While We're At It.....

[popeyespappy]

This, plus, I think we need to do a better job with mental health issues. I've seen way too many of these incidents where the shooter is completely batshit crazy but got a small aresnal of guns completely legally. I'm sorry, but if you have paranoid schizophrenia or other mental health problems you have NO business being anywere near a firearm.

A firearm focused application of the "don't give a baby to Crazy" rule.

I think you’ll find that Groups like the NRA have no problem with background checks that keep firearms out of the hands of criminals and the mentally defective (government’s term not mine). The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) already has a system in place for reporting and recording such records that most states already use to perform background checks for gun purchasers. Resistance to fully implementing the NICS systems does not come from groups like the NRA. It comes from the individual states unwillingness to implement the system, conflicts with existing laws and regulation, and push back from privacy advocacy groups.

I’m a gun owner. I currently have 13 handguns, 7 shotguns and 23 rifles. After the holidays I am going to add another rifle by ordering my 3rd M1 Garand from the CMP. It’s the only place in the country where a non-licensed individual can mail order a modern firearm and have it mailed directly to their home. My collection includes 6 NFA controlled items. I have a short barreled shotgun, a short barreled rifle, a M16A3 select fire assault rifle and 3 supressors. I am also a lifetime member of the NRA.

Despite all that I recognize that the current system for performing background checks is woefully inadequate. Some of the things that I believe need to be fixed are:

1. Require the states to use the NICS system. Currently all licensed dealers are required to perform a background check. However each state is allowed to decide how that is done. Several states have chosen to implement their own system that doesn’t necessarily talk to other national databases.
2. Require the states to report mental health issues to the NICS system.
3. Require mental health professionals to report mental health concerns to the states.
4. Require private transfers to perform a background check and allow non-licensed individuals access to the NICS system.

Of those four things the NRA doesn’t object to 1-3. Fuck them on number 4. The objections to 1-3 come from the states. It would be expensive to implement those provisions and most don’t want to spend the money. Privacy advocacy groups also object to 3 and 4.

http://smartgunlaws.org/mental-health-re...y-summary/