I noticed in a news blurb today that various anti gun activist groups are again pushing for waiting periods, and, if the news is to be believed, the idea is gaining traction with some members of Congress.
I feel pretty sure this is because of the passage of time, and a new generation of people who either don't know history, or are deliberately willing to break past agreements to implement outdated ideas that failed or were discarded, confident that this time they can "do it right".
Back before the "instant check law" some states had waiting periods (usually only on handguns) and most did not. The original background check law proposals included a mandatory national waiting period.
A lot of people opposed this. Enough so it made passing the law problematic. In a rare move, the anti's offered a concession. They agreed to drop the waiting period requirement, if we would support the "instant check" when it became technically possible.
And so, a deal was made. Though part of the deal meant including long guns in the instant check system as well as handguns, we avoided a national waiting period. At the time it seemed reasonable, as our primary objection was not against the background check itself, but against the burdensome waiting period requirement.
Now we have a new generation (and some of the old one still left) who seem either ignorant of, or willing to break the deal that allowed passage of the Brady bill (instant check) in 1993. No, it wasn't something put on paper as a binding contract, but it was a "gentleman's agreement" both sides agreed to and until now adhered to. We let you implement the background check on all firearms, you don't force a waiting period on us. That was the deal, and now, they are pushing for waiting periods, which to my mind, is going back on their word and breaking the deal.
Once again, they are trotting out the old argument that a waiting period is a "cooling off" period, so that someone can't just buy a gun and then go out and commit murder (or any other crime) with it. They assume that a waiting period of 3 days, or 10, or whatever number they decide on will force the potential murderer to wait and reflect on their decision and possibly they will reconsider and not do violence against others.
This assumption might actually work with some small numbers, but we'll never know, there's no way to know, people who were thinking of murder and reconsider don't let the world know that. There's no statistics that can be made into a database and used for talking points, there's no evidence available at all. All there is, is the assumption and supposition that crimes that didn't happen are the result of the waiting period. It's BS.
Another point to consider, about the waiting period, and for that matter background checks in general, while there is a slim possibility of them actually having an effect on someone buying their first gun, they cannot have any effect preventing violence done by someone who already has a gun(s).
In effect they impose burdens and restrictions on all gun buyers, every time, but can only have the claimed preventative ability on first time gun buyers.
Why should anyone have to wait and/or be checked on the 2nd (or 22nd) gun purchase?? If they are going to do murder, they already have a gun to use, what can any waiting period or background check do to prevent that?
Nothing
Nada
Nichts
Zip
Its a boondoggle, its BS, its a red herring, its a feel good about doing something "solution" that cannot and will not work as claimed and its only possible use is that when it fails, when someone "slips through the cracks" and does murder the anti's will use it as their example of not going far enough.
If the point is, as they claim, to keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people, then since I already have a gun, have broken no laws, am I not then automatically the "right people"? why should I have to wait and be checked to prove it, every single time I buy another gun???
They are using the recent massage parlor shooting as their current banner, to push for waiting periods to be enacted into national law.
I cannot conceive of someone who has decided to commit mass murder changing their mind and abandoning the idea because they couldn't get a gun on the 15th and had to wait until the 19th to go on a killing spree. Can you??
He lied on the 4473, which is a felony.