Background Checks and Weapons Purchases
Even though the American people have the right to bear arms, gun purchases should be restricted to venues that mandate background checks for all prospective customers. Gun control has been a hotbed for discussion in recent years because of the crime rates associated with firearms. The general opinion of many firearms owners is that gun control violates their second amendment right to bear arms. However, gun control has been a necessary tool in preventing criminals from gaining lawful access to firearms intended for use in violent crime.
The National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, is mandated by the 1993 Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act and was launched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on November 30, 1998 (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2008). NCIS is a national system that reviews records that are available in the National Crime Information Center, the Interstate Identification Index, and the NCIS Index to determine if prospective firearms purchasers are disqualified from completing their purchase (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2008). NICS was established to allow Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) to receive information on whether the sale of a firearm would be in violation of federal or state laws. This background check takes little time to complete; it takes approximately the same amount of to process a credit card transaction as it does to close out a background check. There are 11 categories of people that are prohibited from purchasing firearms. These categories include but are not limited to, illegal immigrants, people who have renounced their American citizenship, people who have been involuntary committed to a mental institution or are mentally defective, people who have dishonorable discharges from the United States Armed Forces, people who are addicted to are use any controlled substances, and people who are federally disqualified when a record is not already...