This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Thursday, October 6, 2016:
Question 3 on the November ballot for Mainers, if passed, would require a gun buyer and seller to meet at a licensed gun dealer and go through a background check. That requirement would also apply to a resident of Maine who loans a firearm to a friend.
The similarities to Colorado's experience are beyond coincidence: in both states, sheriffs opposed the measure, but in Colorado, starting on July 1, 2013, background checks are now required. On November 9 Mainers may be subjected to the same indignity.
12 of 16 of Maine's sheriffs oppose Question 3:
We … do not support the Question 3 ballot initiative. This measure will do nothing to stop evil people from getting their hands on guns. In fact, all relevant data indicates that criminals acquire firearms through theft and the black market. This initiative will not stop [this] recurring pattern….
No provisions in this legislation would reduce gun violence or crime in Maine. In fact, Question 3 is unenforceable, confusing, poorly written, and threatens to make law-abiding gun owners into criminals for simply loaning a firearm to a friend.
By and large, the people who commit crimes with firearms are not concerned with good citizenship, compliance with existing law, and are repeat offenders. It's the law-abiding citizens [who] are most affected by arbitrary gun laws and will be most affected by Question 3.
So does Maine's governor, Paul LePage, who wrote this in his Weekly Message:
The name of this proposal is misleading. Universal Background Checks are not “universal” because criminals will never follow this law. Criminals get guns by breaking existing laws. They steal them, buy them on the black market, or use straw purchasers. Less than one percent of criminals get firearms from dealers at gun shows.
This proposal won't do anything to stop criminals from getting guns. It should be called the Gun Registry Bill. That's because so-called Universal Background Checks cannot be enforced without requiring complete gun registration.
The same funding source behind Maine's ballot issue was behind Colorado's:
This Gun Registry Bill is being financed by liberal billionaire Michael Bloomberg. He wants the government to know if you own firearms. Bloomberg's proposal would criminalize law-abiding firearms owners who loan or transfer guns to each other….
So don't be fooled. Bloomberg's proposal is not enforceable. It's not going to prevent criminals from having guns. And it's not really about lawful transfers of firearms. It's all about creating a gun registration so Michael Bloomberg and the government will know if you own a gun.
When Bloomberg solves the problem of gun violence in Chicago and his hometown of New York City, then he can come lecture us about firearms. Until then, he should stay out of Maine and keep his hands off our guns.
This writer, as a Colorado resident and a gun owner with a concealed carry permit, knows firsthand the unhappy consequences of the background check law. The recall of two of the politicians behind the law may have satisfied some, but the effects are permanent: the inconvenience of arranging for a meeting of both the buyer and the seller of a firearm at a local FFL gun dealer, the time involved in completing the federal form 4473 (which puts the purchaser's personal information into the permanent batfe's database), and the cost involved (about $30) has significantly raised the price, and consequently negatively impacted those of more modest means who seek a firearm for self-protection.
It also allowed the BATFE to enter into what was once a private, free-market transaction, and allowed it to override Colorado's constitutionally-guaranteed right to keep and bear arms:
Article II, Section 13: “The right of no person to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person, and property or in aid of the civil power when thereto legally summoned, shall be called into question.”
This is similar to Maine's guarantee, which would disappear if Q3 passes:
Article I, Section 16: “Every citizen has a right to keep and bear arms and this right shall never be questioned.”
In the three years since Colorado liberals passed the background check law, no study has surfaced to show any measurable improvement in violent crime or the state's murder rate. The criminals still have guns. The law doesn't apply to them. Innocent citizens, however, have had their privacy invaded, their costs increased, and their names now appear on a federal de facto gun registry run by the thugs at the ATF.
Will Mainers make the same mistake?
Sources:
Maine Sheriffs Announce Formal Opposition to Question 3
Several Maine Sheriffs' oppose background checks for gun sales
Maine Governor's Weekly Message: Question 3 should be called the Gun Registry Bill
Right to keep and bear arms in Maine's constitution
Right to keep and bear arms in Colorado's constitution
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