Archive for the ‘Gun Control’ Category

07.10.2008

Background Checks Required for Concealed Weapons Permit Holders

by Jason Morris

If you have a concealed weapons permit, you’ll now have to get a background check every time you buy a new gun.

The federal government is behind the new rule.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says it’s basically because Nevada’s background checks don’t meet the federal requirements.

But, the gun owners and concealed weapons permit aren’t at all happy about the changes.

Frank Morraele owns The Gun Trader and owns several guns himself, “Prior to the first of July, if you had a concealed weapons permit and you wanted to buy a gun, we would document it and that was good instead of calling the state and charging you $25 for a background check.”

To buy a gun and obtain a carry concealed weapons, or C.C.W. permit, someone has to take an all day safety and education class.

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06.16.2008

The Science of Gun Control

by Jason Morris

Gun control articles always spark a nice debate on our blog.  This Newsweek article lends to the stance our industry has had for years.  A quality criminal background check must be conducted at the county level.  Criminal records get diluted the further you get away from the source.  Relying on a Statewide or FBI record check sets your system up for failure.

NICS databases are “very complete” when it comes to tracking fugitives from justice, felony indictments and convictions, dishonorable discharges and some other factors that disqualify a person from purchasing a firearm. However, it appears that a lot of critical data gathered at the local level, involving things like restraining orders and commitments to mental institutions, are not filtering up to the federal level.

The Science of Gun Control
Local background checks are more effective at reducing suicides and homicides than federal checks.

There’s nothing simple about gun control, a tangle of legal, political and public-health issues complicated by cultural preferences and regional biases. Passions run high on all sides. Lifelong hunters who grew up with firearms, urban victims of gun violence, Second Amendment scholars, NRA lobbyists, chiefs of police—they’ve all got cases to make and they make them well, often contentiously.

For the past 15 years, much of the debate has centered on the effectiveness of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, the federal gun-control bill that was passed in 1993. Critics say the focus on law-abiding gun buyers doesn’t address the real issue—bad guys who acquire their weapons illegally. Supporters say that the bill stops thousands of illegal gun purchases and deters crime and violence. Now medical research has come to the rescue, sifting through the data to figure out which legal measures work best to reduce firearm suicides and homicides.

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