getting my new toy ready for the fishing season. [][/#800000][/font]


[size 3]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 2]Advocates of universal background checks are claiming that they could never lead to the imposition of gun registration. Jim Kessler, a longtime gun control activist in Democratic Party circles and his group, Third Way, posted a "fresh thinking" memo online in February that insisted Americans have nothing to fear if Congress imposes a law that criminalizes private gun transfers by requiring FBI background checks on sales, gifts, and trades of firearms between family members, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and other acquaintances.[/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 2][/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 2]According to Kessler, Americans concerned about the right to bear arms have nothing to fear because "the background check system intentionally makes it impossible for the federal government to use records to create a registry of gun owners or the guns they purchase. The system "destroys all records of running the check within 24 hours" and federal law prohibits "any system of registration of firearms, firearms owners, firearms transactions, or dispositions."[/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 2][/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 2]There are a couple of things wrong with that. [mad][/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 2][/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 2]First, Kessler's claim is contradicted by the experts at President Obama's own Justice Department, which reported in a Jan. 4 summary of research on gun policies that the effectiveness of universal background checks "depends on ... requiring gun registration!" Here’s a quote from that report:[/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 2][/size][/#800000][/font]

Quote:[#000000][size 1]Twitter summary: [#ff0000]Effectiveness depends on[/#ff0000] the ability to reduce straw purchasing, [#ff0000]requiring gun registration[/#ff0000] and an easy gun transfer process.[/size][/#000000]
[size 3][#000000][size 1][/size][/#000000][/size]
[#000000][size 1]To understand the value of background checks it is essential to understand the source of crime guns. Several sporadic attempts have been made to learn how criminals acquire guns. For example, a 2000 study by the ATF found the following distribution of sources: Straw purchase - 47%, Stolen - 26% (Store – 14%, Residence – 10%, Common carrier - 2%), Unregulated private seller - 20%, Gun shows/flea markets - 13%, and Retail diversion - 8%. Note: Percentages do not add up to 100% since some sources fall into multiple categories (e.g. unregulated seller at a flea market).[/size][/#000000]

[#000000][size 1]These figures indicate informal transfers dominate the crime gun market. A perfect universal background check system can address the gun shows and might deter many unregulated private sellers. However, this does not address the largest sources (straw purchasers and theft), which would most likely become larger if background checks at gun shows and private sellers were addressed. The secondary market is the primary source of crime guns. Ludwig and Cook (2000) compared states that introduced Brady checks to those states that already had background checks and found no effect of the new background checks. They hypothesized that the background checks simply shifted to the secondary market those offenders who normally purchased in the primary market.[/size][/#000000]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 2]Second, each of these protections for gun owner privacy has been hard- won by gun owner activism, and each has already been attacked by anti-gun activists like Kessler. On February 13, U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., and Jim Moran, D-Va., introduced HR. 661, which (among other attacks on legal protections for gun owners) would repeal the requirement that NICS records be destroyed within 24 hours. If gun controllers got their way, they would undoubtedly repeal all of the provisions Kessler now points to as he tries to reassure gun owners.[/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 2][/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 2]But Kessler isn't worried. As his online biography notes, he "served as Legislative and Policy Director to Representative/Senator Charles Schumer" and "from 2001 to 2004 he served as Director of Policy and Research for Americans for Gun Safety."[/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 2][/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 2]So instead of shaming our Senators for voting down the recent legislation requiring a universal background check we should be praising them for standing up for our Constitutional rights and for understanding that the legislation was bovine excrement of the highest odor.[/size][/#800000][/font]
[/size]
[signature]