Change background check requirements.

[Loc]

If you are just looking for a reason, and you aren't, its because a lot of the people who have guns aren't allowed to own guns. Ive seen that as a dealer.

Was going to say the exact same thing, but I'll go further. Because we know an inanimate object is not evil in and of itself, but the person wielding it, that person could have passed a BGC to acquire their firearm 5, 10, 20 years ago. But today, they may have committed violent crimes in that span, maybe even been convicted of those crimes and squirreled away their firearms to a family member or friend, and now want to purchase or trade for a firearm. While my libertarian desires easily conclude that this is the price we pay for freedom, my more logical side says that having a BGC (while inconvenient and costly) makes sense.

The truly unfortunate reality in all this is that because the ATF only refers less than 1/10% of 4473 violations to a US Attorney for prosecution, it falls on the firearms dealers to weed out those who shouldn't have firearms. And those stories never make it on the news.

 

[Member 53328]

Just cause you have a gun doesn't mean you have a clean background…… the gun being traded may not even belong to them. Possibly stolen.

I'll get heat for this (don't care)….. but I actually am ok with the FFL process of transfers/BCGs now. Not because I think you should be required to do so but because of the position that the courts/judicial system are taking. Lots of weirdos and incels out there who want guns to act out fantasies. By me going through the process of transferring a firearm out of my name and into theirs I release all liability at that point. I dont know how well I would sleep if I saw the same guys face that I sold a gun to on the news the following day after he murdered his parents/kidnapped someone/shot up a school/etc with the gun I just traded or sold him.

Sure it may be just a mental relief for me but even if we went back to private party sales/trades I think I would still go through the transfer process with someone who was unknown to me. Hell I've refused to sell a gun to individuals just cause of their body language and what was coming out of their mouth… and that was at a FFL before the transfer process/paper work/cash had been initiated.