Local newspaper: PC or not?

[ks_shooter]

My local newspaper (Kansas City Star) has stopped accepting classified advetising for handgun sales unless you are a licensed dealer. At first I thought this was just due to political correctness since a local TV station recently did an expose' on how easy it was to buy a firearm without having to go through a background check (private sales).

I am a very big supporter of the 2nd Amendment (active member of the Evil Black Rifle association ). But the issue of private sales has always bothered me. I certainly don't want to sell a firearm to someone who has violent criminal record. Some people are dirt bags and you can tell it just by looking at them. Others are very good at fooling people. For this very reason I usually sell guns on consignment at a local gun shop. I don't favor the government banning private sales (would really raise prices for used guns), but I wish they would give private individuals access to the NICs system so that we could run our own checks on potential buyers.

Am I going soft?

 

[MuzzleBlast]

Do you assume everyone is a criminal until proven otherwise? That is what you are saying: "You want to buy a gun? Okay, PROVE that you are not a criminal."
Maybe I'm off base here, but it seems to me that the proportion of US citizens who really cannot be trusted to buy guns is very, very, VERY small. Those types can always find a criminal gunrunner to get armed, anyway.

 

[Derek Zeanah]

Am I going soft?

Probably.

Around here you can require buyers to have a carry permit (don't know if you have 'em in your state), but for the most part I don't worry about it. Do you worry about selling your car to someone who might use it to abduct children in parking lots -- a lot of them look a lot like normal people.

People are responsible for their own actions. I wouldn't knowingly sell to someone I knew was a prohibited person, but at the same time I believe everyone has a right to defend themselves, even those who have "paid their debt to society."

Also, don't know for sure but was under the impression that those evil nasty sort usually hung out with other evil nasty sorts, and they had their own "connections" for firearms, drugs, whatever. No need to purchase 'em legally when you can buy illegally (guy who lived across from me growing up bought a Colt 1911 with a scratched off serial number for $50; a guy I was in the 'guard with offered me a non-papered select-fire Uzi in new condition for $500) through someone you trust, especially when "illegal" translates as "cheaper than retail, and not traceable."

 

[tiberius]

Its back door "gun control". These leftist news outlets want all sales to go through FFLs because it leaves a paper trail. Elimination of private transfers is an important step towards effective gun registration.

Oh yeah - the purpose of registration is to pave the road for confiscation, so that is their real purpose, but you already know that.

 

[Mark Tyson]

I think you could probably set up a background check system that didn't maintain records of purchases. You'd have to make sure the feds didn't record whose information was being requested of course.

Hmmm, then again maybe it would be impossible...

But in any case it wouldn't prevent anyone from getting a gun. GCA 68 didn't, and nothing short of a near total ban would(and then only after many years).