Friday, March 22, 2013

Here’s what’s holding up a gun bill (Hint: It’s not the assault weapons ban)

Here’s what’s holding up a gun bill (Hint: It’s not the assault weapons ban) "Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer and Republican Sen. Tom Coburn have been negotiating this issue, and on most of it they’ve very, very close to a deal. But there’s one sticking point: Record-keeping. Schumer wants a record kept of the background check. Coburn won’t agree to anything of the kind."

"The case for record-keeping is twofold. The first argument is compliance. If we’re not keeping records, how can we be sure anybody is complying?…The second argument is that the records are needed so law enforcement can trace the history of guns that end up in crimes."

"The argument against this kind of record-keeping appears to be a bit hazy. There’s a principles-based claim, which is that gun ownership is a constitutional right and, therefore, onerous burdens on law-abiding citizens are simply wrong. That’s a bit hard to square with the fact that most gun sales go through exactly this process today and that guns are perfectly easy to get. Prominent Republicans will admit, off the record, that they’re catering to fear and paranoia that the NRA has whipped up about the creation of a national gun registry that would, eventually, be used to take away everyone’s guns — or worse."

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