Warning to Nevada Gun Owners: “Everytown Ain’t Our Town”

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Bloomberg’s background check initiative a backdoor gun grab to disarm Nevadans

Bloomberg’s background check initiative a backdoor gun grab to disarm Nevadans

(Don Turner) – The German physiologist Georg Hegel described a process to convince people to agree to a predetermined course of action. The Hegelian dialectic basically states that to get someone to agree with your position, you define a problem (whether it is a real problem or not doesn’t matter), you emphasis the problem over and over again until the statements are accepted and then you propose your solution that will give you the result that you wish.

The progressive liberals have made an art form of this dialectic. Current examples of stating false narratives and their desired manipulated solutions are “universal health care,” “global warming,” “refugees” and “universal background checks” to name a few.

“Universal Background Checks” are the current short term goal for the anti-gun community. As recently expressed by Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, the Australian example of gun control is a good model for what they want to do. This model is confiscation.  Knowing that confiscation of firearms is totally unacceptable to Americans, they and their minions have decided that “death by a 1,000 cuts” is the best way to disarm American citizens.

Their stated three step strategy is: 1. Mandate that all gun transfers (not just sales) be put on federal firearms forms. 2. Require that these forms be centralized, thereby creating a national gun registration program. 3. Using this database, confiscate guns, thereby disarming the public, which is the primary goal.

Starting at the national level, people such as Michael Bloomberg and Gabby Giffords have organized several groups to champion gun control under the guise of “reasonable solutions,” or “common sense gun laws.” Gabby Giffords started a gun control group called “Americans for Responsible Solutions” and Michael Bloomberg started “Mayors Against Illegal Guns,” “Everytown for Gun Safety” “Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.” and a news organization call “the Trace.”

Their first step is to force all firearms sales and transfers (including private party sales and transfers) to federal firearms licensed dealers (FFL) where gun sales are recorded on federal form 4473. Currently these forms are used for dealer sales and retained by the dealer and not sent to the federal government.  However, once there are “universal background checks” then their next step is a national gun registry, resulting in national confiscation. Without a gun registry, gun confiscation is almost impossible.

Bloomberg’s attempts to accomplish “universal background checks” (UBC) on the federal level were soundly trashed. Realizing that his money can completely overwhelm the grassroots gun community on the state and local level, he has turned his attention to the states. His background check initiatives have passed in Washington and Oregon. He spent $10 million dollars in Washington accomplishing this objective. Nevada is now in his sights.

In 2013, his UBC bill, introduced and championed by Senator Justin Jones was  vetoed by Governor Brian Sandoval at the urging of Nevada gun owners and the Nevada Sheriff’s and Chief’s Association, who went on record in opposition to the measure because the law was unenforceable. Not to be denied, in 2015 a ballot initiative was circulated and signature gathers bussed in from Oregon and Washington were successful in obtaining the necessary signatures to place the “universal background check” on the 2016 general election ballot. This process is now being replicated in neighboring Arizona.

The UBC bill is a very complicated bill, and regulates any sale or transfer of a firearm within the state, with fines and seizures for non-compliance and complications for those attempting to comply. There are several groups in NV advocating for UBC including Everytown, Demanding Moms, and Nevadans for Background Checks, to name a few. They have already put out press releases and held demonstrations to convince Nevadans that “gun violence” is an issue that must be dealt with, and that they have the “common sense” solution.

I like to say that “the war for public opinion is fought on the battleground of ignorance.” The opponents of this initiative use half-truths and downright lies to press their point.  It doesn’t matter that it is already against the law to sell a gun to a prohibited possessor and that it is a felony for a prohibited possessor to be in possession of a firearm. If the voting public knew the truth, this bill would die the death it deserves.

But using the Hegelian Dialectic we are constantly being bombarded by stories of “gun violence.” Their aim is to make the citizens so sick of “gun violence” that they will vote for anything to stop it. And that anything is the UBC on the 2016 ballot.

Last year, Mark Robison of the Reno Gazette Journal wrote an article entitled “Fact Checker: Are gun-background-check claims true?” He summed up the article by stating “Stricter gun background checks may be helpful in reducing gun violence. They may not. But using vague source citations and flawed evidence does not help make one's case.

Make no mistake, the 2016 UBC ballot initiative is an assault on the Second Amendment and the Fourth Amendment.

The facts are: This initiative is not about stopping criminals from obtaining guns.

A background check is already conducted on the majority of Nevada’s gun sales.

  • Nevada gun show vendors have a Federal Firearms License (FFL) and are required to perform a background check. Of the sales that take place without a background check, most are between relatives, which wouldn’t be covered by the Background Check Initiative
  • On- line sales require a background check and transfer through an FFL

Private party background checks are available for FREE

  • The state already allows a phone call to the state to verify if the person you want to sell a gun is a prohibited possessor FOR FREE.

More laws won’t stop criminals

  • Most criminals get guns from theft or from other criminals
  • In 2010, of the 76,000 prohibited possessor attempts to buy firearms, ATF only prosecuted 44, and only 13 were convicted
  • It is already against Nevada law for criminals (prohibited possessors) to buy guns
  • It is already against Nevada law for a person to sell a gun to a prohibited possessor.
  • This will make you a criminal for not going to a FFL to process a firearm sale or transfer, when it is already a crime to sell to a criminal possessor.

Pay to get your gun back

  • YOU will pay additional fees to sell your property OR pay to get it back if the background check on your sale fails.

Will create a loophole, not close one

  • Nevada is one of 13 states that runs background checks through a state database that is more accurate than the federal database.  If there are errors, it is easier to fix them at the local level. This law actually creates a loophole by avoiding the state law and using the federal system

In conclusion, this is not about stopping crime; it is not about stopping gun violence. It is about gun control and the ultimate confiscation of private firearms.

Be smart, vote NO on the 2016 gun control initiative.

Mr. Turner is president of Nevadans for State Gun Rights PAC