The President has decreed that anybody selling guns — yes, even “a few” in his words — should be required to be a licensed gun dealer (hold that idea… can you imagine the penalties for the charge of trafficking in guns without a license which the casual hobbyist could be subjected to?). Imagine if you sold a couple of your houses and were prosecuted for selling real estate without a license. Imagine if you sold a couple of your cars and you were jailed for not being a registered car dealer.
Over the years gun-grabbers have claimed there is a gun-show loophole — that people can walk into a gun show and buy guns without background checks. Here’s the reality: guns are a legal product and you can sell a gun on your street, in the mall parking lot, or at your favorite lunch spot, just like you can sell your car or lawnmower. At a gun show all of the sellers that are part of the show are licensed dealers. But often an individual who wants to sell a gun will bring it in the hopes of finding a buyer there. If found, no background check is done or required, as it is a legal sale between two citizens.
How horrible! But guess what… this is nothing more than a back-door attempt at gun and gun-owner registration. You see, as a Federally-licensed firearms dealer I follow certain strict laws. So, if you come in to buy a gun from me, you fill out the appropriate form and I run a background check (in FL we use the F.D.L.E. system, not the Fed’s NICS). That record of your background check is purged after 30 days by the State of FL, which is prohibited by law from keeping the record. That app for the gun purchase never leaves my office. NOBODY BUT YOU AND I EVER KNOW YOU BOUGHT THAT GUN, OR ANY GUN! (Only when I close my business does the ATF ever get my files.)
But what if you as a private citizen are required to conduct a background check? You will have to report yourself as the seller, identify the buyer and the gun, and report to a government agency, say the BATFE, and go in a permanent data base.
And contrary to claims of the President, you cannot buy a gun over the internet.
The final smell-test comes when you ask of the President, who claims to want to stop these mass murders, which of the mass murders would have been prevented if these regulations were in effect? The answer: none.
Check out the NRA’s response to the President’s announcement: https://www.nraila.org/articles/20160105/statement-on-president-obamas-proposed-executive-actions-on-gun-control