NRA Was 'Foreign Asset' To Russia Ahead of 2016, New Senate Report Reveals

[Belsnickel]

(10-02-2019, 11:18 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: Well, it is historically proven that banning something people want creates a black market for said something.  See prohibition for a rather salient example.  However, vaping is not a Constitutional right.  Additionally, there's the fact that the vast majority of criminals, who account for the vast majority of gun related homicides, acquire their firearms illegally already.  Why would adding more laws curtail that?  Again, actually enforce existing laws.  Aggressively prosecute those found in illegal possession of a firearm.  Aggressively prosecute straw purchasers.  Once you actually do that maybe we can then consider additional laws to curtail this criminal activity.  Maybe stop trying to impose further restrictions on those actually obeying the law prior to doing so?

So I think here is where the hangup occurs. It is illegal to sell, or even give, a firearm to someone that is not legally allowed to own one. I believe this is the law in every state. However, in many states if a transaction is between two individuals, there is no requirement for a background check to be conducted. So the question then becomes how can we enforce the law about providing a firearm to someone illegally if there is no sure way for them to know that the transfer was illegal? Should we not hold people accountable if they transfer a firearm to someone that is not legally allowed to own one?

This is where the idea of universal background checks does fill a gap in the law. Criminals will acquire their firearms illegally, we know that. They acquire them from people that are not dealers and therefore often don't need to conduct any sort of background check under the law. To hold those people accountable, instituting a universal background check law would mean that there is a mechanism of accountability in place.

It isn't a perfect solution. It isn't going to fix everything. However, it is something that can be used to help enforce existing laws.