Almost all guns are sold by licensed dealers, who are required to clear every sale through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Requiring “universal background checks” on private sales, according to the National Institute of Justice, involves one additional step: “effectiveness depends on ... requiring gun registration.” So that’s the necessary next step. But don’t hold your breath waiting for criminals and crazies to do background checks on each other.As for “assault weapons”—the propagandistic euphemism for common semiautomatic rifles possessed by millions of Americans—President Bill Clinton signed a law in 1994 banning them; it expired 10 years later. The law was not renewed when the data showed it had no effect on crime. Since it did nothing, why not enact yet another useless version?
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