Free Republic

The lamestream media told you: It's only reasonable, and studies show the overwhelming majority of Americans support universal background checks. We're not talking about registering guns. The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that: How soon we forget. When the NICS computer was built and turned on by attorney general Janet Reno, in compliance with the Brady bill in 1994, she announced that the system not only would not erase records immediately after a gun-buyer background check as required by law, it could NOT erase records at all. She said it with a straight face, to Congress. The Justice Dept. under Bill...

Finally, some sanity, and from a somewhat unexpected source. The ACLU is concerned about the civil liberties implications of the new Harry Reid Senate bill to establish so-called “universal background checks” for firearms purchases. The organization has tended toward silence on gun rights, but at least now it recognizes aspects of the problem with this terrible proposal. Ever since Sandy Hook, the Obama administration and its progressive choir have demanded a new Assault Weapons Ban (AWB). Now it looks like that plan is toast. California Senator Dianne Feinstein blames gun owners and the NRA, and in a sense we should...

Universal background checks for gun purchases are an attempt to address a legitimate problem: It really is easy for criminals to get guns, and it really is hard to prosecute those who sell guns to criminals. While licensed gun dealers are required to perform background checks and maintain records, private citizens may sell their guns without so much as asking a question. To prosecute a citizen for an illegal sale, the government must prove that the citizen knowingly gave a gun to a criminal or bought a gun for the sole purpose of transferring it to another party. In surveys,...