Universal background checks for all firearm transfers aren’t the common sense solution that liberals paint it to be for two reasons. One, it requires 100% gun registration to work; two, they get to define what a transfer is.
After the Newtown School shooting incident, President Obama commissioned the National Institute of Justice, an agency of the U.S. Department of Justice, to evaluate and report on the feasibility of the most popular gun control schemes. The summary of this report can be found here: Summary of Strategies .
Under Universal Background Checks, the report clearly states, “Effectiveness depends on the ability to reduce straw purchasing, requiring gun registration…. In order for it to work, every gun in the country would have to be entered into a national gun registration database. This is something Hillary and others like her don’t want you to know; that every firearm you own will be entered into the ATF computer system so transfers can be tracked. And as we all know, the first step in confiscation is registration.
A review of Obama’s Summary of Selected Firearm Violence Prevention Strategies can be found here: You Got to Read This
The second problem with universal background checks for all gun transfers is defining what a transfer is. For instance, you handing me your new gun to look at seems innocent enough, but Senate Bill S.649 introduced by Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) in 2013 would have considered this an illegal transfer. Can you imagine having to fill out an ATF Form and get a background check to hold a friends gun? Or risk going to jail for a felony.
The magnitude of the seemingly small detail is best illustrated by an excerpt from David B. Kopel’s excellent article, ”The Cost and Consequence of Gun Control”.
In proposed legislation, the requirement for government authorization (via a background check and paperwork identical to buying a gun) would apply to far more than gun sales. The proposals apply to all firearms “transfers.” A “transfer” might be showing a new gun to a friend and letting him handle the gun for a few minutes.
For example, Senate bill S.649 (2013), introduced by Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), goes far beyond controlling the actual sale of firearms. Consider a case in which a woman buys a common revolver at age 25, and keeps it her entire life. She never sells the gun. But over her lifetime, she may engage in dozens of firearms transfers:
The woman loans the gun to her sister, who takes it on a camping trip for the weekend.
While the woman is out of town on a business trip for two weeks, she gives the gun to her brother.
If the woman lives on a farm, she allows all of her relatives on the farm to take the gun into the fields for pest and predator control.
If the woman is in the Army Reserve, and she is called up for an overseas deployment, she gives the gun to her brother-in-law for temporary safe-keeping.
When she goes out of town on vacation every year, she also temporarily gives her gun to her brother-in-law.
One time, when a neighbor is being threatened by an abusive ex-boyfriend who is a stalker, the woman lets the neighbor borrow the gun for several days, until the neighbor can buy her own gun.
If the woman becomes a firearms safety instructor, she may teach classes at office parks, school buildings, or gun stores. Following the standard curriculum of gun safety classes, such as those required by the National Rifle Association, the woman will bring some unloaded guns to a classroom, and under her supervision, students will learn the first steps in handling the gun, including how to load and unload the gun (using inert dummy ammunition). During the class, the firearms will be transferred dozens of times, as students practice how to hand a gun to someone safely.
Under S. 649, every one of the above activities would be a felony, punished the same as if the woman had knowingly sold the firearm to a convicted violent felon. Here is the pertinent provision: “It shall be unlawful for any person who is not licensed under this chapter to transfer a firearm to any other person who is not licensed under this chapter.”
While S. 649 has a few exceptions to the ban on transfers, not one of them apply to the situations described above:
One can make a “bona-fide gift” (but not a three-hour loan) to certain close family members, not including aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, in-laws, or civil union partners.
One can let someone else borrow a gun for up to seven days, but only within the curtilage of one’s house. Not on the open space one owns, and even a spouse cannot borrow a gun for eight days.
One can leave a firearm to another in a written will. But on one’s deathbed, it would be unlawful to leave a gun to one’s best friend.
One can share a gun at a shooting range (but only if the shooting range is owned by a corporation, not on public lands, and not at a shooting range on one’s own property).
One can share a gun at a shooting match, but only if the match is operated by a non-profit corporation or the government — not a match organized by the National Rifle Association, and not a match organized by a firearms manufacturer.
One can share a gun while out hunting in the field, but back at the hunting camp, it would be illegal to clean someone else’s gun.30
End of Kopel’s article.
The complete article which also discusses the stupidity of controls on high capacity magazines and assault weapons can be found here: The Costs and Consequences of Gun Control
The liberal definition of transfer is beyond ridiculous. It isn’t designed to decrease crime, it is designed to make owning firearms too difficult. Don’t think it can’t happen. Several States have already passed State Universal Background Check laws. In these States, if you ask your neighbor to hold your gun while you’re deployed, you’ve committed a felony.
Universal background checks are being sold as “common sense” but are actually a Trojan horse for 100% gun registration and a maze of transfer laws that will only apply to law abiding citizens, because as we all know, criminals don’t obey laws. Don’t fall for the hype. Don’t try to be the bigger man and meet liberals half way by supporting universal background checks. You may find yourself in jail for showing a neighbor your new gun.