To most people, the word loophole has a negative connotation. It implies that someone has found a way around something.
When Democrats talk about the gun show loophole, corporate tax loopholes, or the loophole that allows the automatic approval of a gun sale if the FBI fails to provide a background check within 3 days, they are actually talking about laws, passed by Congress and signed by various Presidents, allowing certain things to happen.
Take the so-called gun show loophole referred to by Democrats. This is actually the legal right of a private party to transfer a gun to another private party by sale, gift, inheritance, or loan without the receiving party having to go through a background check. This is how the law is written. And, it doesn't matter if the "transfer" takes place at a gun show, in someone's home, or out of the back of a car. Now, understand, the law also has some serious caveats in the transfer of a firearm that could cause the original owner to be charged with a felony. Those caveats are simply that you can't transfer a gun to another party if you know that party couldn't, themselves, pass a background check, or you are aware that the gun will be used in the commission of a crime.
Then, there are the corporate tax loopholes that both Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders like to talk about. Again, these aren't loopholes. These are tax breaks given by Congress to corporations as incentives. For example, incentives to find more domestic oil and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Or, to write off the cost of making corporate owned buildings more energy efficient. Or, the accelerated depreciation of certain capital expenses. Believe me, if a corporation does skirt the law, the Internal Revenue Service will be all over it and would advise Congress to ange the law.
Now, Democrat Representative James Clyburn wants to close what he defines as another gun-sale related loophole. This newly minted loophole is the "default proceed rule" under the Brady Bill that allows a gun sale to proceed if the FBI doesn't provide a result to the background check within 3 days. If it was up to Clyburn, you could die waiting for an FBI background check to be completed.
The fact is that Democrats are using the word "loophole" as a disingenuous means to force legislation that would reverse laws that they don't like. That's why every time they want to close such "loopholes" they can get legislation passed because closing them would result in broader consequences.
References:
Definition of Loophole: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/loophole
The Facts about Gun Shows: http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/facts-about-gun-shows
Eliminate all oil and gas tax loopholes - PolitiFact: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/2/eliminate-all-oil-and-gas-tax-loopholes/
Congressman introduces bill to close loophole that allowed alleged Charleston shooter to buy gun: http://www.businessinsider.com/charleston-shooting-gun-control-bill-2015-7
Showing posts with label gun show. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gun show. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Monday, October 12, 2015
The Pretense That a Gun Show Loophole Is Fueling Firearm Violence
Currently, there is no federal law prohibiting the transference of a firearm by sale, or inheritance, or by gift between two private parties. As such, no background check is required. Federal law only prohibits the transfer if the person receiving the firearm is intending to commit a crime or is knowingly unable to pass a background check as in the case of a known felon seeking a weapon.
Thus, one spouse can buy a licensed gun for their home without the other spouse needing a background check to use it. Or, you can give a gun to someone for their protection if they are under the threat of bodily harm, without that person having go through the up to 3-day background check process before having possession of a newly purchased gun. Or, a hunter may borrow another hunter's firearm to try it out without going through the process of a background check.
And, yes, a gun collector can take his antique collection of firearms to a gun show and sell all or single items to another private party without the need of a background check for each item sold. This fact, of course, is what Democrats and other gun control advocates call the "gun show loophole". Thus, to the average person, the implication is that criminals and potential mass shooters are buying weapons at gun shows in order to mow down people at schools or movie theaters, or for their use in the commission of a crime.
However, the above assumption that criminals and crazed mass killers are buying weapons at gun shows is false, and is a political pretense for having universal background checks for the very same situations that I noted in the second paragraph.
The reality is that criminals don't obtain their weapons at gun shows. 99.9% of guns purchased at those events are sold by federally licensed gun dealers, who by federal law, are required to obtain background checks on every sale or lose their license. In fact, a 2004 Department of Justice survey of 18,000 inmates at federal and state prisons found that only 16.8% or 3024 had a weapon on them at the time of arrest. Of those 3024, only eight-tenths of a percent said it was purchased at a gun show. That's just 24 inmates who bought their weapons at a gun show. Also, 40% said they had bought guns illegally on the streets. Only, 9.9% said they had purchased their guns from a licensed pawn shop or gun retailer.
Gun shows are also not the source for weapons used by mass shooters. In a news article appearing in the New York Times titled "How They Got Their Guns", the writer analyzed the last 14 most horrific mass shootings and found that in every case, the weapons used were legally obtained at gun stores and not gun shows.
So, the bottom line is that gun shows are a minuscule part of this country's gun violence problem, though Democrats still want to use the gun show loophole to their political advantage. They tell their base to blame Republicans for not closing this so-called loophole. A loophole that allows private citizens to exchange guns among themselves; not just at gun shows, but anywhere; the vast majority of which won't be used in the commission of any crime.
References:
Senate Democrats as they demand new gun-control laws: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/8/armed-guards-protect-senate-democrats-they-demand-/
Gun show loophole: https://www.google.com/search?q=gun+show+loophole&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
Justice Department Study: Page 13: Firearm Use By Offenders: Table 14: http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/fv9311.pdf
How They Got Their Guns: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/03/us/how-mass-shooters-got-their-guns.html?_r=0
Thus, one spouse can buy a licensed gun for their home without the other spouse needing a background check to use it. Or, you can give a gun to someone for their protection if they are under the threat of bodily harm, without that person having go through the up to 3-day background check process before having possession of a newly purchased gun. Or, a hunter may borrow another hunter's firearm to try it out without going through the process of a background check.
And, yes, a gun collector can take his antique collection of firearms to a gun show and sell all or single items to another private party without the need of a background check for each item sold. This fact, of course, is what Democrats and other gun control advocates call the "gun show loophole". Thus, to the average person, the implication is that criminals and potential mass shooters are buying weapons at gun shows in order to mow down people at schools or movie theaters, or for their use in the commission of a crime.
However, the above assumption that criminals and crazed mass killers are buying weapons at gun shows is false, and is a political pretense for having universal background checks for the very same situations that I noted in the second paragraph.
The reality is that criminals don't obtain their weapons at gun shows. 99.9% of guns purchased at those events are sold by federally licensed gun dealers, who by federal law, are required to obtain background checks on every sale or lose their license. In fact, a 2004 Department of Justice survey of 18,000 inmates at federal and state prisons found that only 16.8% or 3024 had a weapon on them at the time of arrest. Of those 3024, only eight-tenths of a percent said it was purchased at a gun show. That's just 24 inmates who bought their weapons at a gun show. Also, 40% said they had bought guns illegally on the streets. Only, 9.9% said they had purchased their guns from a licensed pawn shop or gun retailer.
Gun shows are also not the source for weapons used by mass shooters. In a news article appearing in the New York Times titled "How They Got Their Guns", the writer analyzed the last 14 most horrific mass shootings and found that in every case, the weapons used were legally obtained at gun stores and not gun shows.
So, the bottom line is that gun shows are a minuscule part of this country's gun violence problem, though Democrats still want to use the gun show loophole to their political advantage. They tell their base to blame Republicans for not closing this so-called loophole. A loophole that allows private citizens to exchange guns among themselves; not just at gun shows, but anywhere; the vast majority of which won't be used in the commission of any crime.
References:
Senate Democrats as they demand new gun-control laws: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/8/armed-guards-protect-senate-democrats-they-demand-/
Gun show loophole: https://www.google.com/search?q=gun+show+loophole&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
Justice Department Study: Page 13: Firearm Use By Offenders: Table 14: http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/fv9311.pdf
How They Got Their Guns: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/03/us/how-mass-shooters-got-their-guns.html?_r=0
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