Scott Hearn
Well-Known Fanatic
From what I'm hearing from our ever industrious congress critters on both sides of the isle, it sounds like some form of "universal background check" is a distinct possibility in our near future. So with this in mind what say we get something in return? Know here and now that I personally am not in favor of the .gov doing a damn thing more than they are right now and I'm not advocating for it. This is just for discussion.
What would you say to having a FOID card like Illinois and some of the other blue states? Here is how it should work in my mind.
1) We apply for a card.
2) They run a background check just like for an NFA weapon.
3) We get a card issued.
4) Then we could go to whatever FFL dealer and find the gun we want.
5) Said FFL dealer calls or logs in and makes sure that FOID card is still valid.
6) Pay money for said gun and leave with it.
No more need for Form 4473s, answering questions, recording make, model or S/N of weapon purchased since background checked out and card is confirmed as still valid. If you think about this it could in all reality do away with the need for NFA as we know it today. It would require that the alphabet agencies share info like they are purportedly going to under Obama's executive order. It would also require that Federal, State and Municipal courts participate in updating the information in the system. The mental health thing is going to be more difficult to do without violating constitutional rights to privacy, but if a court has adjudicated someone as being ineligible that would be covered by the court reporting.
They are going to try and make this mandatory on personal sales too. So there is going to have to be a method for this. It just seems that it would be logical to do away with the repetitive calls to the ATF for a check on every 4473. Also there is no reason in my mind to for any gun specific information to be involved in determining whether someone is eligible to have a gun. So a FFL might be more open to doing the check for private individuals if he didn't have as much paperwork to do and the record of the check being performed was kept at the federal level.
Like I said, I don't like this idea at all, but I figure it's coming anyway and what we are likely to get will be far worse. Discuss...
What would you say to having a FOID card like Illinois and some of the other blue states? Here is how it should work in my mind.
1) We apply for a card.
2) They run a background check just like for an NFA weapon.
3) We get a card issued.
4) Then we could go to whatever FFL dealer and find the gun we want.
5) Said FFL dealer calls or logs in and makes sure that FOID card is still valid.
6) Pay money for said gun and leave with it.
No more need for Form 4473s, answering questions, recording make, model or S/N of weapon purchased since background checked out and card is confirmed as still valid. If you think about this it could in all reality do away with the need for NFA as we know it today. It would require that the alphabet agencies share info like they are purportedly going to under Obama's executive order. It would also require that Federal, State and Municipal courts participate in updating the information in the system. The mental health thing is going to be more difficult to do without violating constitutional rights to privacy, but if a court has adjudicated someone as being ineligible that would be covered by the court reporting.
They are going to try and make this mandatory on personal sales too. So there is going to have to be a method for this. It just seems that it would be logical to do away with the repetitive calls to the ATF for a check on every 4473. Also there is no reason in my mind to for any gun specific information to be involved in determining whether someone is eligible to have a gun. So a FFL might be more open to doing the check for private individuals if he didn't have as much paperwork to do and the record of the check being performed was kept at the federal level.
Like I said, I don't like this idea at all, but I figure it's coming anyway and what we are likely to get will be far worse. Discuss...
