Here's a point that is rarely brought up, what happens to the people who FAIL a background check??
Other than the seller not selling them the gun? Nothing. (usually)
The previous administration bragged about how thousands of people had been kept from getting guns (I don't remember any more if they claimed 40 or 80 thousand, but it was a large number).
One reporter did some checking, and yes, thousands upon thousands of denials. Got any idea how many were prosecuted? (remember lying on the 4473 is a crime)
43 had been prosecuted, and at the time, there had been ZERO convictions.
No less an informed and august personage than the Vice President himself as asked about that, and he replied "We don't have time for that!"
I saw him say it. somehow, I think this kind of attitude at the top trickles down..
Not sure what the current administration is doing in this regard, probably about the same as the previous one, I suppose.
The oft stated purpose of background checks is to "keep people who shouldn't have a gun from getting a gun". So that those people will not have a gun to harm others with.
Background checks do not, and cannot stop people who do not have anything disqualifying in their background. Numerous mass killers have passed background checks, sometimes multiple times, because they had nothing disqualifying in the background.
People who fail background checks are essentially not being prosecuted for attempting to obtain a firearm illegally. Generally, the states consider it a federal matter, and the Fed, "doesn't have time for that".
Also, the stared purpose (preventing harm by preventing gun purchase/possession) becomes moot when the person buying the gun already has a gun (and a desire to do harm).
Even if the background check denies their current purchase, if they already have other guns, they have the tools to do harm, so a background check doesn't stop them by keeping them from getting a gun, they already have one (or 50...)
The UBC (in its various forms, differing only slightly, and all, to date, including the basis for registration, is being sold to the public as a cure-all, by 21st century snake oil salesmen. It's not, never was and never can be.
It is a stalking horse, deliberately crafted not to be able to meet what is being claimed for it, so that, when it does fail, it will be "proof" that stronger and more restrictive laws are needed. And, those laws will also "fail" and then even more will be "needed" until we reach the point of all private ownership being controlled, and when that doesn't stop random acts of violence, complete prohibition and confiscation will be the next "needed" step.
And, when THAT extreme measure fails to eradicate "gun violence", the gun banners won't care, they've achieved their goals, they will be protected by private security, the rest of us will be "protected" by the police, we won't legally have guns to defend ourselves with, and people will still be shot and killed by CRIMINALS for fun and profit.
The next time someone tells you how safe we would all be if we just took all the guns away, ask them if they would feel safe inside prison. There are no guns inside prisons. Just people. People who have been convicted of serious crimes. But not one gun among them. Would you be safe?
I doubt it...
