Why I Am Against Background Checks for Weapons

Posted by Jeff Carter
on February 4th, 2013

The way gun control advocates would say it, we’d have a simple background check to see if you were a convicted felon or had a history of mental illness. Since most people haven’t, it seems harmless for the greater good. Right?

Maybe. Then again, maybe not.

How about if they won’t sell you a gun because you have exhibited a history of anti-government views?

Well, most Americans might say, “We like our government and radicals like Bill Ayers shouldn’t get guns.”. Uh-huh. What if anti-government views were interpreted to be views like mine-meaning I don’t like the way American government is today and would like to see it significantly smaller.

Is that anti-government? It certainly is anti-big government. To any government employee it’s anti-government.

Perhaps I would be denied the right to purchase a firearm. Even worse, while it would be tough for them to confiscate the firearms I already own, the government could pull my FOID card making it impossible to buy ammunition.

Now I become a common criminal just like the felons out there murdering our children because some bureaucrat somewhere interpreted a phrase differently than the law was intended for.

Think that idea is far fetched? Ask anyone that has dealt with any part of the government bureaucracy to see how pie eyed it is. Ask someone that’s had to contend with the EPA or OSHA.

Obama and the gun control posse are barking up the wrong tree because he knows once he gets something as simple as a background check in place, they can twist those words to mean whatever they want them to mean.

Here is an example. What do you think the definition of the word “is” is?

Lawyers aren’t there to interpret and write the law innocuously. They are advocates for clients. When lawyers work for the government, they advocate for their client. They aren’t there to protect your rights-they are there to protect the governments right to infringe upon your rights.

I would agree wholeheartedly that we need to stop gun violence. However, the well trodden path to usurping freedom is not the way to do it. Bigger government isn’t the answer. But, using things like game theory, and instilling personal responsibility into our citizens is a good answer.

I live in Chicago. We have the toughest gun laws in the country. We have shootings in certain neighborhoods every day of the year. Non stop. The reasons aren’t the guns. It isn’t because we sell guns at gun shops, or gun shows. It’s deeper than that.

Those criminals are battling over turf. Most of it related to the drug war. Besides, they have no regard for human life. It’s very difficult to get a strict prison sentence in Illinois for a gun crime. I bet you dollars to donuts that advocates for the abolishment of the death penalty are also advocates for intense gun control. Neither makes sense if you use basic economic theory and statistics.

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Thanks for the link Doug Ross.

UPDATE

Mentioned in the comments, but there is a check already in place when you apply for an Firearms Owner Identification Card (FOID) card. That card also has to be renewed. You cannot buy a gun or ammo without an FOID. My guess is the gang bangers never applied. It is also useful to look at the gun stats. There are millions of guns in the hands of legal owners in the US. There are 30,000 people killed with firearms annually in the US. 20,000 of those are suicide. By definition, suicide is mental illness.

This leads you down the path to better treatment of mental illness, enforcement of gun laws on the books (and perhaps a repeal of many of them), along with some FOID guidelines.

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