On Monday, Governor Doug Ducey released his controversial Safe Arizona Schools Plan. On the same day, Rep. Todd Clodfelter announced his plan to establish a system for voluntary background checks for private firearm sales with the cooperation of statewide firearm dealers.
According to Clodfelter’s press release, his “voluntary system would encourage and enable individuals making private firearm transactions to use a licensed firearm dealer at no cost to conduct background checks on the individual wishing to purchase a firearm from another individual.”
“Background Check,” turns a constitutional right into a government privilege, and are a prior restraint against an enumerated right,” Charles Heller of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL) to the Arizona Daily Independent (ADI) in an email. “Most of the recent mass murderers have passed background checks from Sugarland Texas to Parkland Florida.”
“Background check” is a fraud, in order to get all private transactions on paper,” argued Heller. “There is ZERO method to enforce them.”
“Federally licensed dealers are the jurisdiction of the federal government, and there is no way for them to do a background check without taking the gun into their inventory on their books,” explained Heller. “They cannot give the gun back without a background check on the person who gave it to them. What a mess! Furthermore, Arizona doesn’t have the jurisdiction to “authorize” it.”
“It is also irrational to believe that someone who is willing to commit murder, will obey a background check requirement if they already have a disabling conviction, and no reason they would not pass a background check if they didn’t,” wrote Heller. “Either way, it does not stop the bad guy from getting a gun.”
Heller asked, “Why not spend the effort finding and processing the bad guys through the existing process in ARS 36-520 through 526? Much better use of time and energy.”
Clodfelter claimed his proposal allows individuals to “ensure that the recipient is lawfully able to possess a firearm, and the transaction can be conducted in a safe, public environment as well,” said Representative Clodfelter.
Rep. Bob Thorpe stated, “Infringing upon our 2nd Amendment Constitutional rights has never and will never stop people who want to harm others, and gun control laws typically only restrict law abiding citizens.” Please read this terrific article, Here Are 8 Stubborn Facts on Gun Violence in America, concerning the facts surrounding gun ownership and the declining violence within our nation. In the article, you’ll read that suicides and illegal gun use make up a huge percentage of gun-related deaths, and that people who have a Concealed Weapons Permit are less likely to commit crimes than even police officers.”