Try Enforcement Before "Reform"

Seeing that “gun control” is an unpopular term, anti-gun organizations have styled themselves as “gun-reform” advocates in recent years. Here, the term “reform” implies that U.S. gun laws are somehow insufficient and must be altered.

Contending that the nation’s current gun laws are inadequate is, at best, presumptive and, at worst, disingenuous. The truth is, no one even knows how the gun laws currently on the books might perform because these laws are so lightly enforced.

Consider the cornerstone of the U.S. federal gun law regime: the Gun Control Act of 1968 and its prohibition on firearm possession by certain categories of individuals. Found at 18 U.S.C. 922(g), this federal law prohibits convicted felons, fugitives from justice, illegal aliens, those who have been formally committed to a mental institution and others from possessing guns.

The penalty for violating this statute is severe. Illegal firearm possession by a prohibited person is punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment.

Further regulations concerning the transfer of firearms from Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs or gun dealers) are designed, in theory, to help enforce these prohibitions. A person buying a firearm from an FFL fills out ATF Form 4473, which asks the buyer if he falls into one of the prohibited categories. This form is then kept on file with the gun dealer.

Again, the penalties for lying on this form are severe. Lying on a Form 4473 is two different crimes. .....