Voter ID and Universal Background Check for Guns

[patteeu]

One of the proposals some have made to close the so-called gun show loophole is called "universal background check". I'm not sure how they plan to impose such checks without making it very difficult for private citizens to sell guns to others. But I've got a solution that kills two birds with one bullet.

We don't need crazy, sociopathic, or dangerous people buying guns. We don't need them voting either. If you can't be trusted to exercise your right to bear arms, you can't be trusted to vote as far as I'm concerned. What we need is a system where you apply for a Trusted Citizen ID, a background check is performed, and if you pass, a picture ID is issued. Use this ID to buy guns anywhere (Cabella's, gun show, or private sale) and to vote in your designated precinct.

Non-citizens who want to buy a gun would get the version of the ID that doesn't enable them to vote.

[Raiderhader]

Uh, no. For so many reasons.

[RaiderH8r]

I think that whatever background check system implemented for gun buyers should also apply to registering to vote.

[listopencil]

I found this to be interesting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_sho...ow_Loophole.22

In 2000, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) published the "Following the Gun" report.^[18] The ATF analyzed more than 1,530 trafficking investigations over a two-and-a-half-year period and found gun shows to be the second leading source of illegally diverted guns in the nation. "Straw purchasing was the most common channel in trafficking investigations."^[19] These investigations involved a total of 84,128 firearms that had been diverted from legal to illegal commerce. All told, the report identified more than 26,000 firearms that had been illegally trafficked through gun shows in 212 separate investigations. The report stated that: "A prior review of ATF gun show investigations shows that prohibited persons, such as convicted felons and juveniles, do personally buy firearms at gun shows and gun shows are sources of firearms that are trafficked to such prohibited persons. The gun show review found that firearms were diverted at and through gun shows by straw purchasers, unregulated private sellers, and licensed dealers. Felons were associated with selling or purchasing firearms in 46 percent of the gun show investigations. Firearms that were illegally diverted at or through gun shows were recovered in subsequent crimes, including homicide and robbery, in more than a third of the gun show investigations."


In contrast, a Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) report on “Firearms Use by Offenders” found that only 0.8% of prison inmates reported acquiring firearms used in their crimes "At a gun show," with repeat offenders less likely than first-time offenders to report acquiring firearms from a retail source, gun show or flea market. This 2001 study examined data from a 1997 Department of Justice survey of more than 18,000 federal and state prison inmates in 1,409 State prisons and 127 Federal prisons.^[20][21] The remaining 99.2% of inmates reported obtaining firearms from other sources, including "From a friend/family member" (36.8%), "Off the street/from a drug dealer" (20.9%), "From a fence/black market source" (9.6%), "From a pawnshop," "From a flea market," "From the victim," or "In a burglary." 9% of inmates replied "Don't Know/Other" to the question of where they acquired a firearm and 4.4% refused to answer.^[21] The Department of Justice did not attempt to verify the firearms reported in the survey or trace them to determine their chain of possession from original retail sale to the time they were transferred to the inmates surveyed (in cases where inmates were not the original retail purchaser).<sup>[22]


So, people who aren't supposed to have guns but also don't tend to commit crimes with them get guns from gun shows. People who commit crimes with guns tend not to get them from gun shows. Am I reading that correctly?</sup>

[Dayze]

I don't mind the background checks.

but I don't vote, so I wouldn't want to register to voate simply to buy a firearm

[BigRedChief]

Don't we already have a thread on background checks?

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Don't we already have a thread on background checks?

For voting?

[bandwagonjumper]

Its funny that it is easier to sell and buy a gun than to sell and buy a car.

[RNR]

Originally Posted by bandwagonjumper

Its funny that it is easier to sell and buy a gun than to sell and buy a car.

Thanks for the random thought~

[Dayze]

Originally Posted by bandwagonjumper

Its funny that it is easier to sell and buy a gun than to sell and buy a car.

we should make people take a driving test each year.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by bandwagonjumper

Its funny that it is easier to sell and buy a gun than to sell and buy a car.

Driving a car is a privilege. Bearing arms is a constitutionally guaranteed right.

[Buzz_TinBalls]

Originally Posted by patteeu

One of the proposals some have made to close the so-called gun show loophole is called "universal background check". I'm not sure how they plan to impose such checks without making it very difficult for private citizens to sell guns to others. But I've got a solution that kills two birds with one bullet.

We don't need crazy, sociopathic, or dangerous people buying guns. We don't need them voting either. If you can't be trusted to exercise your right to bear arms, you can't be trusted to vote as far as I'm concerned. What we need is a system where you apply for a Trusted Citizen ID, a background check is performed, and if you pass, a picture ID is issued. Use this ID to buy guns anywhere (Cabella's, gun show, or private sale) and to vote in your designated precinct.

Non-citizens who want to buy a gun would get the version of the ID that doesn't enable them to vote.

Nope. you are proposing massive federal growth, which is big gov't all the way. our social health and safety needs to be handled on the state level. I am a republican for this very reason.