The Patriot Post® · Is the Firearm Background Check System Broken?

After last Thursday’s Lafayette theater shooting, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal called on the nation to bolster background checks for anyone seeking to purchase a firearm. “I think every state should strengthen their laws,” the Republican presidential candidate said. “Every state should make sure this information is being reported in the background system. We need to make sure that background system is working. Absolutely, in this instance, this man never should have been able to buy a gun.” John Houser cleared his background check when he bought a .40-caliber High-Point handgun from an Alabama pawn shop. But this was after Houser was denied a concealed cary permit in 2006 after he was charged with domestic violence and soliciting arson. It was also after his family committed him involuntarily for psychiatric care in Georgia in 2008. Jindal continued, “In Louisiana, we toughened our laws a couple of years ago. If he had been involuntarily committed here, if he had tried to buy that gun here, he wouldn’t have been allowed to do that.” While Jindal used the inexact phrase “strengthen their laws,” his view is similar to that of Nick Leghorn at The Truth About Guns blog, as both of them believe the current system is broken and must be fixed. Houser likely lied about his history of mental illness on ATF Form 4473, but that lie should have been caught. The system failed because of human error, like it did before the Charleston shooting.