Gang shooter who fired near children
Lopez was arrested in 2020 for armed robbery using a knife. At the time, he was on parole for a previous attempted murder. He had 5 previous arrests.
And he has been out awaiting trial with no bail. His parole was not revoked when he was arrested for armed robbery nor for participation in gang activities.
He obviously could not pass a NICS check to buy a firearm.
So, tell me again how making me jump through hoops to buy a firearm is going to make us safe.
Tidewater News and Opinion Forum 
It is beyond obvious that this is a very bad guy whom the courts failed to process in a timely and efficient manner. That failing raises separate issues not related to gun control.
The story does not reveal how he came to possess a gun.
Maybe he or some other criminal stole it from someone like you who is not legally obligated to keep his guns under lock and key?
Or maybe he purchased it in a private transaction which do not require background checks?
Too bad that guns are not individually registered like cars are so that law enforcement would have a chance to trace the ownership history of the weapon and answer the question – How could someone who obviously could not pass a NICS check get a firearm?
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The most likely answer is a straw purchase, which though a felony is a pretty low risk as less than 1 in 1000 of those reported by honest gun dealers is prosecuted.
But again, same problem, failure to enforce the laws we already have.
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I don’t think anyone thinks confiscation is a viable, realistic option outside of some political rhetoric.
First, we already have more guns than people and they are not always kept responsibly. Then there is a funnel from factory to street that we can’t seem to plug. So for every gun we find at a crime scene, probably another one, or more, will take its place.
Second, the culture of our country is imbued with guns. We made heroes out of gunslingers, real and fictional. We did the same for gangsters during the Depression. Today we have the crazy ad about renewing your man license. Every kid I knew growing up had at least a cap pistol. All our conflicts had Americans in the white hats, yet reality is much more complicated and nuanced.
Here is the conundrum. Essentially, our philosophy is in order to not step on the right to bear arms for law abiding citizens, we have slid down the slope to not being very efficient at preventing the mentally ill and criminals from getting arms.
“If we just enforced existing laws…” goes the drumbeat from the gun lobby. Well, we don’t. Why? Are the laws too lenient, overbearing or just not being enforced? If every false statement on background applications were individually investigated and, if needed, prosecuted it might be helpful. Maybe a simple call from the state police monitors checking background info to local police to interview the applicant right away if there is evidence of perjury. Instead of relying on the dealer to turn the person in. Another thought is to have the background application at a police station. Fill it in there and either wait or come back. If clean, just get a form from the police that would be good for a year or more. TSA does that for Trusted Traveler programs to ease the way for law abiding citizens.
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I would object to anything creating a de facto registry. California’s experience with its assault weapons laws show why.
But the NICS provision of the Brady Law, crafted with the help of 2nd Amendment advocates, should be given a chance.
But that requires prosecution of violations. How many more burglaries would there be if burglars knew that even if caught in the act there was less than 1 chance in 1000 they would be arrested or prosecuted?
Further, local law enforcement must report convictions into the database. There is not privacy right to felony convictions.
Crimes by the mentally ill must be prosecuted, as HIPPA prevents medical reporting of dangerous menatal illness. Both VA Tech and Parkland shootings could have been prevented had that been done.
So, before tinkering with a carefully and bipartisanly negotiated system, try actually using it as intended.
Of course, it would only limit legally sold guns, but those are the only ones you can control anyway.
Oh, and we already have “good guy certificates” they’re called concealed carry permits.
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So let’s make buying a gun just like getting concealed carry if that is so effective at rooting out ineligible folks.
NICS allow 3 days for a check if not finished by then, the sale goes through. In 2019 there were over a quarter million checks that exceeded 3 days.
A dealer has to turn in his customer. Better for the police to be there and for no other reason than people will not fill out a form in a sea of blue unless they are clean.
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Again you seek change a carefully negotiated compromise unilaterally, without ever giving the negotiated version a chance to work.
The requirements for concealed carry are more stringent than for simple ownership. Applying the CHP standard to all purchases would likely be a violation of 2nd Amendment rights.
Again, you seek a problem to justify your solution, the fact is that dealers DO report Form 4473 violations, to between 80 and 100K a year, with less than 100 prosecuted. The dealers are not the problem. The problem is the prosecutors.
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FYI, a burglar has a better chance of escaping arrest in a red state than a blue one. Nebraska has a 1% arrest rate versus Delaware at 24%.
https://www.asecurelife.com/state-rankings-for-burglary-arrests/
(This was just a fun little nudge, nudge and wink, wink factoid for the law and order crowd.)
All guns were legal at one time or another. The challenge is closing the pipeline from manufacturing to the streets.
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