Fact Check about Universal Background Checks

[DonP]

There seem to be two flavors of "Universal Background Checks", the latest solution to gun violence and you have to look close to see which makes sense and which is just dumb.

The "Bloomberg Flavor" of Universal Background Check demands that "Every" transfer be checked, including temporary transfers like loaning a Browning BPS 12 gauge to your BiL for pheasant hunting in Iowa for a weekend, or letting a student use your Ruger GP100 at the range to see if the weight and balance are easier for them to handle. Proponents of this keep telling us "don't worry about the details, nobody is going to arrest you for loaning a gun at the range or the weekend". Even if they added the phrase "... For Now" to that reassurance, based on the Bloomberg track record, I doubt many would believe it anyway.

The, for want of a better description - "Common Sense" version of a Universal Background Check, that most states like Illinois and others have adopted. Requires background checking with the state police for any "Permanent Transfer" e.g. any private sale, in your home at a gun show, parking lot, or anything not involving immediate family or short term temporary loans. That flavor doesn't seem to be an issue for many gun owners out there and after 2 years in Illinois, we're still waiting for word on how many crimes it's solved or stopped.

Before we let the media run away with the narrative that UBCs are the solution to our gun violence and mass shootings ... and just to keep this in perspective, here's a of list attackers/mass shooters who PASSED federal and/or state background checks for their firearms: Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik (San Bernardino handguns), Chris Harper Mercer (Umpqua Community College), Vester Lee Flangan (Virginia TV shooting), John Russell Houser (Lafayette), Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez (Chattanooga), Dylann Roof (Charleston church), Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi (Garland), Jared and Amanda Miller (Las Vegas), Elliot Rodger (Santa Barbara), Ivan Lopez (Fort Hood 2014), Darion Marcus Aguilar (Maryland mall), Karl Halverson Pierson (Arapahoe High School), Paul Ciancia (LAX), Andrew John Engeldinger (Minneapolis), Aaron Alexis (DC Navy Yard), Tennis Melvin Maynard (West Virginia), Wade Michael Page (Sikh Temple), James Holmes (Aurora theater), Jared Loughner (Tucson), Nidal Hasan (Fort Hood 2009), Jiverly Wong (Binghamton), Seung-Hui Cho (Virginia Tech), Naveed Haq (Seattle), and Mark Barton (Atlanta).

Feel free to cut and paste it for future posts and referencing.