Expelled student armed with assault rifle slaughters 17 at Florida high school

[Onkel Neal]

Over my lifetime, when there is a mass shooting or major gun crime like an assassination, the call for more "background checks" is raised. There have been more than a few laws as a result, but apparently they were a bad idea, they sure don't seem to be working.

The Gun Control Act of 1968 mandated that individual and corporate firearms dealers have a Federal Firearms License. It was very weak and I doubt it had much effect on keeping firearms out of the hands of criminals and lunatics.

In 1998 the National Instant Criminal Background Check System went into effect, and was intended to stop firearm sales a "prohibited person", which is someone who:

• Has been convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;
• Is under indictment for a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;
• Is a fugitive from justice;
• Is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance;
• Has been adjudicated as a mental defective or committed to a mental institution;
• Is illegally or unlawfully in the United States;
• Has been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions;
• Having been a citizen of the United States, has renounced U.S. citizenship;
• Is subject to a court order that restrains the person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner or child of such intimate partner;
• Has been convicted in any court of a "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence"

In the last few years these mass shootings have often been a result of the failure of government (state, local, federal, armed forces) to administer the background checks properly. So, sure, we could pass more laws and improve background checks, but how much help will this be if they are not managed faithfully? I'm open to improvements in this system, but I don't think it will be a magical solution.