A Big Reason to be Anti-Background Check

The anti-freedom-types are always asking why we wouldn’t want to pass laws requiring background checks for all firearms.

This is a HUGE reason to be 100% against that!

Sometime early on Black Friday, the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, went down and stopped all gun sales, Bangor-area gun dealers said.

High call volumes caused “intermittent outages” in the system, an FBI spokesman confirmed Friday afternoon….Those who want to purchase a gun in the U.S. must fill out and sign FBI paperwork. The gun dealer then calls NICS to see if the buyer is barred by federal law from possessing firearms.

“The message is they are going to be down for a few hours,” McLeod said at about noon Friday.

Black Friday sales played a role in the problems with NICS, the director of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division said, responding to an email from the Bangor Daily News.

“The NICS has experienced intermittent outages today due to high call volumes,” Stephen G. Fischer Jr. said at about 2:15 p.m.

Lozier, who has worked at Van Raymond’s for more than a decade, said the outages cost him at least half a dozen customers by the time the business day was only half over.

“If we can’t call it in, we can’t sell a gun,” Lozier said. “It’s cost us some money.”…Another frustrating part of the FBI’s background check system, he added, is that gun dealers don’t know NICS is down until they try to call in.

“It’s happens every now and then,” Lozier said of the system being down. “And it doesn’t matter when it does — it’s an inconvenience.”

Yep, lots of gun sales on Black Friday like any other item, but with a single system handling all sales Nation-Wide (except for the few states that have their own individual systems…which have their own problems), means when it goes down EVERYBODY has to wait, or simply give up.

Sorry guys, but a right delayed is a right denied.

Also on a related note, January 2013 is when several of my carry permits expire. I got my paperwork in, but depending on how the delay hits me, it might mean a little wait before my new permits come in.

We’re talking about a THREE MONTH wait here, can you imagine the outrage if such a wait was for non-right permits like driver’s licensing, credit card renewals, or business licenses like liquor or other such things?

And the antis wonder why we push back!

h/t Vector

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21 Responses to A Big Reason to be Anti-Background Check

  1. Stan says:

    Some states allow for NICS exemptions for permit holders but most retail stores are either to rigid or simply to afraid to accept that so they require the magic phone call anyways.

    • Weerd Beard says:

      And I believe ALL of those states are the ones that have their own version of the FBI NICS.

      A few years ago the ENTIRE STATE of Pennsylvania went down for 24+ hours when the state updated their servers. Since PA doesn’t allow private sale of handguns ZERO handguns were sold that day legally….PERIOD.

    • Magus says:

      Texas is one. And it was great when I did a trade on Black Friday. Just gave my Texas CHL and didn’t have to deal with the NICS. Which the LGS guys liked, they didn’t have anything nice to say about them!

  2. JB says:

    Anti-background check?

    So you would be okay with felons, etc buying guns? I mean, I’m pro-2A all the way but even I can’t get my head wrapped around trying to roll that back.

    Won’t happen and, bluntly, shouldn’t happen.

    Now, if you want to get back to the idea of a possible delay in your CCW licensing – I’ll back that up every step of the way.

    • Jake says:

      So you would be okay with felons, etc buying guns? […] Won’t happen and, bluntly, shouldn’t happen.

      And why not? If we can’t trust them with a gun, then we can’t trust them with gasoline and matches, household cleaners, a 1+ ton automobile, or any of the other daily items they routinely have unrestricted and unmonitored access to – meaning that we can’t trust them outside of a jail cell without supervision.

      Besides, it’s not like NICS really prevents them from getting guns in the first place, is it?

    • WallPhone says:

      Few years back, a local felon from a ten-year old conviction shot and killed a pit-bull attacking his child.

      Police did not press charges (though, assume they confiscated the weapon). They were OK with his possession of the weapon at that point, I am too.

      Not all felons should be prohibited persons.

  3. Cargosquid says:

    Allowing felons to own guns…..
    Since when has a felon that wishes to use a gun to commit a crime needed to buy a legal firearm?
    Would society be any different today if there were no background checks and felons bought guns by the truck load? And if these felons ARE being stopped because of background checks…the very attempt to buy one is a crime. Where are the arrests?

    It is the misuse of the gun that is the crime. Owning and carrying does no harm. If a person wants a gun to commit crimes…they will do so.

    So, yes. Get rid of the background check. Allow those that wish to buy a gun to do so. If they are too dangerous to be on the street with a gun, then they should be in jail.

    • Weerd Beard says:

      Honestly I see Fellons/ other prohibited people owning guns the same way I see people who are illegal drug users.

      There are probably a few who play by the rules (and likely those are the exact people who SHOULDN’T be prohibited) but the rest just find their own way to get guns.

      I must say there are brash and irresponsible people. These are the people who are constantly getting arrested for barroom brawls, domestic violence, or other sundry disturbances.

      I guess those people probably aren’t the first people I’d want carrying guns. Still there are also people who have had a clean record for DECADES, but got nabbed with a joint, some coke, or maybe got into a serious brawl in their youth. Yet they stay prohibited.

      There is no clean solution, but one thing of note is the system is riddled with injustice due to both the blanket statement that felons are prohibited for life, and everything from landing short lobsters, to stealing pine mulch are felonies.

      I really don’t see the sky falling if we just open the proverbial “Flood gates” and ditch the NICS system.

      And again, the real violent scary beasts, are that scary, why are they out free?

  4. WildRiver says:

    @JB

    …”I mean, I’m pro-2A all the way”…

    You are not pro 2A, Shall not be infringed, is not modified by any exceptions, contains no unless clauses.

    • Scott Henrichs says:

      This X 1000
      Every single stinking gun law is unconstitutional.

      • Braden Lynch says:

        Scott is 1000X correct. It is an absolute right that should only be taken away while you are incarcerated. If someone is too violent or too crazy to be near a gun then they should be locked up. In the meantime, the government will manufacture reasons to deprive persons of firearms or to outlaw certain firearms. It is 50 caliber = scary, it’s black = scary, a bayonet lug = scary.

        Watch out for Obamacare to be used as a tool to ID gun owners and to cause them grief. The VA systems has had some issues I understand with mental health reporting, so expect something similar with the ACA.

  5. Robert says:

    Wouldn’t it be easier if the FFL holder could just input the information into a computer, himself, instead of passing it via telephone? Isn’t that rather old technology to be using here in the 21st century?

    • Weerd Beard says:

      If the online report tied into the NICS, sure. Still if the system goes down there’s nothing to be done. It can’t be done locally as the same guy who bought a gun last year might have been convicted of a crime last month and now be prohibited.

  6. Wally says:

    As a FFL holder, I got a heads up 2 weeks ago that part of the E-file 4473 system was going to be down for 12 hours on Nov 18th while they did some maintenance. Tough noogies if you needed it then…

    States that do have permits with licensing systems that meet NICS requirements do not require any NICS check for OTC firearm sales. I know MA was like this at least through 1998 when I escaped…

    3 months Weerd? That’s nothing- try NFA sometime!

  7. Dave says:

    What I don’t understand is that, in today’s technological age, why this isn’t completely web-based. Have each FFL get a login to an ATF/FBI Web portal, enter in all the crap we fill out on the form, and click a button… done!

    The response should be “YES” or “NO”, with a telephone call as a back-up for the “NO” responses to see what any details were, etc.

    I could see some potential for abuse – an FFL could use their login to check on anybody’s status – but what does that really tell you?

  8. Wally says:

    Abuse is risky. If a ffl calls in for a checkon someone who comes back naughty, he is in a world of hurt when the police arrive and look for a guy who was never there…. and faces a felony charge

  9. Archer says:

    Oregon law requires the State Police to perform the background check for all firearm sales. The irony is that the OSP is just running it through NICS anyway, and charging dealers $10 for the privilege (any guess who pays that in the end?).

    The nasty rub is that the OSP background check unit is severely understaffed, bottlenecks worse than NICS ever did, and the agency’s responses to complaints basically amount to, “Deal with it. You don’t like it? Tough.” And they’ve been pushing to raise the fee to $26.

    Thank heaven for private sales (where available).

    • Archer says:

      Need to amend that: Oregon law requires the State Police to perform the background check for all retail firearm sales.

      Like I said, thank heaven for private sales (where available).

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