NRA: Why 'universal' checks won't work

Wayne LaPierre | USATODAY

It seems so reasonable. In the minds of many, "universal background checks" for firearms transactions sounds like a good idea.

But is it really? No.

No idea is good if it doesn't work. No legislation is reasonable if it fails to accomplish its purported goal — to prevent violent criminals and the mentally ill from acquiring firearms.

Criminals won't participate in a "universal" system. They'll always steal or get their guns, and everything else they want, on the black market. Reasonable people know that criminals will never be part of the "universe."

Even when felons do try to buy a gun and are flagged by the system, they're almost never stopped. In 2010, out of 76,000 denied purchasers, only 44 were prosecuted nationwide for illegally attempting to purchase a gun. That universal failure endangers us all.

The mentally ill won't be included in the system. For the past 20 years, government has failed to include records even for those who have been judged mentally ill by a court.

It's unreasonable to assume that the federal government will require medical professionals — who treat those suffering from autism, schizophrenia, anger management issues and more — to add records of their patients to a massive federal database.

Imagine the outcry over privacy rights! Those records will never be part of the "universe."

The only "universe" will be law-abiding, sane, decent, non-threatening Americans who have already participated in the check system for two decades now. It will be the names of good people — and only their names — that will go into a database, subjected to potential federal registration and abuse of privacy.

No, there is nothing at all "universal" about the proposed background check — and nothing reasonable about legislation that doesn't include criminals and the mentally disturbed in its "universe."

The nearly 5 million members of the NRA support what would make us all safer: the immediate protection of all of our schoolchildren, fixing our broken mental health system, and certain prosecution of every criminal with a gun.

Those are good ideas that thoughtful Americans, responsible members of Congress and law-abiding gun owners can support.

Wayne LaPierre is executive vice president and chief executive officer of the National Rifle Association of America.