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Something that is routinely overlooked while discussing the subject of preventing convicted felons from acquiring firearms is that many of these "felons" are our wives, husbands, sons, & daughters who made a very poor choice 20, 30, 40 years ago, paid their debt to society, and moved on to become productive citizens.

In Colorado many of these folks who have had their firearm right restored may posses a firearm legally, but are still subject to harassment by law enforcement.

In Texas these folks may legally posses a firearm on their own property after 5 years following the completion of their sentence - even though they will not pass a NIC's background check.

In Colorado many citizens who have previously been convicted of felony offenses have acually had their firearm right restored - but still can't pass a NIC's check due to the current policy of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation's deliberate policy of ignoring the restoration process under Colorado law.

Logic - would appear to dictate that if laws enacted providing severe criminal penalties for the possession of firearms by clearly "prohibited persons" were effectively enforced we wouldn't be faced with this problem.

We would not need background checks because the laws prescribing criminal penalties for firearm possession by those previous offenders determined to pose a threat to public safety would be sufficient to resolve the problem.

The criminal statistics speak for themselves - violent , habitual criminals are not deterred by "prohibited person" laws.

The statistic frequently cited pertaining to thousands of "criminals" being stopped from firearm purchases by the NIC's check is seriously misleading.

Many ( if not most ) of these attempted FFL purchases involve people who ARE NOT "criminals" by any definition at the time of the attempted purchase. In many cases their criminal conviction may have occurred decades ago, frequently under juvenile adjudication, and they are merely operating in ignorance of their status. That's why very few are ever prosecuted. They simply were not aware that they were "prohibited persons".

In many cases their right to keep & bear arms has been restored by some operation of state law, but bureaucratic error at some level has resulted in the restoration not flagging the record. This is presently a huge problem in Colorado , and accounts for many failed NIC's checks.

The important point to be noted here is that VERY FEW of the purchases prevented by current background check system involve hardened, habitual, aand active violent felons. They are not stupid enough to think they can get away with an FFL gun buy. Straw purchases are the preferred route around the NIC's check.

I actually witnessed such a "straw" transaction a few years ago at a Gun store in Arlington, Texas. A very "respectable"looking young man
was transacting a purchase of a SA handgun while I was inside the store. The " purchaser" exited the store and got into his vehicle while I was still buckling my seatbelt. As he prepared to enter Collins Street this "banger" looking guy comes RUNNING up from the adjacent CVS parking lot - jumps in the front passenger seat, and they take off up North on Collins towards UTA at a high rate of speed.

I considered going back to the gun store, and informing clerk/owner regarding what I had just witnessed, but I reasoned that he SHOULD HAVE been able to see what I saw in the parking lot, and probably didn't want to hear about it - after the deed was done. He had not violated the law - but it was pretty obvious what had just gone down. This happens every day . Such straw purchases are the crux of the problem. I would even expect that in many cases the "straw" purchaser is making a moral choice to help a close relative who may be subject to some threat.