Gun control

Out of the many new gun control proposals to be introduced to Congress, the one that seems most likely to pass is “closing the gun show loophole” by requiring universal background checks.

This would require a prospective purchaser or transferee of a privately-owned firearm to undergo a background check through NCIC (the National Crime Information Center) to complete a firearm sale or transfer.

On its face, this may sound as a reasonable proposal to many. However, how could such a law ever be enforced without requiring each of the estimated 300 million privately-owned firearms in the United States to be registered with the federal government?

Without gun registration, the new law would rely upon the “honor-system” for a private gun owner to transfer their firearm to a new owner through the NCIC system and to utilize a federally-licensed gun dealer for the transfer.  

If gun registration was not included and passed by Congress as part of any universal background check law, then President Obama would have the option of issuing an executive order to add gun registration in order to implement and enforce the new law.

Relative to executive orders, the Supreme Court ruled under 343 US 579, that a President may “clarify or act to further a law put forth by Congress.”    

As with any new law, the “devil may be in the details.” We must be careful what we wish for, as we may get much more than expected.

Jon Cole

Polebridge