Perhaps the best approach to universal background checks is

[Glaug-Eldare]

16. Same way it's enforced where it's already the law, I suppose.

Last edited Thu Aug 22, 2013, 06:36 PM - Edit history (1)

Some illicit transfers still occur, and that's going to be the case as long as two people can find a place with no police or informers around. Laws like this create a culture where the majority of people, who want to obey the law, simply don't violate it. They use FFLs, they use the state police (here, anyway), they get the check done and don't think any more of it. Some grumble about it, but the vast majority of sellers will ultimately comply. The enforcement isn't as difficult as you may think, because people who have to buy guns illegally are often using them to commit other crimes, or carrying them during the commission of other crimes, or otherwise drawing police attention to themselves. This law can't and won't stop gun theft and transfers among gangs or other habitual criminals, but it does create a barrier against disqualified people who don't have these contacts but want to buy a gun anyway. In the past, they may have been able to fool one of their neighbors or somebody on a message board into reasonably believing that they're legal to purchase, but they can't fool a NICS check.