I feel this is a VERY dangerous area.
How could it be enforced?
When it all gets down to it,
no legal system in existence can
prevent a crime. The goal is not enforcement; the goal is to patch any existing holes which currently exist in the NICS background check system and demolish the "gun show loophole" argument by utilizing an existing system whose only "drawback" are the fees associated with using it and making it apply to everyone rather than just over-the-counter transactions at a brick and mortar. If anything, I argue for it strictly from a liability perspective as I would never sell a firearm to someone without first making sure they're not barred by State and Federal law from owning one.
There are millions of guns in this country with no paper trail because they existed before paper trails were required, or they were given as gifts, or they were inherited, or they were privately purchased.
With all due respect, I specifically referred to person-to-person
sales and not gifts/inheritances. There are already existing laws on the books governing the purchase of a firearm as a gift to a family member.
Could this lead to arguing that receiving firearms as gifts and inheritances should also be subject to the recipient's ability to pass an NICS check? Possibly, but I fail to see what the cause for concern is. Why the fear of paper trails? Unless you hand over your collection to your next of kin before you depart from this world, there are already "paper trails" in the form of wills and estates. Ever file for Bankruptcy? Federal law
requires you to list your firearms as assets, even if they're antiques that were never previously "on the books." Live in a state like PA? Their State Police maintain what is arguably a full-fledged registry on all firearms sales.
The truth is that unless you're clandestine about every single transaction you make involving firearms (and skirting a few laws in the process), a government employee with sufficient access to public records will have little trouble tracing them back to you.
IF they get such a requirement in place, we all know it will be violated continuously.
THEN they will start pushing for REGISTRATION because private transfers can't be tracked until they get them all recorded.
Think about it.
If the goal was to "read hearts" and predict criminal activity, I would agree with you that it's a bad idea based on a very shaky premise. I assure you it's not. I'm certain we would both agree that it's also absurd to believe that NICS is an aegis against all unlawful and improper firearms use; people WILL "slip through the cracks." Registration isn't going to prevent that either. No, the true goal is eliminate criminal and civil liabilities by adopting a system that admonishes individuals to perform their due diligence when selling firearms to another individual at the cost of adding "middleman's fees."
Mr. Jarrett... I mean no disrespect, but if you're looking for a libertarian utopia where the only "law" governing private interactions is the honor system, then this isn't your shop. While I find the idea of protecting people from their own lack of judgement by requiring them to do the responsible thing somewhat unpalatable, I fail to see the principle behind opposing such a law.
! as Mr. Reed announced his boss was calling him over to the West Wing.
