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Originally Posted by ShaniFaye
Yes DC thats exactly what I meant.
I am confused now though....there is no waiting period anymore? I thought one of the purposes of that was to deal with "heat of the moment" purchases...or is that something different?
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Shani....the federal waiting period was a victim of politics in the original Brady Bill. The only way the NRA (and the many members of Congress it controls) had agreed to support the bill was if it included the provision to waive the waiting period once the NICS was in place....even though the NRA was on record earlier:
"A waiting period could help in reducing crimes of passion and in preventing people with criminal records or dangerous mental illness from acquiring guns."
-- NRA Fact Book on Firearms Control, 1976
BTW, the House passed a bill today to improve the background check system.
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The House moved swiftly Wednesday to fix flaws in the national gun background check system that allowed the Virginia Tech shooter to buy guns despite his mental health problems.
The legislation, passed by voice vote, was endorsed by the National Rifle Association, boosting its chances of becoming the first major gun control law in more than a decade.
The measure would require states to automate their lists of convicted criminals and the mentally ill who are prohibited under a 1968 law from buying firearms, and report those lists to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS.
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The legislation requires state and federal agencies to transmit all relevant disqualifying records to the NICS database. It also provides $250 million a year over the next three years to help states meet those goals and it imposes penalties - including cuts in federal grants under an anti-crime law - on states that fail to meet benchmarks for automating their systems and supplying information to the NICS.
The NRA insisted it was not gun control legislation because it does nothing to restrict legal rights to buy guns. (interesting semantics...better background checks are part of gun control)
The NRA has supported the NICS since its inception in 1993, said Wayne LaPierre, the organization's executive vice president. "We've always been vigilant about protecting the rights of law-abiding citizens to purchase guns, and equally vigilant about keeping the guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally defective and people who shouldn't have them."
.... the Gun Owners of America, which said on its Web page that it was the only national pro-gun organization to oppose the McCarthy bill.
http://apnews.myway.com//article/200...D8PO4J500.html
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I assume Bush will sign it if it reaches his desk since he is on record for supporting the Brady Bill as well as background checks at gun shows, trigger locks and age restrictions on gun purchases:
Q: Do you support the Brady Bill?
BUSH: Law-abiding citizens ought to be allowed to protect their families. We ought to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them. That’s why I’m for instant background checks at gun shows. I’m for trigger locks. I think we ought to raise the age at which juveniles can have a gun. I also believe that the best way to make sure that we keep our society safe is to hold people accountable for breaking the law. If we catch somebody illegally selling a gun, there needs to be a consequence. The federal government can help.
http://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/Geo...un_Control.htm
Yikes....I agree with Bush on both gun control and immigration reform!