Concerns over gun legislation

The fourth gun show in four months in the Valley starts tomorrow and runs through Sunday at Raven Hall on the Palmer State Fairgrounds. The Alaska Gun Collectors Association (AGCA) is sponsoring the show. I’ve only made one or two of the previous shows, but I plan to attend this one just because it will be the last one in the Valley for a few months. Maybe I’ll see you there.

The national debate is raging on gun control. A vote in Congress on mandatory background checks may have already happened as this goes to print. The national media seems to be running hot and cold on whether this background check legislation will pass in the Senate — one day the reports say chances are high and the next day the reports say the legislation will probably fail. We’ll know for sure when the vote actually occurs.

How practical would an all-inclusive background check system really be? I’m not sure such legislation will make the world a safer place. Here’s why. Honest citizens follow the law. If such a background check system were in place, the law-abiding folks would follow the mandates. But these people are not the ones who need to be restricted in their right to keep and bear arms. They’re exactly the people I would want to have firearms in an armed society.

Criminals, by definition, do not follow the law. They would not comply with any background check requirements. So what good would the system be in restricting criminal purchases of firearms? Criminals would resort to other avenues to obtain guns, stimulating an even larger black market for illegal gun sales and probably making burglaries for firearms an even greater risk.

The biggest problem I see with the current background check system firearms dealers use is the lack of uniform mental health information included in the national database. All the recent mass shootings were done by people with mental health issues. We’ve all read about the Newtown shooter’s problems and the Aurora theater shooter was actually reported to police as homicidally dangerous by a counselor prior to his rampage and nothing was done to restrict or restrain him.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) reports that our Sen. Mark Begich has sponsored S.480, the NICS Reporting Improvement Act of 2013, in the U.S. Senate. According to the information I received, the NRA states that S.480 is “an important piece of legislation to reform the National Instant Check System (NICS) to ensure that mentally ill persons who are a danger to themselves or others cannot legally purchase or possess firearms.”

The NRA continues, “S.480 proposes a real solution that will help reduce violent crime and help keep our children safe by closing gaps in NICS while protecting the rights of law abiding citizens.”

I would suggest reading the bill and if you support it, contact Sen. Begich’s office to both thank him for his efforts on S.480 and ask him to oppose all the other “feel good but have no meaningful impact” legislation being proposed in Congress to regulate firearms ownership.

On the state level, I expect Gov. Sean Parnell to sign two firearms-related bills that have passed both sides of the Legislature. After several years of trying, Rep. Mark Neuman’s HB 24, the Stand Your Ground Bill, is headed to the governor’s desk. This law will expand current state laws regarding where the use of deadly force is allowed without the requirement to retreat. The second bill, Rep. Mike Chenault’s HB 69, basically states that any federal firearms legislation deemed unconstitutional in Alaska is null and void in Alaska. It further says that state or municipal resources cannot be used to enforce these laws. Further, the attorney general is directed to enter into the defense of any Alaska citizen charged under these unconstitutional federal firearms laws.

Two firearms-related legislative resolutions also passed this session. SJR 6 calls on the president not to use executive order authority to circumvent the Congress on gun control and urges Congress not to allow the president to do so. HJR 12 supports in-state firearms manufacturing and reaches out to several gun and parts manufacturers currently located in states passing prohibitively restrictive firearms laws to consider relocating their businesses to Alaska.

I wonder why it’s so hard for some folks to grasp the concept that controlling illegal behavior through aggressive prosecutions and mandatory sentencing will do far more toward controlling gun violence than banning objects.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.