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Kamala Harris announces new office to implement ‘red flag’ gun control laws
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2024
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We need actual gun controll on a federal level. Even just a register and requirement for private sales to go thru an FFL for a background check would be huge.
Until we close the private sale loophole, gun laws do t mean shit.
There's a reason "new in box" guns get sold at a markup on the private market.
Hint: people that can't but at a store will pay a premium.
I like guns, but I have too many buddies who buy guns, then sell them less than a year later and brag about how good of businessmen they are for making profit. All theyre doing is likely funneling guns to people who can't pass background checks. There's just the plausible deniability on their end that if it's not legit, it's not their fault.
What I don't get is why not open up the 4473 form to people doing private sales? You could have it on a phone app even. It's not like an FFL isn't doing anything special, just calling in and reading your answers off the damn form.
Because lots of personal information ends up on there--often a social security number--and the seller/transferor is required to retain copies of the form in perpetuity. (I believe that when a gun store closes they are obligated to turn over their paper copies to the BATF.) It's paper intentionally, because they wanted to prevent the system from becoming a back-door registry; doing it electronically would mean that, either records wouldn't be retained, or you would be creating a de facto registry. Personally, I don't want some guy I met off Gun Broker to have a paper copy of all my PII floating around in his home forever.
There have been proposals that address this. The way it was handled is that the buyer puts their own info in the system on their end and it returns a token/code that is given to the seller. The seller enters the token and name then system gives a red light or green light. It doesn’t include the serial number of the gun or the identity of the seller, there is no retained record to be entered in a database. Just a go/no go response for the seller.
The proposal was rejected by democrats for not going far enough so instead we have nothing.
Ha. Yeah, rejected by Dems sounds about right. In my general experience, establishment Dems aren't going to be seriously on-board with anything that doesn't involve bans on models, features, or entire types of firearms. Kinda like Republicans aren't willing to accept any compromise on "border security" that doesn't completely ban non-white/non-christian people.
TBH, I'm deeply frustrated that Dems appear unwilling to seriously work for the kinds of changes in material circumstances that would affect rates of violent crime without enacting bans and registries. Even "liberal" cities like San Francisco are backsliding sharply.
I moved from the Seattle area to rural Oklahoma a year and a half ago. 5 years in WA made me not actually be mad about OK.
Probably because that would actually be effective.
There is no reason to add extra expense through an FFL. Just open the system up for all.
This really isn't the loophole that people think it is. If you buy new firearms with the intent to sell it, you're committing a felony. There was an airport executive killed in a gunfight with the BATF just this past week over just this (the BATF was serving a warrant because he was alleged to have been buying firearms with the intent of reselling them, despite not being an FFL holder and doing background checks; he opened fire on them, and predictably did not survive). This is the essence of what a straw purchase is.
Yes, but straw purchase laws are almost impossible to enforce. Buying with the intent to sell to a prohibited buyer is illegal, but good luck proving it.
Requiring all transfers to go through a background check makes it much more difficult. And it doesn't even have to involve an FFL - just either open NICS up to the public. Allow someone wanting to buy a gun to generate a code that's good for X days that they can give to a seller that can be verified along with their name in place of a background check.
It protects privacy by not allowing checks on random people, but does allow for background checks for private sales.
I used to work in gun sales, and the reality is that I was probably involved in a few straws. I actively tried to stop them, and even caught a few people trying it, but if someone just came in, passed a background check, and bought a gun I wouldn't have known any better. It was the people with the sketchy friend nodding and shaking their heads as I went from product to product or people exchanging cash on camera in front of the store that we caught. People who weren't idiots about it had no trouble.
Red flag laws do help a bit and they are the only real tool we have. Even if you’re saving a tiny fraction of the lives you could with real enforcement, you gotta do something. There’s just no path to federal gun control now
Explain what you mean here. Who is abusing red flag laws?
That doesn't answer the question though, who is abusing them? I don't see a lot of stories of them being abused. Many require a family member or a direct threat to issue so the proof isnt "zero"
Have you really never heard of the Black Panthers and similar groups? Those are the sorts of people these laws would be abused to disarm.
Explain like I'm a European -- what are red flag laws, and how do they hold up against 2A?
The short version is one is banned from owning or possessing guns based on accusations from others. The accusation does not necessarily need to be of a crime nor does evidence need to be provided. The accusation simply needs to be a 'red flag' (a term which means many different things in different areas). A common one is accusing one of being likely to commit a crime in the future.
They are not likely to fail a 2A challenge as the 5A challenge will be much easier to argue for a defendant. Barring one from exercising a right who has not been convicted of a crime is basically guaranteed to fail a 5A challenge.
Exactly. Let's not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Today's congress would be needed for more sweeping reforms (not going to happen right now) and the judiciary on that side too (not going to happen for a long time). They're doing what they can. It isn't much, but it's what they can do.