Vote v Buy

    Is it easier to buy a gun than to vote?

 So you want to do your civic duty and go vote. You drive to the polling place and park you car.  You walk in and present your government issued drivers license. They scanned the bar code on the back. Ask you to verify the address then sign the tablet screen they were using.  You are then given a ballot and directed to a voting booth.  After filling out the ballot you dutifully take it to the tabulation machine. Out the door you go proud of yourself.  Easy Peasy.

  Feeling good about your civic duty you decide to exercise your civil rights and buy a firearm.  You drive to the local firearm dealer and go in.  At the gun counter you stand there admiring all the freedom on display.    A clerk comes up and asks to help you.  After trying several firearms you decide on a Smith and Wesson M&P AR15. Great says the clerk may I see your divers license. You hand it to him and he hands form 4473 from the ATF.  

  Please read the above form or go to www.atf.gov . You are to answer each question truthfully under penalty of perjury.  If you falsify any answer you are committing a Felony punishable by up to five years in prison in addition to fines!

 So you fill out the front, sign and date the back.  The clerk calls into NICS.  That is the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.  Now if you answered truthfully on the form one of three things will happen.  After a wait of what seems like hours the answer will be YES you can buy the firearm; NO you cannot buy; or nothing.  Yes and no are pretty straightforward but silence could mean anything.   It could be millions of God fearing American citizens are buying boom sticks at the same time.  It could be lunch break.  Whatever the cause if no answer is forthcoming from NICS after three days you can go ahead and buy the gun.

  Obviously buying a gun is harder.  The example I gave you is from the Great state of Missouri.  If you live in the People’s Democratic Republic of Illinois you will need an additional government issued ID.  In Illinois it is called a FOID card.  That’s Firearm Owners Identification card.  That requires you to have gone to a gun store previously and filled out a form.  Got your picture taken.  Payed a fee and wait 6 weeks or more for the FOID card to come in the mail.  In Illinois you cannot buy a gun without this card.  In Illinois you cannot handle a gun without this card.  You go to a gun store in Illinois to look at guns the first thing they will ask is for your FOID card.  No card no handle.

  Many states also require waiting times depending on whether you are buying a handgun or long gun (aka: rifle or shotgun).  These waiting times can range from 2 days to 2 weeks.  It may also require additional background checks by police or the state which could lead to months of delay (for example New York City).

  Still think it’s easier to buy a gun than to vote?  Any gun purchase you try in a store goes through NICS.  Every gun show I’ve attended in Missouri or Illinois has required a gun purchase to go through NICS.  Every internet gun purchase requires the firearm to ship to a federally licensed dealer who will use NICS before they transfer the gun to you.  But the lie continues because it’s repeated over and over again.

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” Joseph Gorbbles