Background Checks Bill Would Turn Many Well-intentioned Americans Into Criminals

Let’s say a stalker threatens a female friend of yours. She asks you if she can borrow your handgun. She is trained and has no criminal record. Should you loan her your gun?

Under a bill being heard today before the House Judiciary Committee, loaning her your gun soon could land you in prison. An exception is made only for cases of “imminent” danger — where her stalker is right in front of her at that very moment. Even those annual Boy Scout shooting trips will face legal dangers. Adults who lend troops their guns for a day might soon find themselves in prison.

Those are just a couple of the hidden consequences if Congress passes the bill just submitted by Democrat Congressman Mike Thompson. Everyone wants to keep criminals from getting guns. But the current background check system is a mess. It primarily disarms our most vulnerable citizens, particularly law-abiding minorities. Virtually every time the government stops someone from buying a gun, it is a mistake. We’re not talking here about preventing guns from falling into the wrong hands — these are people who legally can buy a gun.

Gun control advocates keep claiming that federal background checks have stopped 3 million dangerous or prohibited people from buying a gun. However, what they should say is that there were 3 million “initial denials.” Relying on phonetically similar names along with birth dates doesn’t allow for much accuracy.