The Best Gun Control Measure We Can Take

OK folks, I am a gun guy.  I certainly am not hiding that - but if you are not a gun person, you might just learn something from what I am about to communicate to you:

The Single Most Effective Thing We Can Do Is Fix Our Background Check System

Failures in the background check system can be placed in one of two categories:

First we have cases when the background check system failed in spite of the subject being legally convicted or committed.  Reasons range from the NICS system not placing a hold on the sale, to the person not being reported to the FBI.  Also included are cases where the person became prohibited, but no one required them to surrender or otherwise dispose of their firearms. Included in this category are these incidents (I will not mention the shooters name, here or anywhere):

• The Virginia Tech Shooting
• The Washington Navy Yard Shooting
• The Charleston Church Shooting
• The Sutherland Springs Church Shootings
• The 2011 Seal Beach Shooting (8 killed)

In short, a ton of these shooters should have never been able to buy a gun through legal channels.

Second, we have cases where law enforcement had ample opportunity to take action that would have resulted in the person becoming a prohibited person, but did not do so.  For instance, the Giffords shooter had between 22 and 25 police contacts for bizarre and threatening behavior.  He also was expelled from his Junior College for the same behavior and was told he could only re-enroll if he was cleared to do so by a mental health professional.  In spite of this, not even the college police, with whom he had many contacts, saw fit to send him in for mental health assessment.  Had he been sent in, he almost certainly would have been committed - and that would have resulted in his becoming a prohibited person.  In other cases, the shooter could have been arrested and likely convicted, for one or more felonies - also resulting in a lifetime prohibition:

• The Giffords Shooting
• The Parkland High School Shooting

Many other shootings may fall into one of the two categories above, but detailed information is not readily available.

So the single best gun control measure - and the easiest to pass - is to fix our broken background check system.  The NRA supports it, the gun industry supports it and gun control groups should support it.  There is a bipartisan bill in Congress right now - let's pass it.