Finally what all US citizens have been awaiting - the US Senate to debate gun control issues. The vote to debate was 68-31 on President Barack Obama's proposals to expand background checks for gun buyers, tighten restrictions on gun trafficking and increase funding for school security.
I am truly still affected by Sandy Hook Elementary School mass murder. Twenty children and six adult staff members die because of a mentally ill man, Adam Lanza. This mass shooting was the second deadliest by a single person in American history, after the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre. The murder, Seung-Hui Cho, a senior at Virginia Tech, shot and killed 32 people and wounded 17 others. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , a Democrat said the expanded background checks, a provision that polls show has the support of up to 90 percent of Americans and will be the first amendment offered in debate.
The expand background checks for gun buyers include purchases made at gun shows and online sales of firearms. Bill S649 would impose penalties on states that do not add records of felons and the mentally ill to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
The current first step to buying a gun is a prospective purchaser's name is input into a government database called NICS which is a point-of-sale system for determining eligibility to purchase a firearm in the United States of America. The Federal Firearms Licensees (FFL) determines if a gun buyer is eligible to buy firearms or explosives. Another way to check a background is the participating Federal Firearms Licensees can call a toll-free telephone number to request a background check. The Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Form 4473 , is used to determine if that potential gun buyer has a criminal record, not a felon, a fugitive and illegal alien or mentally ill. FFL holders are generally required by law to use the NICS to determine if it is legal to sell a firearm to a prospective purchaser.
In the last decade, the NICS website states a 100 million checks have been processed and more than 700,000 denials. The FFL provides full service to 30 states, five U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia. NICS is customarily available 17 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays (except for Christmas).
US Citizens look to 30 hours of Senate debate ahead and it could be days, weeks before we see a vote on the gun control bill. No gun control bill, or set of proposals, will ever stop all gun crime but expanding background check by using technology to impose penalties on states can possibly stop a gun(s) from going into the wrong hands. Since owning a weapon can affect me, my family or friends every time a person puts a weapon in their hands - I want gun control. The last major gun legislation passed the US Congress in 1994.
via Examiner National Edition Gadgets & Tech Channel Articles http://www.examiner.com/article/potential-gun-control-ownership-should-start-with-an-expanded-background-check?cid=roadrunner