I think one of the reasons the NRA is harping on the 'background check' issue is because...

[krispos42]

37. Here is what is driving me absolutely up a wall.

We would get far more immediate and far better results if the Democrats had THE GODDAMN STONES to take on the private-prison industry and the pharmaceutical industry!

But no, the Democrats can't DO THAT, now can they? No no no. So they wait for a tragedy, puff themselves up real righteous-like, and announce they're taking on the NRA!

Yeah, fuck the NRA!

And we're going to put all their political will and capital and PR into TAKING ON THE GUN LOBBY...


...and banning pistol-grip rifles and shotguns. FUCK YEAH!!! Fuck those protruding pistol grips!!!!

And maybe they'll get a limit on magazine capacity. Because having to make mass killers change magazines more often, thus giving his intended targets more time to tackle him, is the solution that we're all seeking here, right?


And they, if they get that, they'll sit there and preen and pat themselves on the back and beg for your money and mine, your vote and mine, because THEY TOOK ON THE GUN LOBBY, and won't you re-elect them in 2014? See how STRONG they are, advocating for you?





There are about a half-dozen issues that the Democrats effectively don't have a spine on. A half-dozen issues that would do major good for society but that they won't touch, even with an enraged public on their side. Reimposing Glass-Steagall. Medicare for all. Recreational drug legalization. Getting out of NAFTA and the WTO. Universal free higher education. Repealing Taft-Hartley.

Things that will actually make us smarter, richer, safer, healthier, and better able to govern ourselves.

And they're crowing about protruding pistol grips being banned from shotguns and rifles.





I would rather they bowed down before the NRA and gave us Medicare-for-all, because THAT would save far more lives, improve our economy, and break the stranglehold that shitty, abusive corporations have on their workers. Outlawing protruding pistol grips won't quite do that.






But you asked what I think we should do for gun laws. Thank you for doing that; few people actually bother to ask. They prefer to tell me instead, then argue when problems with their idea were pointed out.


1) Universal background checks. The ATF should create a special kind of license. This license, which I'll call "Firearms Transfer Agent License" or FTAL, would be issued by the ATF to people that would make money acting as a transfer agent from a private seller to a private buyer. An FTAL would not be a stocking firearms dealer, but would have access to the NICS system and would have all the appropriate forms to purchase a firearm. The fee the FTAL could charge would be no more than 3x the federal minimum wage (currently, $21.45) to transfer a gun.

I think that there would be a lot of people that would make some extra money on the side by doing these transfers. A nice little kitchen-table business. Currently, only federal firearm licensees (FFLs) can access NICS.

I guess we could call the permit "FaTAL", too...

2) A purchase limit of 12 guns a year. After your 12th gun is purchased in a calender year, the NICS system will not approve any more transfers until January 1st of the next year. If you want to buy more guns than that, get a permit.

I'll even go lower, down to 10. I based the "12" on the fact that some states have a one-gun-a-month policy, or 12 per year total.

This should cut down on trafficking.

3) A sale limit of 12 guns per year, unless the sales are to a federally licensed dealer. Again, after you sell your 12th gun, the NICS system refuses to approve any more transfers until January 1st, unless you're selling them to an FFL.

Again, if you're selling this many guns to private individuals, you're really a dealer and should be licensed as such.. This also should cut down on trafficking.

4) The ATF should keep records of what guns are sold by who. Not bought; that would be national registration, which I am not for. But if the ATF knew a gun's sale history, they could track down the last owner of a gun recovered in a crime by paying a visit to the last seller of the gun. This would keep the DoJ and the various police forces from trolling through databases (or the newspapers from printing lists of gun owners), yet still provide them with the ability to quickly find the owner of a gun. And if the last seller didn't know... then they've collared a guy feeding guns illegal to criminals.

5) Start denying transportation funds to states that are not in compliance with reporting mental-health and criminal records to NICS. If you don't want to spend the money to keep NICS current, you can maintain your own damn highways. Give the money as a bonus to states that ARE compliant!


How's that for a start?