What's wrong on background check's for firearms?

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JochenWeber

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I live in California and as you all know it is probably one of the states with toughest gun laws in the union. When I bought my handgun a few years ago of course they did a background check. I thought it is not a big deal. When I apply for a credit card or when I apply for a job they all do a background checks.

You can call me naive or stupid but what's wrong with background checks on firearms?
 
What's wrong with them is that they don't do anything to stop criminals from getting guns.

Johnny gangbanger isn't going to walk into a gun shop and fill out a 4473, then wait a week to pick up his gun. He's going to buy a stolen one on the street, or make his girlfriend (or mom, or friend, or whoever) who has a clean record go in and fill out the forms and buy it from him.

Anyone who thinks background checks stop criminals from getting guns is an idiot. All they do is provide one more hurdle that lawful gun owners must jump over in order to excercise a god-given and constitutionally-protected right.
 
[strike]You are asking us for our opinions.[/strike] You're asking for logical clarification to a belief based on feelings.

It is an infringement.
We shouldn't have to 'apply' for our constitutional rights.
NICS checks prevent a great many people from exercising their right to own and carry, which was acknowledged in the Bill of Rights.


edit: Strike-throughs & Rewording that long sentence. I doubt I improved it much.:eek:
 
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The instant background checks are tolerable, but even they have problems. Any type of waiting period to allow for a background check is just plain wrong. Here in GA. and in many states if you have a CCW permit you skip the background check because you have already been through one and have a permit to prove it.
 
Credit cards and jobs aren't constitutionally protected rights.

Would you be just fine with background checks before attending church or writing a letter to the editor or attending a protest or refusing to allow police to search you?
 
Maybe It's Because....

Some of us are old enough to remember when you could pick up the Sears catalog, select the gun you wanted, fill out an order blank and a check for the price of the gun and shipping, mail it in and get your new gun in the mail within a week or so. And we're just as law abiding now as we were way back then. We just have a lot more hoops to jump through to buy guns.

Or maybe it's that slippery slope deal, that for every concession we make toward the government and special interests to regulate gun ownership erodes our rights just a little more with every "bite" they put into gun ownership.

But since you have no problem with background checks on guns, you're gonna love HR-45's provisions, oh, that's right, you already have to make any gun transfer through a FFL don't you? If I choose to give or sell a family member a gun I own, I see no reason to be forced to spend more money to transfer the gun to them, I know whether they're legally able to own a gun without any background checks.
 
We've had a lot of discussion on this in the past. A search here might be a good idea.

The short version is this; by the Department of Justice's own figures, the majority of the folks in jail for using a gun in a violent crime obtained that gun legally (i.e. would not have been denied in a NICS check). Moreover, by their own figures, eight percent of all NICS rejections were later adjudicated to gave been in error).

The Brady check denies folks their lawful right to effective self defense and has little actual benefit when studied objectively.

Doing something 'common sense' because it feels good does NOT mean that it's actually the smart or correct thing to do.
 
If I may be contrary. Without the background check, convicted felons could walk in to any gun shop and buy whatever they want. I agree that criminals will get their guns despite this, but I would anticipate much more litigation against gun shops that unknowingly sold a weapon to a convicted felon, that was in turn used to kill, rob, rape, etc. If it is illegal for a convicted felon to lawfully purchase or possess a weapon, there has to be an attempt to prevent this from happening. For those of you against the background check, what alternative would you suggest to try to enforce the law that prevents criminals from lawfully purchasing a gun?
 
Criminals should be confined to a penitentiary or otherwise removed from society.

The rights of free men should be acknowledged, protected, and encouraged by their government.


edit in blue
 
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+1 coromo.

The war on drugs is a failure. Let those idiots out of the pen, legalize the drugs, tax the drugs, use the money and open space in the nations prisons to put the dangerous ones away forever. There wouldn't be a need for background checks, not that theres a need now. Make the background checks optional/free.

Seems simple enough, right?

Background checks won't stop someone from getting a gun. It won't stop someone from committing a crime.
 
Criminals should be confined to a penitentiary.

The rights of free men should be acknowledged by their government.
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+1 coromo.

The war on drugs is a failure. Let those idiots out of the pen, legalize the drugs, tax the drugs, use the money and open space in the nations prisons to put the dangerous ones away forever.

Seems simple enough, right?
Click to expand...

Off topic.
 
Rogerjames;

Why should I be punished for something that somebody else might do? The price I pay for a gun is most assuredly up (punishment) because of paperwork mandated by the government. The fact that a citizen has to wait to possess, dependant on state law, what he just paid for is punishment. What if that citizen is in dire need of the firearm for self defense? And why, oh why, should the citizen have to wait if said person already owns multiple firearms?

The law in reality does nothing positive, furthers beaurocracy, engenders artificially high costs, and siphons money from the marketplace into government.

Punishing "this" guy for what "that" guy might do used to be considered morally wrong. Welcome to Amerika.

900F
 
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I served six years in the army including a combat tour in desert storm i could use a weapon then to defend myself and country why should i have to have a background check so i can carry a weapon to defend me and my family now. i did my background check on forign soil in the sand!!!!!!!!!
 
Do they do a background check when you buy a motor vehicle in California ??? I would think far more people are injured or kill every year with motor vehicles in the US.
 
Rogerjames;

Why should I be punished for something that somebody else might do? The price I pay for a gun is most assuredly up (punishment) because of paperword mandated by the government. The fact that a citizen has to wait to possess, dependant on state law, what he just paid for is punishment. What if that citizen is in dire need of the firearm for self defense? And why, oh why, should the citizen have to wait if said person already owns multiple firearms?

The law in reality does nothing positive, furthers beaurocracy, engenders artificially high costs, and siphons money from the marketplace into government.

Punishing "this" guy for what "that" guy might do used to be considered morally wrong. Welcome to Amerika.

900F
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If you push for this ABSOLUTE freedom, then you also inadvertently provide this freedom to those that do not deserve it. I am willing to justify my freedoms if this helps prevent the freedoms of those that don't deserve it.

In order to be a nurse, doctor, therapist etc, any type of healthcare worker, you have to pass a federal background check. Is this an invasion of freedoms? Do you want a convicted rapist taking care of your sick family member? NO! Does this stop them? No. Does it help? Yes.
 
There's alittle something else that happens when you buy a handgun in CA.

Your handgun gets regestered.
 
As others have said, do you think a background check should be required before you're allowed to join a church? Here's another problem with a background check: if you happen to have a name and date of birth that's close to someone's who would be denied, you're asked to give your SSN to ensure that you won't be misidentified. Not saying anything bad about gunstore clerks, but do you feel comfortable giving such a vital piece of information about yourself to a stranger? Don't even get me started on the "convenient" computer forms that the BATFE has started letting gun stores use. Any computer connected to the internet is insecure until proven otherwise to my liking. Given the amount of malware out there, you have no idea who has access to your information. Another problem: thumb drives.

Risk of compromise of your info and identity theft is like rolling the dice and all that can happen is that eventually you will lose. I prefer to roll the dice as few times as possible.
 
Risk of compromise of your info and identity theft is like rolling the dice and all that can happen is that eventually you will lose. I prefer to roll the dice as few times as possible.
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I pay $120/yr for credit monitoring. I get instant e-mails and text message to my phone for any changes in account balances, new purchases, credit inquiries etc. Lifelock.com is another good choice.
 
I live in California and as you all know it is probably one of the states with toughest gun laws in the union. When I bought my handgun a few years ago of course they did a background check. I thought it is not a big deal. When I apply for a credit card or when I apply for a job they all do a background checks.

You can call me naive or stupid but what's wrong with background checks on firearms?
Click to expand...

#1 it is a waste of time and your tax dollars. Criminals buy guns illegally by either stealing them, buying stolen guns, or by having someone with a clean record buy for them. You might as well just burn a $20 for all the good a background check will do.

#2 if a criminal IS caught thanks to a background check that cannot be used against him in a court of law because it is the government forcing him to incriminate himself.

#3 you don't have to go through a background check to vote, march in a parade, etc etc. There is no 'Bill of Rights' listing 'right to a job' or 'right to a credit card' Comparing a non-right to a restricted right is not relevant.

#4 if you attempt to get a job but fail to to background check, or attempt to get a credit card but fail due to background check, or if you fill out those forms incorrectly, there is no criminal penalty...you just don't get the job or credit card. not so with gun paperwork

#5 credit card companies and employeers will not go to jail for skipping the background check. Gun dealers will. If a credit card company or employer wants to run a check, that is their free will. It is an entirely different ball of wax when the government mandates something. In the same way, an employer firing you for using the N word at work is much different that the government imprisoning you for using the N word.
 
I pay $120/yr for credit monitoring. I get instant e-mails and text message to my phone for any changes in account balances, new purchases, credit inquiries etc. Lifelock.com is another good choice.
Click to expand...

So do I, as well as taking other precautions, but still there are cases where even credit monitoring hasn't stopped identity thieves. There are new scams being worked out every day.
 
background checks are good, I don't want any fool off the street being able to buy a gun without a background check. To assume all criminals (would-be and career) get their guns illegally is a false assumption, a total farce.
 
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