Now, overall, Mark Kelly is a pretty interesting guy, he looks like Phil Collins and between NASA and 25 years in the US Navy, he racked up "375 aircraft carrier landings, 39 combat missions and more than 50 days in space." The space part is super cool. He never has really lived a civilian lifestyle other than the fact while being a gun owner, he "didn't think about guns or gun violence that much. [He] had other things to think about," and seemed to follow the typical American view of 'outta sight, outta mind'. Until his wife and six of her constituents became victims of gun violence in 2011.Now while his wife recovers from what should have been a fatal injury, he has become a very vocal advocate for gun control. He often sympathizes with other victims of gun violence, and tends to point out the last five or so reported gun related crimes to hit the news along with the most recent school shooting in New England. So I guess while he was floating in space he had a lot of time to think on guns, and apparently found some interesting math.
He claims research has found that:
40% of gun transfers went without background checks
80% of inmates who used guns got them without background checks
82% of gun owners like the idea of background checks
92% of all households like the idea of background checks
2 million people have failed background checks since 1994
100 die a day from guns, 33 of them murder
The US has 20x's the murder rate of other countries
First off, I just wanna know where he gets all these stats because I don't remember being asked as a household or gun owner if I like the idea of background checks. Because I do, but his logic is strange and unquoted from any source.
Second, I want to know which countries he is referring to when he compares the US, and also if he ACTUALLY compared policies, form of government, economy ect. to see if there was a difference. But lets go in and actually check his math. With his claim that 33 murders a day involve guns, meaning that there are 12,045 murders per year, which means that the unnamed 'other countries' only have a mere 602.25 murders by guns per year. Somehow I don't buy that stat, no matter what country...
Third, if 80% of the inmates involved with gun violence didn't get background checks when purchasing a gun, than that means only 32% of gun transfers happened without background checks to criminals. So, only 8% of that 40% of those with out the background happened to law abiding citizens.
If you lie on that background check, you not only fail but you also become a felon, even though the BATF get a small number actually in custody. That kinda shows that criminals are gonna get guns, no matter what laws are in place. If there are checks now that aren't enforced well, the ones that Mark keeps pushing for better have some umph behind them to actually make a difference.
I will agree that in theory, a universal background check would help some. But who would bite the cost? The government? The company? The customer? I would guess the latter.
I'm inclined to agree with your end result: that it would help some.
ReplyDeleteThe bigger concern I have is based on the fact that the majority of the proposed gun law reforms do are only focused on law abiding citizens. I’m an avid gun owner who has purchased guns at stores and gun shows (background checks every time) and from private sellers (with a bill of sale every time to protect them and myself). I’m not saying that background checks are a bad thing, but even people who fail background checks via the NICS system aren’t picked up or penalized when they fail the existing steps we have in place.
The problem is that the majority of Americans aren’t educated and are awed by numbers. The politicians and media throw out the sensational numbers and a lot of people are too lazy to fact check them or learn the truth themselves. People hear “gun show loophole” and then demonize it. They don’t realize that 90% of people selling guns at a gun show are FFL dealers themselves (thus required to submit paperwork to the BATFE or lose their license), 9% are people selling guns TO the dealers and of the 1% who do transactions between citizens you usually ask for a bill of sale, and a valid ID as we all know that it takes to get one from a dealer, and don’t want to be held liable if you use it in a crime (since it was registered when bought from an FFL originally).
The follow up question that they don’t ask in their polls is “Are you willing to pay increase in taxes for more political entities to enforce this rule.” I bet the 92% would change their answer =p