GVROs and UBCs...

Things have been hectic lately - but I never did promise regular updates, did I?

GVRO = Gun Violence Restraining Order, a/k/a Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO,) or, colloquially, "Red Flag Law."

UBC = Universal Background Checks.  Also going under "Enhanced Background Checks."

I shall deal with the latter point first.

Of course, it's the left pushing for UBCs so hard - there are currently two House bills pushing this (H.R. 8 and H.R. 1112.)  H.R. 8 Forces all firearm transactions to go through an FFL, with all such transfers occurring as if the FFL had sold the firearm through inventory (id est, the sale is also logged and tracked.)  H.R. 1112 looks as if it redefines "mental illness" (expands it somewhat,) and there are mention of 3-, 10-, 25-, and 30-day periods I haven't managed to decipher yet (I hate reading laws.  Why can't they write them clearly and logically?)

In any case, the key fact here is that the sale is recorded - therefore, it's backdoor registration of firearms (assuming one were to always comply with the law as passed, if/when passed.  I foresee a good deal of civil disobedience, myself.)  Understandably, this has firearm owners upset - we don't like being registered, and filed, and all that rot.  As said in the intro to The Prisoner - "I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered!"

How would I have done UBC?
- NICS is now open to citizens to use, with applications for Android, *nix, Windoze, and iOS.
- No firearm information is entered into NICS.
- NICS searches are triggered by taking a picture or a scan of the individual's ID and a picture of his face (NICS compares the two.)  No firearm information is entered.
- NICS replies with an upcheck or a downcheck, and a confirmation number.  Either way, the number gets recorded by the (potential/erstwhile) seller.
- If the sale goes through, the seller writes out a receipt for the buyer (describing the firearm and recording the NICS check number) and keeps a copy for his own records.
- NICS records the fact that there was a check, and that the check was a PASS or a FAIL.  In order to prevent confusion, two different formats are used for the "PASS" and "FAIL" numbers.  Again, no firearm information is recorded in NICS.  Upon the death of the seller, his sale records are to be treated as the "bound book" kept by FFLs - they get sent in to F Troop (so they can screw up their records.)

I think that's fair.  Now, on to "Red Flag" Laws...

I think the biggest problem that I have with this idea is the fact that the order is granted in an ex parte hearing (you have no idea that the hearing is happening until the cops come around to serve the order on you, and they can do it at any time of the day, and it can be a "no-knock" order,) you are "guilty until proven innocent," you do not get the opportunity to face your accuser (so you can pull their case apart,) and no medical or psychological professional need be involved (which is interesting - because wouldn't you need a psychological diagnosis to determine that someone is a danger to himself or others?)

Oh - and the way these laws are being written, just about anybody can dob you in.  Cops, co-workers, that blind date you didn't get along with very well last night, your kids' teachers, &c, &c.  Some are written so broadly that your liberal neighbour three doors down can SWAT you, just because he doesn't like firearms (and therefore, doesn't like you.)

This turns the idea of "Due Process" on its head, and reverses the basic underpinning of our judicial system - "innocent until proven guilty" becomes "guilty until proven innocent."  Yep - you have to prove you are stable and no risk - to someone who is not a medical professional, and who may have his own agenda (read, you're not going to win this one.)  You can fight this for a year or so, while your collection is in storage (that you often have to pay for,) and usually not stored very well, so everything can rust in peace.

This is assuming that you don't get killed in the course of serving the warrant - which has already happened. (https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2018/11/05/fatal-officer-involved-shooting-in-anne-arundel-county/)  And, while I can't find any links offhand, I do remember reading of at least one governor (Colorado?) saying that the purpose of the law wasn't "public safety" - it was "getting guns off the street."

Sounds like an admission of guilt, to me.

I'm just tired of the rampant hoplophobia* of the Left.  If they have such problems with the state of civil rights in the United States, then they're perfectly welcome to pack up and blow - I'm certainly not keeping them here!  There are places they could move to where their wishes have already come true.

And leave the rest of us - who don't have hoplophobia - alone.

*Hoplophobia is the unreasonable and unremitting fear of inanimate objects, typically firearms.  Believed to be coined by COL Jeff Cooper, USMC (ret)