The Liberal Gun Club: We support Fix NICS

[friendly_iconoclast]

X-posted from GD:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210304692

https://www.theliberalgunclub.com/2018/02/28/we-support-fix-nics/

We support Fix NICS | The Liberal Gun Club
Ed Gardner

There is currently legislation being pondered in the Senate called Fix NICS.

The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is a United States system for determining if prospective firearms or explosives buyers’ name and birth year match those of a person who is not eligible to buy. It was mandated by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Law) of 1993 and launched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1998.

Source: Wiki

When you buy a new firearm, the FFL runs these checks in real time with the FBI to determine if you are prohibited from buying a firearm. The FBI tells the FFL to Proceed with the sale, Deny the sale, or Defer the sale. In the case of the Defer, the FBI has 72 hours to give a definitive answer or the sale is allowed to proceed, so its critical that data be available, complete and accurate.

There have been several shooters who should have been prohibited from purchasing their weapons prior to their murders. Charlotte’s perpetrator had a drug conviction that hadn’t been reported appropriately to the FBI, so the “Defer” apparently turned into a “Proceed.” The Texas shooter had a military conviction that the sentence alone put him in a prohibited class. There are other examples, but these that come to mind immediately.

This bill seems to address one of our central positions, the completeness and accuracy of the NICS system. We know that not all relevant records make it into NICS, from states who were reluctant to submit adjudicated records, to agencies like the Department of Defense simply failing to report convictions.

This bill seems to address those issues to some extent, and as we said after Texas, its the sort of thing that might actually have an impact, eliminating the legal avenues that bad guys bent on killing have to acquire ANY firearm. The summary from GovTrack:

-Establish a new “Domestic Abuse and Violence Prevention Initiative” in order to better prevent those convicted of those crimes from obtaining weapons.
-Publicly report any federal agencies that fail to upload relevant information to the system, and withhold certain pay from political appointees who neglect to upload the info.
-Establish new measures to verify the accuracy of existing records already uploaded into the system.

The full text of the bill in the Senate can be found here*, a version has passed out of committee in the House.

We support this.

So, apparently, does the NRA and the folks at Sandy Hook Promise. With support from a broad range of organizations from across the spectrum, there is no reason for this bill to be delayed. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Will Congress act? Have you called your representatives?

*https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/2135/text

[sarisataka]

1. We hear a lot of

'gun owners need to act'. We'll here's gun owners acting.

My challenge to control zealots is to support this act without adding their favorite ban. Support something that will have a positive, measurable effect without tacking on poorly written banning language.

It is said 'if it saves one life it's worth it'; this will save many lives.
Someone tweeted 'confiscate now, due process later'

Which statement should Democrats get behind?

[friendly_iconoclast]

2. The 'we want all or nothing' crowd is already on it:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210304692#post14

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/02/28/why-senate-democrats-are-considering-holding-up-a-gun-control-bill-from-one-of-their-own/?utm_term=.833d7cca858c

Why Senate Democrats are considering holding up a gun-control bill from one of their own

My own decidedly dyspeptic take on it:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210304692#post26

History repeats: "Screw that 'half a loaf'! We want the whole thing, or nothing!"

And 'nothing' is *exactly* what they'll get with that attitude.

FFS, do they not remember the last go-around on the same damn issue in 2013?

A cynic might suggest that they feel there's more political mileage to be had by appearing
to have been stopped by the eebil NRA than by actually *gasp* negotiating the matter.

[sarisataka]

3. It would be funny

If it wasn't such a serious issue.

It seems like it was just yesterday, actually it was yesterday, we saw a post exhorting gun owners to step up and support gun laws. https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=10303375

Less than 24 hours later a gun group says they will support a gun control law and even explain how and why it will reduce guns in the hands of criminals. They reply...
THAT'S NOT ENOUGH and throw out a plethora of add-ons without explaining how they will help.

Maybe I am cynical but I do believe there are those who want nothing if they can't have it all. They fear if something gets put in place that works they will never achieve their ultimate goal.

[gejohnston]

4. count me as one of those cynics.

[Puha Ekapi_2]

5. Me cynical?

Naaahhh, never