By: Teresa Mull

A handful of Republican lawmakers are joining forces with Nancy Pelosi to advance her universal background check bill, which would, if passed, create a national gun registry.

"Five Republican House members have joined the Democrat push to criminalize private gun sales," Breitbart.com reports. "The five are Reps. Peter King (R-NY), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Chris Smith (R-NJ), and Brian Mast (R-FL)."

Immediately after Pelosi, along with Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) and former Rep. Gabby Giffords, unveiled their universal background check bill (H.R. 8), the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR) said in a release the law would:

*** OUTRIGHT BAN all private firearms sales -- requiring every gun purchase to be pre-approved by the federal government at YOUR expense.

*** MAKE IT ILLEGAL to let your friend or even family member borrow your firearm on a hunting trip.

*** FORCE all firearm purchases to be registered through the Brady-NICS registration system.

Gun Registration --> Gun Confiscation

Ted Patterson explained to Gunpowder Magazine last year how gun registries quickly lead to full-on gun confiscation:

Background checks are nothing more than a firearms registration system, which has historically been a precursor to full-fledged firearms confiscation. Many point to Nazi Germany as one of the best examples of what comes of gun registration. Most people probably do not know that it was not the Nazis nor Hitler who initiated gun registration. It actually was the preexisting Weimar government’s initiative put into law because of their fears of the Communists and Nazis. The Weimar government implemented laws that the Nazis would later use to oppress the German people, namely, German Jews. Although Hitler rapidly expanded upon what the Weimar government had instituted, this historical event reminds us that well-intentional laws passed by good people can be used by the next round of political operatives to devastating effect. This is why it is so important to stop any hint of universal background checks: such a measure could open the door to a disastrous future.

Background Checks Don't Work

Not only do universal background checks inevitably lead to gun registries and firearms confiscation, they are ineffective at stopping violent crime.

As GPM reported just last week:

The majority of mass shooters in recent days were not criminals until they carried out their heinous crimes. They obtained their firearms legally, and background checks did not stop them. In the event criminals are unable to pass a background check, they will not be deterred. They will find other means of procuring a gun, and statistics show they do, indeed, turn to theft, straw purchases, or the black market to get their hands on a weapon. What we’re left with is a terribly defective, unconstitutional system of vetting would-be gun owners that, when it denies people their right to self-defense, gets it wrong an astounding 95 percent of the time. Law-abiding citizens are left unarmed and vulnerable, and violent crime rates soar.

Nevertheless, Democrats -- and Republicans -- want more of it.

Teresa Mull is editor of Gunpowder Magazine. Contact her at teresa@gunpowdermagazine.com.