Free Republic

Should it be a federal crime for businesses to refuse to hire ex-convicts? Yes, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which recently released 20,000 convoluted words of regulatory "guidance" to direct businesses to hire more felons and other ex-offenders. In the late 1970s, the EEOC began stretching Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to sue businesses for practically any hiring practice that adversely affected minorities. In 1989, the agency sued Carolina Freight Carrier Corp. of Hollywood, Fla., for refusing to hire as a truck driver a Hispanic man who had multiple arrests and had served 18 months...

Lost amidst the clamor for universal back ground checks are a lot of important details. One of those details, besides the issues of who will pay for universal background checks, and how will such checks be precluded from turning into a registration scheme, is the fact that simply making firearm background checks “universal” would have to effect of denying the right of 18-20 year olds to own a handgun, even in their home. In 2008 the US Supreme Court held in District of Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment “guarantee[s] the individual right to possess and carry weapons in...

Among comments to my last piece, “Lautenberg gun show bill as bad as expected,” several were from well-meaning gun owners who honestly questioned why S. 843 – ostensibly submitted to close the “gun show loophole” – is really so bad. A typical and knowledgeable comment went like this: “I am a very pro-gun person. I own a couple of rifles and I will never support any [‘assault weapon’ ban]. I don't even support the ‘86 [McClure-Volkmer] automatic ban. But background checks should be required for any and every sale. If that means transferring it at the dealer, then fine. "But...

Every day for the past 22 years, California's background checks have stopped about a dozen felons, mentally ill people and others from buying guns. When prospective gun buyers stride into California gun stores such as Ron Kennedy's Canyon Sports in Martinez, they must swipe their driver's licenses or state IDs. That sets off a review process that runs their names not only through the same FBI criminal database other states use but also almost 20 other sources, from mental health records to DMV data. It's a check more rigorous than any other state's. California is also one of only two...

The National Rifle Association was out late yesterday with a blistering criticism of House Bill 1588 which would require “universal background checks” on all firearms transactions in Washington State, and Examiner has learned that the Gun Owner’s Action League of Washington “will take a similar tone” in this evening’s on-line edition of The GOAL Post. The NRA’s move was hardly unexpected in the wake of Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre’s testimony Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee during which he tangled with anti-gun Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) over such checks at the federal level. As reported by this column, LaPierre...

Illinois Senator Richard Durbin’s exchange Wednesday with National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre defined the disconnect anti-gun Democrats have with the reality of so-called “universal background checks” and why they won’t stop criminals from obtaining firearms. As quoted in the Seattle Times, and shown in this video, Durbin became engaged in a frustrating debate with LaPierre. The NRA executive told the Senate Judiciary Committee that “My problem with background checks is that you’re never going to get criminals to go through universal background checks.” “You’ll create an enormous federal bureaucracy, unfunded, hitting all the little people in the...

As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., will oversee any legislation on gun control that makes its way to the Senate floor. At the first in a series of congressional hearings on the issue Wednesday, his line of questioning suggested that expanded background checks and closing the so-called gun show loophole will be top priorities — and perhaps the only ones that stand a chance in the full Senate. Displaying his background as a Vermont prosecutor, Leahy confronted National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre on whether he had changed his support for mandatory instant criminal background checks...

Probably not only the purposes our devoted civil savants advance to justify them I'm not a stupid racist, so you don't scare me! Uh, you do work for the DHS -- don't you? * * * * * * Stuff that doesn't work An article at PJ Tatler claims that "even supporters admit background checks won't reduce gun violence." However, the article does not contend that a push for background checks might be motivated by additional objectives. The article notes flaws in the aggregation of State data on mental illness and assorted crimes. For instance, while the background checks cover...

The federal background check system for gun buyers is porous, ineffective, and hampered by a lack of cooperation from the states. And that’s what the system’s supporters have to say. For critics, it’s much more than that. They warn that even if the system can be perfected — and there’s growing consensus in Washington, D.C., that the time has come to authorize certain basic and largely non-controversial improvements — it will do nothing to reduce gun violence. President Barack Obama called on Congress to implement universal background checks as part of the gun-control proposals he unveiled in the wake of...

"First, it's time for Congress to require a universal background check on anyone trying to buy a gun." These were President Obama's words as he outlined his plans for gun control legislation on Wednesday. FAIR takes no position on gun issues, but the president's unequivocal support for universal checks demonstrates two things: The president does not consider background checks to be an infringement on anyone’s constitutional liberties, andThe president does not consider there to be any technological impediments to carrying out universal checks before someone is permitted to purchase a firearm. In making his statement, President Obama also negated the...

During the National Rifle Association’s meeting with Vice President Joe Biden and the White House gun violence task force, the vice president said that the administration did not have the time to prosecute existing gun laws. Jim Baker, the NRA representative present at the meeting, recalled the vice president’s words to The Daily Caller: “And to your point, Mr. Baker, regarding the lack of prosecutions on lying on Form 4473s, we simply don’t have the time or manpower to prosecute everybody who lies on a form, that checks a wrong box, that answers a question inaccurately.” Submitting false information on...

Of all the gun-control measures touted by President Obama on Wednesday, the one that got top billing was a dramatic tightening of background checks on gun purchasers. Obama himself said the need was urgent because “40 percent of all gun purchases are conducted without a background check.” But before we make the most sweeping changes in federal firearms law since the 1960s, shouldn’t we at least examine the validity of that figure? It’s about as dubious as they come.The administration is focusing on background checks in an attempt to drive a wedge between staunch anti-gun-control absolutists such as the...

The failed paradigm that has been followed for 44 years in the United States has been to attempt, unsuccessfully, to prevent crime by not allowing prohibited groups from buying firearms. Obviously, this approach has not worked. It is a failed paradigm because its focus is on the 99 percent of people who do not need to be controlled, instead of the 1 percent who do. The 1 percent can always find a way to obtain firearms illegally. The Supreme court has ruled that in the United States, you have a right to a loaded, unlocked handgun that is in common...

4,200 Coloradans tried to buy guns the day after Newtown, Connecticut school shootingPosted: 12/17/2012 Last Updated: 2 hours ago DENVER - Colorado set a single-day record for gun background check requests the day after the Connecticut mass shootings. Colorado Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Susan Medina said there were more than 4,200 requests to buy guns in Colorado on Saturday. Those gun-purchase requests surpassed the previous record -- 4,028 background checks processed on Black Friday this year.

WASHINGTON, DC - On July 4, 2012, President Obama will deliver remarks at a naturalization ceremony for active duty service members in the East Room of the White House. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas will present the countries of the candidates for naturalization and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano will deliver the oath of allegiance. The audience will be composed of the service members and their families. Other Senior Administration Officials will also be speaking at naturalization ceremonies around the country, including Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis in New York, Small Business Administrator Karen Mills and...

WASHINGTON (NNPA) — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued updated recommendations that urge employers not to misuse criminal background checks in filling job openings. By a vote of 4-1 last week, the commissioners noted that African-Americans and Latinos may find it more difficult to find employment because of the widespread use of background checks. “Arrest and incarceration rates are particularly high for African-American and Hispanic men,” the EEOC report stated. “African Americans and Hispanics are arrested at a rate that is 2 to 3 times their proportion of the general population. Assuming that current incarnation rates remain unchanged,...

There was a brief media firestorm yesterday when Vanity Fair broke the news that Obama’s famous “New York girlfriend” was a fiction. She appears in his 1995 memoir, Dreams From My Father, described in some detail by her appearance, voice and mannerisms. But a new biography of Obama – with an excerpt published in Vanity Fair – “reveals” that she was actually an amalgam of several different women. Politico immediately ran with “Obama: 'New York girlfriend' was composite” and Drudge headlined with “Obama Admits Fabricating Girlfriend in a Memoir.” Coming hot on the heels of the news that the...

MADISON, Wis.— The Madison School District wants background checks on any poll workers in school buildings on election days. The city is looking into the time and cost required for background checks on more than 2,000 poll workers. City clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl says they also need to settle on the criteria that would be needed to pass a background check. Currently, poll workers take an oath and attend a training session. Never before has the school district asked for background checks. Assistant superintendent Erick Kass tells the State Journal (http://bit.ly/xWFr1e ) the district is trying to improve school safety based...

Presumptuous and daring, flouting politically correct prohibitions against looking too closely at his time's Establishment, Niccolò Machiavelli went on to detail who did what to whom to establish the papacy's temporal power. Cesare Borgia's cruel triangulation between Rome's Orsini and Colonnesi factions, not miracles, had made the papal states into a major power. In our time, asking how a young man of scarce achievement got into position to win the Democratic Party's nomination for president courts the contemporary synonyms for "impious": "birther," "conspiracy theorist," and, of course, "racist." Granted, to inquire into what formed a president is not as important...

I have 2 friends who need to do background checks on perspective tenants for their 2-family homes, one friend is a single mother and doesn't want a criminal living in her house. They want to check both criminal and financial records before they let a tenant in their home. There are many internet sites out there and am not sure which ones are the better. Any help would be appreciated. thank you.