Here is a clear cut case of how the lack of gun regulations, pressure to make the tittle ones we have useless and to eliminate controls is allowing guns to end in terrorist hands. Dylann Roof killed 9 people in a church with the intent of starting a racial war with 0.45 he bought "legally" despite of his criminal record. How is that possible?
Mr. Roof first tried to buy the gun on April 11, from a dealer in South Carolina. The F.B.I., which conducts background checks for gun sales, did not give the dealer approval to proceed with the purchase because the bureau needed to do more investigating about Mr. Roof’s s criminal history.
Under federal law, the F.B.I. has three days to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to deny the purchase. If the bureau cannot come up with an answer, the purchaser can return to the dealer and buy the gun.
http://www.nytimes.com/...source NYT
How is it that we have such a clearly insufficient with such a short arbitrary timeline to find out if someone is not allowed to buy a gun? The answer is what you all know: The NRA
Some history about back ground checks
In 1991, the NRA endorsed legislation creating a national system of “instant background checks” as an alternative to a seven-day waiting period contained in the proposed Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. But the technology didn’t exist yet. A gun-control advocate said the “instant check bill would have completely gutted the Brady bill by eliminating the waiting period.”
In 1993, the Brady bill became law with compromise language on background checks. The law required a five-day waiting period until an instant background check system could be established. Background checks would apply only to federally licensed firearm dealers, and the NRA said it opposed attempts to expand background checks to all gun sales as “foolish.”
In 1998, on the day that the FBI launched the instant check system, the NRA sued to bar the federal agency from keeping identifying information on gun buyers for 90 days, claiming the brief retention of records amounted to a de facto gun registry. Although the NRA lost its suit, Congress would later mandate that the FBI destroy its records within 24 hours of an approved gun sale.
In 1999, Congress considered expanding background checks to include gun shows after the Columbine High School massacre. The NRA supported a narrow expansion of background checks in a House bill that then-President Clinton said was “plainly ghostwritten by the NRA.” The NRA opposed a more expansive Senate version. The Senate sponsor said that “the gun lobby killed the legislation in House-Senate conference.”
http://www.factcheck.org/...
On top of that
In its 1997 decision in the case, the Supreme Court ruled that the provision of the Brady Act that compelled state and local law enforcement officials to perform the background checks was unconstitutional on 10th amendment grounds. The Court determined that this provision violated both the concept of federalism and that of the unitary executive. However, the overall Brady statute was upheld and state and local law enforcement officials remained free to conduct background checks if they so chose. The vast majority continued to do so.[19] In 1998, background checks for firearm purchases became mostly a federally run activity when NICS came online, although many states continue to mandate state run background checks before a gun dealer may transfer a firearm to a buyer.
Background checks for firearms purchases operate in only one direction because of the Firearm Owners Protection Act.[20] That is, although a firearms dealer may obtain electronic information that an individual is excluded from firearms purchases, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) do not receive electronic information in return to indicate what firearms are being purchased.
https://en.wikipedia.org/...
So the NRA has weakened background checks to the point the they are of little reliability, the FBI can't keep records, FBI and ATF are not informed what firearms are being purchased, and on top many gun sells do not require background checks. And the NRA has been pushing for state laws that make it more and more difficult for LEOS to coordinate information with the FBI and ATF or to inquire anything about guns under penalty of being fined. Absolute craziness. In this case, back to the NYT link:
the F.B.I. failed to gain access to a police report in which he admitted to having been in possession of a controlled substance, which would have disqualified him from purchasing the weapon. The F.B.I. said that confusion about where the arrest had occurred had prevented it from acquiring the arrest record in a timely fashion.
Mr. Roof’s application was not resolved within the three-day limit because the F.B.I. was still trying to get the arrest record, and he returned to store and was sold the gun.
The killer in the Virginia Tech massacre was also not permitted to buy guns due to his mental health problems. Since then there have been in Congress a couple of first steps towards reforming a broken system all of them sabotaged by the NRA. The NRA is also pushing to eliminate waiting periods in most states. Our gun purchasing background checks are weaker than the background checks done on anyone applying for most jobs. We need something done about this. It's time to close the 3 day loophole, the private sales loophole, to make possible for the FBI to know if criminals or people with mental problems are trying to buy high capacity weapons. It's time also for guns to have at least the requirements we ask for cars: License, registration and insurance.