Massad Ayoob's Blog, page 131

IN THE MATTER OF ENDING PRIVATE TRANSFERS

To the general public, the proposal to end private transfers of firearms appears sensible and harmless.

Professionals in the field know otherwise.

My friend Steve Denney, host of the ProArms Podcast  had the following to say in a blog comment here recently. Steve has decades of experience in public safety service – SWAT cop and police supervisor, among other things, and now manager of the ProArms Gun Shop – and his advice is born in wisdom. It bears repeating.

Those who think “universal” background checks are an acceptable compromise should keep in mind that the government, meaning BATFE, already considers that any change of possession of a firearm constitutes a “transfer.” Unless universal background checks are limited to permanent change of ownership of a firearm, simply loaning a gun to someone, sharing a gun with someone in your family (such as a family heirloom) or agreeing to store someone’s guns (such as a family member who needs to leave guns behind during a military deployment or a temporary business transfer), would all require a background check, and the resultant fees, each time the guns change hands. If the checks were only required on actual change of ownership, it could be workable. But allowing for non-ownership transfers (without a background check) would then be seen as another “loophole” by the anti-gun people. Any such compromise would need to be carefully researched by people knowledgeable of how the “system” works, or the unintended consequences could be unnecessarily burdensome. So far, analysis of laws by knowledgeable people seems problematic.

We keep hearing that 40% of gun acquisitions are made without background checks. While that figure strikes me as somewhat high (and the research behind it awfully weak), understand that it includes gifts from parents and friends. Guns are popular retirement gifts in law enforcement, for example. It also includes a great many inherited guns.  I cherish the guns bequeathed to me by my father and grandfather, and my will provides for significant other, my kids, and some friends to get mine when I’m gone. These would now be subject to government-recorded transfer if the proposed new laws pass.  Indeed, depending how those laws are worded, you’d need to go through a government-approved transfer to LOAN your rifle to your brother to go deer hunting, or your shotgun to a neighbor to take to the range for a round of Obama-approved skeet shooting, as Steve wisely pointed out.

The newspapers are full of the fact that during the recent surge of panic buying, the NICS system for background check was hellaciously backed up, with waits that ranged from hours to days for the promised and legally mandated “instant check.”  What’s going to happen when that system is overburdened with the huge and sudden increase in traffic that will come if transfers between good, law-abiding people are now subjected to needless background checks?

The proposed “closing of the gun show loophole” is far less simple, and far less benign, than it has been presented to be by the anti-gun crusaders.

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BEEN A HELLUVA WEEK

Sorry to have been away from the blog so long, but from the afternoon of Sunday, February 3 to the early morning hours of Saturday, February 9, I was involved in the premeditated murder trial of an armed citizen who killed a man who violently attacked him. On Friday, the jury came in with a complete acquittal.  At least one happy ending for an otherwise ugly week.

On the larger front, news was much grimmer.  We learned that the madman who murdered Navy SEAL hero Chris Kyle and another man, both of whom were trying to help the slayer cope with PTSD, had been set loose on society after threatening murder and suicide last September. In the rush to symbolically pillory gun owners, media and legislators largely ignore the real problem: homicidal maniacs who need to be institutionalized, and aren’t.

At this writing, Christopher Dorner remains at large. This extremely dangerous fugitive, who claims to be very heavily armed, is a fascinating study of good, evil, and madness.  His Facebook artifacts show he had a lot of ego investment in being a member of two forces of good, the United States Navy and the Los Angeles Police Department.  Feeling wronged when he failed at both, he embarked on a murder spree that is the very antithesis of the heroes he identified with.  Once a designated, uniformed protector of the innocent, he now murdered two helpless people: the daughter of a cop he didn’t think had done enough for him, and her fiancé. Nothing less than absolute evil. He then opened fire on police officers from cowardly ambush, murdering one, and fled when they returned fire. Dorner’s actions set the stage for a tragic mistaken identity shooting subsequently by police.

Dorner sent a “manifesto” to CNN, damning the private ownership of AR15 rifles, “high capacity” magazines and the like, and praising Piers Morgan and the White House for their anti-gun efforts, while committing murder with the same type of weapons. He apparently feels his hurt feelings justify the murder of those who’ve done him no harm, and that of course is madness, as seen through the prism of common sense if not through that of the M’Naghten precedent.

But then, the same hypocrisy – take things away from law-abiding citizens, because monsters use them to murder those self-same law-abiding citizens – is shared by supposedly sane people in positions of power.  I’m told that some of the media have soft-pedaled the spree-killer’s praise for the anti-gunners, but you can read the whole manifesto HERE.

Dorner’s murderous spree is unlikely to end well.  I see a possibility, though, that he’ll turn himself in to one of his heroes, perhaps Piers Morgan; there’s enough narcissism in his “manifesto” that he might want to live to praise himself longer and more publicly, like the recent mass-murderer in Norway, instead of dying in a sick “blaze of glory.”  Time will tell.

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WHY CIVILIANS NEED WHAT SOME POLITICIANS DON’T WANT THEM TO HAVE: ANOTHER VIEW

Marty Hayes, JD, is a world-famous firearms instructor and shooting champion. He’s the founder of the Firearms Academy of Seattle, and of the Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network. I’ve had the privilege of working with him for decades.

He has granted permission to pass along this link http://armedcitizensnetwork.org/our-journal/281-february-2013 to his editorial in the new issue of the ACLDN’s member newsletter. Having studied, lectured, and written on personal defense issues for decades, and after a long career in law enforcement from patrolman to chief, Hayes’ perspective carries a lot of weight.

Feel free to pass this along to others, along with anything else useful you might find in the Backwoods Home blog.  The word needs to get out to a public that has been horrendously misinformed on this and related issues.

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