Universal Gun Registration

NAGR’s Position: Strongly Oppose

So-called “Universal Background Check” legislation, which is truly Universal Gun Registration, creates a de facto national gun registry by recording and saving transactional paper work for all firearms sales – expanding on the current federal registry maintained by the ATF. Record keeping on all firearms transactions through licensed dealers is already mandated through the Federal Firearms License (FFL) dealer law.

Universal Gun Registration bills make private firearm sales between neighbors and close friends illegal unless a federal background check is completed, forcing all gun owners to be funneled through the unconstitutional NICS database, and delaying the ability to exercise a Constitutional right.

Why it’s Bad for Gun Owners

This legislation is redundant. There are existing gun laws in every state to prevent ineligible people from purchasing firearms.

Background checks are an unconstitutional invasion of privacy. The creation of this registry allows the government to trace every firearm and every gun owner.

H.R. 8 disenfranchises lower income Americans from purchasing a firearm from a close friend or neighbor due to the extra fees associated with background checks.

Background checks do not stop crime. It is inaccurate to assume that a background check will show future criminal intent. Also, criminals wanting a gun will find a way to get it illegally.

Often times, “background checks” can take up to 8 days to process. This is a violation of the rights of people to purchase a gun and to protect themselves, putting law-abiding citizens in danger when they need to purchase a firearm quickly. A right delayed is a right denied.

Up to 95% of NICS denials are false positives, denying law abiding Americans from purchasing firearms. Expanding NICS through H.R. 8 will lead to more unjustified denials.

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