Posted on 11/07/2013 8:42:03 AM PST by Red in Blue PA
Tallahassee, FL - Private gun sellers at gun shows, flea markets, garage sales, etc., don't have to run the mandatory three to five day background checks that public gun dealers do.
It's called the "gun show loophole." Leon County Commissioner Mary Ann Lindley would like to see that loophole closed. Since she proposed that at the last Leon County Commission meeting in October, more than 400 emails have flooded her office.
"Kind of these very redundant 'just say no, just say no,' and 'don't take my gun away,' and 'don't stomp on the second amendment,' and things that are not really relevant to the discussion," said Lindley.
Private citizens can't run background checks. They'd have to turn the gun over to a licensed dealer. Leon County officials say it would cost about $100,000 a year to assign a deputy to enforce the rule.
Gun lobbyist and former National Rifle Association president Marion Hammer says the county is wasting their time.
"In essence, they're going to be forcing people, if they pass this unwise ordinance, to pay somebody to get around the law to do the background checks for them, to pay licensed dealers. In effect, they're going to raise the costs," said Hammer
There has been no official ordinance proposal. The Issue will be back as an agenda item in January.
Irrelevant, really? I'd say they're spot-on. What, I wonder, would Her Majesty declare is relevant?
...because the board didn't obtain the correct result the first time around.
Remove all dictators in USA now.
Oh noes, Mary, if you close the gun show loop hole, countless of criminals would have to buy or sell guns discretely in public. We all know doing things in plain sight doesn’t work. Dumb-B.
Wayne Rooney’s smarter than you.
If they would provide a way that private sellers could perform background checks on their prospective buyers, nearly all would take advantage of it, even if it was voluntary.
If it was fast, cheap, convenient, and did not create a paper trail.
But every proposal I’ve seen so far that purported to extend background checks to cover private transfers didn’t actually extend background checks to cover private transfers - they instead banned private transfers entirely, forcing all transfers to be done through a licensed dealer. Which adds delay, cost, and inconvenience. And which creates a paper trail.
And here’s the fundamental thing - if a paper trail is required on all firearms transfers, then the possession of any firearm, absent that paper trail, becomes presumptively criminal.
I’ll say it again. Imposing a universal background check requirement that includes a paper trail reverses the presumption of innocence with respect to firearms. Rather than possession of a firearm being presumptively legal, unless there is specific evidence of criminality, it will become presumptively illegal, absent proof of the appropriate paper trail.
That’s not just a minor problem. It’s an attack on bedrock fundamentals.
If Background Checks were in place at the time of the founding of this nation, every one of the Founding Fathers would have been hanged by the British with that information.
Having spent 4 years in Tallahassee at Florida State, I will say that while the areas immediately surrounding the Capitol and the universities are bathed in liberalism, the remainder of Leon county residents are dyed-in-the-wool, red-blooded conservative Americans.
I dated a girl who was a local, and her father was a cigar-chomping, Rush-listening, gun-toting, tax-paying, God-fearing man like none I’d ever seen.
I won't say in a public forum how many guns I've bought since 1995, but I have NEVER had to wait more than few minutes. Especially now that I have my conceal carry permit. It's cash and carry.
This must be propaganda.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.