This is What’s Wrong with Universal Background Checks

By Dan Zimmerman

Yesterday our question of the day was a request from a reader who intended to make his weekend hackathon project the creation of a system that would “allow for ‘universal’ background checks, while protecting civil liberties and privacy.” As someone unfamiliar with the topic, he wanted to find out the objections those of us who value our Second Amendment rights have to “universal background checks” per se. You can probably guess the general tenor of most of the responses . . .

However, commenter Chip Bennet penned this answer of note:

For the moment, let’s set aside the absolute nature of shall not be infringed, and pretend that the right to keep and bear arms is subject to a social utility test, and apply judicial review to background checks (universal or otherwise).

Strict scrutiny: are background checks necessary/crucial to furthering a compelling government interest, narrowly tailored to achieve that interest, and the least-restrictive means to achieve that interest?

First: what is the “compelling government interest” and are background checks necessary/crucial to furthering that interest? Is it reduction of violent crime? Is it prevention of so-called “prohibited persons” from obtaining/possessing a firearm? In either case, the standard is not met. Only 10-15% of criminals obtain …Read the Rest

Source:: Truth About Guns