Background Checks Are Not the Answer to Gun Violence
A very well written article printed in the New York Times regarding background checks, and how to improve them.Everyone needs to read this article, so that they are well informed, and conversant on the subject.
Background Checks Are Not the Answer to Gun Violence
By John Lott
New York Times-Op-Ed
February 12th. 2018
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A handgun buyer filling out background check paperwork in Florida in 2016. Credit Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Quote:
With each mass shooting, calls rise from gun control advocates for tighter rules on firearms. The go-to policy prescription involves background checks. But a measure passed by the House and being considered in the Senate to expand the National Instant Criminal Background Check System would not only fail to fix major flaws in the system but would also probably introduce new ones.
The background check measures before Congress aim to improve enforcement of existing law and increase such reporting by imposing financial penalties on government officials whose agencies fail to provide required information.
That’s a good goal, but any proposal should also fix another major problem with the background check system: false positives that stop law-abiding people from getting weapons that they might need to protect themselves and their families.
The background check system confuses the names of law-abiding individuals with those of criminals, resulting in thousands of “false positives” every year. Relying on phonetically similar names along with birth dates just doesn’t allow for much accuracy.
We do need to fix the background check system. But let’s really fix it. Let’s make sure that rare cases like Devin Kelley can’t slip through the cracks, but let’s also make sure that the government stops preventing millions of law-abiding citizens from buying guns for protection. Adding more names without fixing these problems will only disarm law-abiding Americans.
:thup:
