More than 50 people were killed and hundreds were injured in Las Vegas last weekend, so now it’s time to have that one-sided discussion on gun control again. Mr Paddock, the shooter, confined himself to the gun laws in preparation for his dastardly deed, so now we have to hear all of the old canards about “gun show loopholes”, “universal background checks”, “silencers” and how the NRA is the root of all evil in the world.<\/p>\n
First, Jimmy Kimmel, there is no “gun show loophole”. If you buy a gun from a licensed gun dealer at a gun show, you are still subjected to NCICS background checks. I know – I’ve bought two scary, black, semi-automatic guns at gun shows and went through background checks both times. <\/p>\n
If you buy from an unlicensed seller, he won’t make you go through background checks, but he wouldn’t make you go through background checks if he sells the gun to you at his yard sale, either. The FBI interviewed criminals in prison about how they acquired their guns and less than 1% of them admitted that they bought the guns through private sales at gun shows.<\/p>\n
On his show the other night, Kimmel said that 70% of Republicans want background checks. Of course they do, I want background checks. There are already universal background checks and I want that system to remain in place. I don’t want people with criminal backgrounds to own or possess guns. That’s easy.<\/p>\n
What Kimmel and his crowd want as far a background checks is a NCICS check for private sales, because sales through a dealer are already subject to background checks. That will never happen. No one is going to drag their neighbor to a gun dealer and wait the half hour to go through checks when all they have to do hand over the gun in exchange for money. Neither is the guy who sells guns illegally to criminals out of the trunk of his car in a dark parking lot going to force them to go through NCICS. He doesn’t make them fill out the BATFE paperwork, either, nor does he keep a record of his sales.<\/p>\n
Why are we even talking about so-called silencers? They don’t silence anything, except in the movies. They’re called suppressors for a reason.<\/p>\n
And bump-stocks aren’t all that easy to fire accurately. Paddock probably killed a lot fewer people because he couldn’t aim well enough with his stupid bump stock. Think about it – how do you maintain a stable firing stance when the rifle jumps back-and-forth against your shoulder? <\/p>\n