I’ve had my ticket tagged a couple of times with ‘SSSS’ which means I got an additional security check.
What gets me about this is it’s well known and easy to see on the ticket, and if someone was up to something that day they would surely just see it on their ticket and walk out of the airport.
Like many policies, it’s been really poorly implemented and I don’t believe it enhances security whatsoever.
We have laws that clearly state the criteria for being disqualified from owning a gun, and laws that require licensed dealers to perform a background check to ensure that a potential purchaser passes based on that criteria.
The system being proposed here would be able to deny boarding to a passenger who fails an arbitrary and completely unknown set of criteria, based on no laws and (most likely) violating existing law.
Actually we don't have clearly defined criteria, see red flag laws.
But regardless, even with clearly defined criteria, people get through that shouldn't. So going back to the original comment, if the system isn't 100% perfect, does that mean we should just not do it?
> Should we eliminate gun background checks entirely
After you own 1, 2, 5, 12 guns, what purpose does this background check serve? How about the 10 day waiting period?
The background check could be completed in seconds - it's a API call to DOJ effectively, and you get a "Pass/Fail" indication back - based on the laws that allow you to own guns.
So... this process could effectively be immediate for anyone who already owns guns.
But! We somehow sleep better at night knowing someone with 12 guns has to wait 10 days before getting their 13th... because that prevents them from committing murder or something?
Some things are simply Security Theater. We should stop pretending.
> But! We somehow sleep better at night knowing someone with 12 guns has to wait 10 days before getting their 13th... because that prevents them from committing murder or something?
Well the waiting period might be useful when going from zero to one right? At least it shows premeditation.
And, the federal government isn't permitted to run a gun ownership registry[1], so the DOJ api wouldn't know if you already had a gun, so everybody has to wait.
[1] As I understand it, firearms dealers have to record purchases on paper and keep the records for a significant amount of time, and respond to requests for data, which is sort of a registry, but not online and not centralized.
> Well the waiting period might be useful when going from zero to one right?
Absolutely. I was more getting at why wait 10 days for your second gun... or 12th...
> And, the federal government isn't permitted to run a gun ownership registry[1], so the DOJ api
The DOJ check is with your local state, and many states such as California do keep a registry. For the states that don't have a registry, bringing in paperwork from your most recently purchased firearm, showing the registration to yourself, would be sufficient.
> firearms dealers have to record purchases on paper and keep the records for a significant amount of time, and respond to requests for data
In order for the DOJ to know which dealer to ask for records, they have to know where you bought the gun.
Yes. People buy knives without permit and background checks all the time, because society weighed a risk of having knives around against people wielding knives with intent to commit crimes and decided it is not a good idea to have background checks for them. I would argue guns are in a similar category.
Yes, if we want the Second Amendment to mean anything.
Now I'm certainly in favor of the argument that we should be honest with ourselves and repeal the Second Amendment instead of pretending that we care about it but only in useless ways. But so long as we believe that both bearing arms and traveling are human rights and not privileges, neither should be gated by IDs and background checks, and you should only lose that right in the form of a punishment under due process of law.
