The idea for creating the National Instant Check System, was originated by the National Rifle Association to prevent institution of a national waiting period for firearm purchases. From a gun-rights perspective, it was perhaps the greatest blunder the NRA ever made.
If you place any value on your right to own a weapon, expansions of this system such as those contained in I-594 are the road to armageddon, and no additional laws will even be needed to make it happen.
NICS reportedly denies around 70,000 to 80,000 purchases every year. You may have wondered why those who are denied are not arrested on the spot or visited at their homes. At this point, the Feds need to keep the system looking innocuous or else fear of the system will hamper expanding it. Their aim is to expand the system to where you cannot avoid it if you want to own weapons. For example, before the system was expanded a few years ago to cover state law on concealed pistol licenses, at the urging of the NRA and affiliated state gun lobby groups, it was possible to avoid the system and still carry a weapon by going through a state check for your license, which is far less subject to creative denials than the federal one. Now if you want to carry a weapon, every five years you will have to wonder what new ways to misread the laws or your own background information they have dreamed up. In exchange for that they threw us a cookie, licenses holders can forgo checks for purchases. But what they got in return is that license holders are now trapped in the system too. They only have to get you with that system once.
The days of terror are still a way off, but if NICS is expanded to cover all sales and transfers, as well as carry permits, that’s when it begins. When they feel the system is sufficiently inescapable, that’s when the visits will begin. And the prosecutions.
People who are denied will be visited at home by either the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives or local law enforcement and asked if there are any guns or ammunition on the premises. It’ll be a tough question to get out of, with the people being on record as gun owners. If the answer is yes, they can be charged with a ten-year felony for every weapon and round of ammunition in their possession.
You needn’t be a hardened criminal either, as NICS is famous for its inventive reasons for denials. And there are ongoing efforts to deny people for “suspect” activity that gets them put on subjective “watch lists.” Ever made a heated blog posting? The day is coming when that will be enough. And you folks on the left, you’re not exempt from that either. Who the “potential terrorists” are depends on who’s in office.
Whatever the reason they find to deny you, even if completely bogus, once that denial is issued then by law you are a criminal for possessing a weapon. Perhaps you’ll beat the charges, eventually. Perhaps you’ll get it mitigated down. But at what cost, in money and time, loss of employment and family, personal and business relations?
NICS provides no way for people to do a “test check,” because they want you to be trapped by your signature. When the system is being abused to its fullest potential to destroy lives, how many people will be willing to sign that form? As they already know, not many. And that’s the plan.
What needs to happen is for NICS to be dismantled and the responsibility for background checks returned to the states, where we have at least a little bit of control over our officials. In the meantime, be careful what you vote for. This future is what the supporters of NICS expansions really have in store for us.
Kevin Schmadeka is an Everett resident.
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