Insights from CNN news

This first article is amazingly balanced for a CNN gun article. Here were some of the positive highlights:

“FBI reported 71,000 instances of people lying on their background checks to buy guns. But the Justice Department prosecuted just 77 cases  (1/10th of 1%)”
 
NRA’s Project Exile… “ended up cutting the “gun carry” rate in half and reducing the murder rate in Richmond by more than 60%. The five-year mandatory sentence for committing a crime with an illegal gun changed criminal behavior”
 
 “states have made only limited progress in reporting the critical mental health information, primarily because Congress has failed to provide the necessary funding, granting just 5.3% of the total authorized amount during the Obama years.”
 
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/10/opinion/avlon-obama-gun-control/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7

This second article follows the trend that most of us gun activists are aware of.  The #1 problem in the U.S. regarding guns is NOT a lack of laws and regulations. But a failure to enforce, fund or apply the existing ones. It’s flabbergasting when you see convicted felons with multiple “possession” charges.  Or the fact that individuals who are listed as mentally unstable are not being added to the “prohibited persons” list.

“Some states have backlogs of thousands of felons who are never registered on lists aimed at helping prevent dangerous weapons from getting into their hands, he noted.”

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/10/politics/gun-control-battle/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Meanwhile, the media fails to address or even note the concerns of the gun community. Why are we opposed to those who are on the terrorist watchlist or no fly list being prohibited persons?

Because those lists in their current forms are unconstitutional. There is no due process for being added to them. And no due process or recourse for being removed. When we prohibit an 18 month old from flying because they’re on the NO FLY list. And there is no recourse to clearing their name, of course we’re going to reject it’s usage.

Guess what, if a bill was proposed that provided a due process as to how and why an individual was added to said lists, and a due process and recourse for being removed when wrongly added. I think most gun owners would support it being a prohibitive list. But that’s not how those lists work, and as such. We oppose their usage…