Dems Push Fix for Nonexistent Gun ‘Loophole’
James Clyburn presented a bill to extend background checks out to 10 days.
Democrats have a long history of creating “problems” where none exist in order to justify their call for greater government regulation of Americans’ freedoms. And one of their favorite targets is the Second Amendment, which today’s Democrats view as an embarrassing relic of a bygone era that they would sooner eradicate if given the chance. So, in lieu of the politically impossible — repealing the Second Amendment — Democrats tout the need for greater gun control under the guise of “ending gun violence.”
Therefore, it came as no surprise when earlier this week House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) introduced “The Enhanced Background Check Act,” which he touted as needed to close the so-call “Charleston Loophole.” What is this “Charleston Loophole”? Well, it’s not a “loophole” in a legal sense at all, rather it’s an attempt to frame human error as a fatal flaw in the nation’s background-check system.
As David Harsanyi observes, “No ambiguity or inadequacy exists in the law simply because a mistake has undermined it. The FBI is empowered to retrieve a gun after it notices an error was made. If it fails to follow up, that’s a law-enforcement problem.” Which was what happened in the Dylann Roof case, when the FBI alerted local authorities who then failed to respond.
Clyburn’s bill would extend the current three-day time allowed for the completion of a firearms sale background check out to 10 days, needlessly delaying a law-abiding citizen from exercising their Second Amendment rights. In fact, the FBI has become ever-more efficient in processing background checks. Harsanyi further notes, “The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) processed more background checks this year than any year in history — and it wasn’t even close. The FBI doesn’t need ten days to run those checks, and it didn’t need ten days in 2015, either. Rather, it needed states and localities to enter criminal-possession charges into its system.”
Fortunately, Clyburn’s bill is unlikely to pass the Senate, should it even get through the House. But this is all about the Democrats attempting to move the “common sense” concept of gun control further in the direction of compromising Americans’ 2A liberties.
