Presently,
17 states regulate private firearm sales at gun shows. Seven states require
background checks on all gun sales at gun shows (California, Rhode Island,
Connecticut, Oregon, New York, Illinois and Colorado). Four states (Hawaii,
Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) require background checks on all handguns,
but not long gun, purchasers at gun shows. Six states require individuals to
obtain a permit to purchase handguns that involves a background check
(Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Iowa, and Nebraska). Certain counties
in Florida require background checks on all private sales of handguns at gun
shows. The remaining 33 states do not restrict private, intrastate sales of
firearms at gun shows in any manner. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_shows_in_the_United_States
Before
ringing up the sale, cashiers call in a check to the FBI or to other designated
agencies to ensure that each customer does not have a criminal record or isn’t
otherwise ineligible to make a purchase. More than 100 million such checks have
been made in the last decade, leading to almost one million denials. ATF even has some flash videos on their site
about how to conduct a background check.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics
As
of December 31, 2012 the FBI has over 8 million people on their bad guys’ database. Interestingly the largest category is not
violent criminals it is “illegal unlawful aliens.” Over 60% are in this
category. The next largest category are
the crazy folks checking in at over 20%.
The remainder are criminals of one sort or another and some
miscellaneous folks.
When
you look at the reasons why some folks failed the background checks over the
past 14 years you find that, not surprisingly, over 90% are criminals of one sort
or another. While the crazy folks and
the aliens are each coming in around 1%.
Coming in at around 0.5% are those in the “federally denied persons
file.” I wonder how one gets into that
file? Perhaps this is fodder for a later
post or maybe one of my many readers will know and leave a comment. After all, my readers are smart and savvy.
Perhaps
consideration should be given to improving the depth and breadth of the
database. Current HIPPA laws generally do
not provide for reporting individuals to law enforcement. The reporting focuses more on victims. Perhaps if a mental health professional
considers a patient a potential perpetrator of a violent crime, HIPPA should be
amended to allow the reporting of this individual into the database. While
there are certainly privacy concerns to be considered, this action would seem
to be preferable to government intrusion on a sane legal gun owner. Such classification should be subject to
appeal.
To
enhance the privacy of citizens who are or wish to be sane legal gun owners maybe
technical enhancements could be made to the database system. The database could be made available and
reports could be made to the feds only when the search comes up positive. If the search is negative the searcher could
document that fact. This documentation
could be maintained by the seller. This document
maintenance is done now by licensed gun sellers for all gun sales. If a weapon is used in a crime then there is
an audit trail to the current owner of the gun.
I
have tried to make this post highly factual, but there is a bit of opinion. If
you find any fault with my facts, please comment with facts from reputable
sources.
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