What’s not to like about background checks for gun sales? They’re sensible, logical and the right thing to do. Public-opinion polls consistently show that a large majority of Americans—even NRA members—favor background checks. It’s mostly lobbyists for gun manufacturers and ammo makers—plus their bought-and-paid-for Congressional lackeys—who oppose them.

The arguments against background checks just don’t make sense—unless your real goal is simply to sell more guns and ammo in an unregulated market.

For the rest of us, there are many points in favor of background checks—not the least of which is that background checks actually protect lawful gun owners. Here’s a look, courtesy of Message Matters, at the arguments typically leveled against background checks, and some responses that counter them:

“Universal background checks will lead to a national gun registry.”

Federal law prohibits the creation of a national gun registry. No one is proposing to change that.

The only official record of each gun sale is a basic sales receipt, or what’s called a Form 4473, that stays with the seller. Gun dealers have already been keeping these receipts for 40 years.

Law enforcement officials would get to access the records only in very limited situations, such as for criminal investigations. The completed background checks of law-abiding buyers are also destroyed by the FBI within 24 hours. That’s hardly the basis for a national registry.

So NRA lobbyists and their fringe extremist allies who lie about it anyway are just trying to fundraise off concerned gun owners and boost gun sales for the gun manufacturers.
“Universal background checks would violate our privacy rights.“

The millions of law-abiding gun buyers who undergo the instant background checks every year aren’t complaining about privacy issues. Millions more who fly on a plane give their names, show ID, and go through security. Why should it be different for gun sales?

The background check system exists to protect law-abiding gun owners from getting blamed for crimes committed with guns no longer in their possession. That’s possible only because each gun sale generates a sales receipt — which the gun dealer keeps, not the federal government.

Licensed gun dealers have already been conducting background checks and keeping sales receipts for decades. Closing the private sale loophole just brings everyone else into the same instant check system, which already has privacy protections and bans creating a national registry.
“Background checks don’t work.”

Criminal background checks are a fast, effective, and proven way to save lives and prevent gun sales to people who shouldn’t have them, including criminals.

States with strong gun violence prevention laws, including universal background checks, have lower gun death rates — including murders associated with domestic violence and suicide. Background check laws also lower the gun trafficking rate by half.

Background checks are quick — taking only about 90 seconds — but powerful. They’ve stopped more than 2 million gun sales to dangerous people like convicted felons.

It would work even better if we close the private sale loophole that lets about 40% of gun transfers happen without any checks because the seller isn’t a licensed gun dealer. A gun is a gun no matter who’s selling it.

“Checks should not be strengthened because criminals will never submit to them.“

That’s like saying we should get rid of laws against drunk driving because people will never stop drinking and driving.

Even if one more dangerous person is stopped from getting a gun, it will matter to the family and to the community that would’ve been torn apart by the gun violence.

Criminals will try to avoid background checks, but that’s why we need a law to make it harder for them to evade the system. Even if they fail a check, they can currently find a private seller online, at a gun show, or in a newspaper classified and buy a gun with no questions asked.
“These background check proposals ban private citizens from selling their guns or even giving them to family members.”

Just like now, gun owners will be able to give their guns to family members. The legislative proposals on the table have exemptions to allow just that.

If gun owners want to temporarily lend out their guns for hunting or target shooting — or in cases of imminent danger — the proposals on the table have exemptions to allow that, too.

Just like now, private citizens will still be able to sell their guns — just not to criminals and other dangerous people who fail their background check. These people should not be allowed to get guns, period.

Any questions?

The post Shooting down the arguments against background checks for gun sales appeared first on Occasional Planet.

On Saturday, January 26, when page three of my morning newspaper featured a story about four local homicides, and when people in cities across the country were marching under the banner of “One Million Moms for Gun Control,” I went to a gun show.

Actually, it was advertised as a “Gun and Knife Show,” but the knives seemed to be an afterthought. Potential customers were urged to “buy now before the law changes.”  The place was packed.

Disclaimer: I hate guns. I have never owned or shot a gun. No one in my family has guns and, as far as I know, no one has any intention of buying one.

So why did I go to a gun show?

I told myself, in my self-righteous way, that I wanted to try to understand the gun culture. While I have often referred to people as “right-wing gun nuts,” I thought I might gain some insight into the way they think and behave. But to be brutally honest about it,  I thought I would hate the show and dislike the people. Then, I thought, I might write some high-minded piece filled with snarky comments that would convince people that gun violence has gotten out of hand here.

The snark got off to a good start. My husband remarked that I had the only Prius on the parking lot. I retorted that it was fitting that the gun show was held in a hall next door to a Target store.

Then I paid my $8, walked into a hall where the testosterone was so thick it could have been bottled, found an older gentleman with a collection of arms that I could confront, and….I fell in love with a gun.

You cannot know how it astonishes me to write those last seven words.

Wayne (we were quickly on a first-name basis) could easily tell that I didn’t have a clue about what I was looking at. Because I’m an older woman, and petite, he figured out that I probably didn’t want an AK-47. He directed me to case where pistols were displayed, commenting that I was probably looking for something “for personal protection.”

Then he placed in my hand a Walther 40-calibre handgun that cost $675.

It was the most seductive thing I’ve ever held.

Just the right size. Just the right weight. I felt powerful, calm, and in total control.

Wayne urged me to take a picture of the gun with my cell phone, which I did.

When the camera clicked, my brain woke up. “This,” I thought, “is a gateway gun. This is how people become ‘gun enthusiasts.’ If holding one gun in a gun show can make me feel so good, just imagine how a collection of weapons could make me feel.”

Wayne would have sold me that Walther in a heartbeat, with no background check required because the gun is a part of his private stash. My astonished spouse grabbed my arm and dragged me away to view some assault rifles, which, fortunately, I did not lust after.

There were other things about the gun show that surprised/annoyed/disgusted me: a table full of books, with titles such as “The Shooter’s Bible,”; specially-crafted fabric cases designed to carry assault rifles, with as many as a dozen pouches where ammunition can be carried, proudly proclaiming “Made In The U.S.A”; a brand of handgun for women that comes in a variety of colors, including lavender, raspberry and teal, and a small single-shot bolt-action rifle encased in pink plastic with “My First Rifle” stamped on it.

I was surprised that the gun sellers were so easy to talk to and so eager to answer my questions. I was amazed that so many of the young men who were obviously shopping wanted to get into the conversation. I was disturbed because so many people seemed convinced that the government is determined to take away their guns. And I was absolutely dumbfounded when, in a place where I was convinced that I would not know a soul, a loud voice called out, “Hey! Aren’t you Barbara?” It belonged to a man I had not seen in more than 30 years; we used to work together at a local hospital.

After this afternoon’s experience, what can I say about guns? I still hate them, despite my desire for the Walther, because I think their only purpose is to kill or injure others. I still think that the world would be a better, safer place if assault rifles and large-capacity magazine clips were banned. I still think that background checks for every gun purchaser should be required. I think gun buy-back programs are a good idea; I think conceal-carry legislation is a terrible idea. I think that organizations like the NRA have fomented fear among gun-owners and have created a climate to fuel paranoia. And if I ever have to choose between One Million Moms For Gun Control and a seductive little pistol that feels so good in my hand…..I’ll stick with the moms.

But today, I do understand a little better, and I wonder if there might be common ground for common sense gun control.

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