Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) introduced universal background check legislation to expand retail point-of-sale background checks to private sales as well.
On February 14, 2021, Biden urged legislators to put forward universal background check legislation and on February 18, 2021, Breitbart News noted Murphy was expected to do it.
Universal checks criminalize law-abiding citizens who sell a 5-shot revolver to a lifelong neighbor unless that neighbor first seeks out a Federal Firearms License (FFL) holder and undergoes an FBI background check.
On the other hand, such checks do not impact criminals as they do not typically buy their guns from legal sources.
In fact, such checks have been in place in California since the 1990s yet shooting victims in South Los Angeles surged 742 percent during the first 16 days of 2021 alone.
The key with universal background checks is they lead to other gun controls, such as government-mandated rationing of firearm purchases, which now exists in California.
Moreover, on January 24, 2021, Breitbart News pointed out universal background checks are unenforceable without a gun registry. This is because such checks are presented as a way to track every gun sale in the country, retail or private. To do this, the government must first know where every gun sits currently. This leads to firearm registration, which now exists in California as well.
CBS News reported Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) is cosponsoring Murphy’s bill.
Blumenthal commented on the legislation, saying, “The American people are responding to a political movement that has resulted from Parkland, Sandy Hook, Las Vegas — the shorthand of tragedies that have caused this political movement to be a force that has met this moment of reckoning.”
Ironically, universal background checks would not have stopped any of the three mass shootings mentioned by Blumenthal. That is because in two of them–Parkland and Las Vegas–the attackers passed background checks for guns. In the third, Sandy Hook, the attacker stole his gun, so no amount of point-of-sale background checks would have mattered.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
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