GUNS DON'T KILL PEOPLE, OR DO THEY?

[HairOfTheDog]

I want people to have to jump through hoops in order to purchase a gun. Period. I want people punished to the max for dealing guns to their friends and family without the proper paperwork. I want people jailed for buying guns for others who won't pass any kind of checks. I want people to pay for their irresponsible behavior.

Yeah, I do too.

I agree with those who contend that authorities should more consistently and aggressively enforce the existing laws as well. That would, in my opinion, reduce gun violence by known criminals more than anything else.

But, the new gun controls being pushed by Obama and his team will help prevent some gun violence in the future, in my opinion. That's important to me.

^ The team working on the Executive Actions with Obama: Counsel to the President Neil Eggleston, acting ATF Director Thomas Brandon, Attorney General Lynch, FBI Director James Comey, White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates

It's difficult for me to imagine a rational argument against these new measures, for example.

Snip:
The new guidance will impact sellers off and online. 'Now it's important to note that the hobbyist and collectors exception is still there and it will still be used as it was intended, ' (Attorney General) Lynch added. 'But people will no longer be able to hide behind that.'

White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett said that the ATF will make clear that 'facts and circumstances' determine whether an individual is 'engaged in the business of dealing in firearms.'

'Facts such as, whether you represent yourself as a dealer, such as making business cards or taking credit card payments, whether you sell firearms shortly after they're acquired and whether you buy or sell in the original packaging,' Jarrett said.

ATF will also issue a rule requiring background checks for individuals trying to buy 'some of the most dangerous weapons,' as the White House put it, through a trust, corporation or other legal entity.

The agency is working on an additional rule that would compel dealers to notify law enforcement if their guns are lost or stolen in transit.

For the background checks, the FBI is working to hire 230 more examiners and possibly schedule examiners to be working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to keep up with the increased demand.

As the law stands now, if a background check doesn't come back within three days, the gun sale goes through (HOTD: this is why Dylann Roof was able to acquire the gun he used to kill 9 churchgoers in South Carolina.)

President Obama is also asking for $500 million to be devoted to mental health and working towards enacting measures that would allow/prompt states to report the names of potentially dangerous mentally ill persons into the NICS background checking database. (HOTD: this one, in my opinion, is tricky and I do have privacy and discrimination concerns regarding non-violent mentally ill; it would need to be done with a lot of attention and detail.)

Ref: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...z3wOWIzqDJ