Have those in favor of "universal background checks" thought about how that has to work to be effectively implemented?
If Joe and I trade guns, how will anyone ever know that neither of us ran a background check, or had it run on the other?
Joe and I could use a local FFL dealer as a go-between. That is, Joe and I would go down to the pawn shop. I would "sell" my gun to broker; Joe would "sell" his. I would then turn around and buy Joe's gun after an NIC; Joe would buy the one I sold. Most likely this would cost us for the dealer's time and trouble, and it is an inconvenience.
How many of us are going to do that? If the serial number of a firearm is not tied directly to an individual, what is to keep us from swapping straight up? The law would have to include some provision for penalizing people who did that.
Let's say this Joe is Joe Sixpack who has one too many and gets stopped for a DUI. He happens to have that nickel-plated six-shooter that I swapped him in the car. The cops run a check on the serial number. It's never been used in a crime. No big deal, right?
Is that going to make the gun-grabbing, the anti-liberty, statist crowd happy? No, they need that serial number to be in a database associated with MY name. Then when the cops run the number, my name pops up, and, lo, and behold, there is no record of my having run a check and transferred that hogleg to Joe. Now it's more than a DUI on Joe -- who will likely sell me down the river as the guy that suggested we skip the background check. Add one to felon column.
Even worse would be a case were an unchecked gun was used in self-defense. The action itself could be completely justifiable, but it would have involved an "illegal transfer", thus the woman who saved herself from rape ends up being sent to prison for five years.
Think of the children that were saved.
This is monumentally stupid. It's even hard to call these "unintended consequences". I think this is precisely why the tyrants want crap like this. We cannot afford to give these thugs a single inch.
How do you reply to someone who says we do the same type of ownership transactions for automobiles? Any ownership transactions involving autos are registered with the state and the state knows who owns what. They can argue you are not being deprived of your gun, we just want to try to prevent crime you know. It could all be done at the DMV or DMV&G. (I'm thinking, maybe, the state never had any right to know all that information about your car?)
ReplyDeleteMy first inclination is to agree that the DMV is a bad thing. But there are a couple of points, one being that transportation isn't constitutionally sanctioned activity. I think it is covered in the right to free association. I don't think that is a particularly compelling argument -- not to me. I think we all realize that the ability to move around freely is a basic human right.
ReplyDeleteA more critical consideration might be that motor vehicles generally operate on publicly shared and maintained roadways. If you only use a vehicle on the farm, registration is not necessarily required -- though, of course, they still want their property tax cut around here.
Registration can be seen as a function of the need to build and maintain the surfaces on which the vehicles are commonly driven. Public safety was added on. The primary reason for "registration" is to make sure jurisdictions get their sales/property tax and annual licensing fees.
Another point is that there is no restriction on who might be able to buy a car. You can be a felon or crazier than a loon, if you have the money or the credit, nobody is going to run a background check to see if you should be "allowed" to have a Land Rover or an assault Mustang.
Operating in a public space is controlled to some extent, but that is roughly equivalent to your concealed carry permit. No one should have to be "licensed" to keep a 12-gauge in the closet.
I guess the other thing is that I don't have to register my knife, my ball peen hammer, or my axe. No one is asking for crossbow registration.
ReplyDeleteIs there mandatory television or computer registration to prevent theft? Lots of computer crime.
A car can be see on the highway and in public places and the license plate can assist in locating and arresting criminals. A car is like a mobile address. There is no parallel with weapons.
The crime stuff on television where the weapon is found and traced back to a criminal is generally bogus. Very, very few crimes are solved that way or need to be solved that way. Killings are rarely all that mysterious.