Recently the media has been targeting the "gunshow loophole" or private sales of firearms quite insistantly. I believe most people will agree that some very irresponsible people own guns, drive cars, have kids, etc...

Instead of boycotting and opposing various firearm laws, is it possible to author good legislation that addresses some of the valid concerns bad legislation plays off of?

For example, couldn't the NICS background check be opened up to private citizens? Instead of providing a serial number and gun type, you would just tell them it was a private sale and get a confirmation number. That way you're not creating a database of gun owners, but can still mandate background check on transfers.

It would be nice if we could avoid laws that infringe on liberty and freedom, but prevent ignorant/irresponsible folks from doing bad things.

But that would be common sense and shizzle. Pretty soon you'd be suggesting that AIM or Centerfire be allowed to ship me a new toy provided I passed a NICS check.

It'll be more profitable with the FFL's if we have to hire them to do a check. This might be fairly easy to pass......

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My intention wasn't exactly to destroy the FFL system, but then again maybe it's not needed? On the other hand if it is, maybe a limit on private transfers per year could be instated to differentiate between FFL dealers and private sales.




I would be okay with that if the FFL's didn't record serial numbers types.

Destroying the FFL system is a perfectly reasonable and honorable goal.

I don't really think that the FFL system does anything to protect the small dealer/ owner opperated gunstore. I made the AIM/ Centerfire comment largely tongue in cheek. Those transfer fees most shops charge are not enough to keep the lights on. I believe the system is really set up for a registery. Yeah. . . . the government destroys those records in a timely manner Private sales are the last bastion of non-registered gun sale. THAT is why they are trying so hard to close the "loophole" . . . the idea that somewhere out there, there is a gun Pelosi/Fienstien/Holder can't grab because they don't know who owns it anymore, must drive them nuts. It has got to keep them awake at night. .. and that is EXACTLY what the 2A is about.

I agree 100% that closing the "loophole" is a way that maintains privacy would be an admirable goal. Nobody wants guns falling into the wrong hands, but nobody wants Pelosi/Fienstien/Holder to get a good night's sleep either.

We should all be FFLs. Many of us were, pre-Clinton, and it's only due to continued administrative fiat that we are not. There has been a consistent policy of reducing the number of FFLs over the years, and it has been largely successful.

AIM, etc. CAN ship some guns to your house directly, if you are a CRFFL.

I remember at age 10 affixing stamps to a post card and getting a gun in mail about 3 weeks later. I see nothing wrong with that now.

Being a toddler in '68, I can only imagine that it was the deaths of Kennedy, King, & Kennedy that nudged passage of laws prohibiting that.

Anyone?

Yup. It was; particularly, for whatever reason, RFK, as I remember it.

I lived through those times in the 1960's. I was a member of the NRA back then. My memory is that there was no alarm put out that caused the general populace to rise up and resist the incursion into the rights affirmed by the Second Amendment. Everyone knew that there were restrictive laws in New York, but the prevailing attitude was that New York was populated with beatnik weirdo's and wealthy advertising executives who didn't actually live in the city anyhow.

However, once that camel got his nose in under the tent all hell broke loose. For me, that is precisely why we must all be so vigilant today to not only resist the additional restrictions coming down the road, but to push back restrictions already in place.

It is this overwhelming desire to punish, to punish anyone or anything, in the wake of incidents that has gotten us to this point. Oswald was a wack-job, but the fact that he obtained his rifle through the mail was incidental to the entire event that lead up to his assassinating Kennedy. Nevertheless, we are now prevented from purchasing inexpensive deer rifles through the mail, as if that will prevent a murder from happening somewhere.

No one seems to want to take on the issues of "entitlement", rampant illegitimacy, the lack of parenting in some social circles, and the various corrupt "gangsta-rap" cultures that bring about the bulk of inner-city violence and murders.

You had me (mostly) until this. Poor parenting? you betcha. Lack of personal responsibility and entitlement issues? Yes, yes yes. 'gangsta rap'? not so much. Inner-city 'gangsta' culture is an effect, not a cause. It is the result of poor parenting and lack of personal responsibility. Blaming music, tv, video games, etc is just as bad as blaming the gun for violence, in my opinion

T
(former NYC beatnik weirdo, current MN beatnik weirdo)

You mean something like Minnesota's Permits to Purchase?

You want to buy a gun? Go to your local PD, have a background check run, get a card that demonstrates that you passed the background check, and when someone asks if you've passed the check, show them the card.

There's absolutely no reason why the government needs to run a separate background check on every purchase, and no reason why it need to knows what gun, or whether there is a gun.

Seems like a perfectly reasonable compromise. Except that we made the compromise, and they kept pushing for more.

I'm done with one-way compromises. It's time for a couple of compromises in the other direction.

Amen to that.

Solid post. Well said. I am inclined to agree with you even though I get really, really frustrated with the jackass across the street that blasts his bass so loud my baby can't nap up here on the third floor with the windows closed. I understand the inclination to blame the annoying and intrusive parts of the problem, but I think trob09 has the cause and effect thing right.