Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed for April 22, 2013

At least they’re doing a “criminal background check” on the order form.

Serious question: Do you folk in the USA have any form of background checking prior to single purpose weapon-of-death purchase at this time?

Ottodesu: In the late 1990s to 2002 I worked for a retailer that sold firearms. The customer had to fill out a federal form (ATF Form 4473) which practically asked for their complete biography.

Then I had to review the form to make sure everything was filled out satisfactorily and call up the FBI’s NICs (National Instant Criminal) background check system and read off a good part of their bio. The agent at the other end usually put me on hold to ‘run it through their system.’ He/she usually replied in a few minutes with an approval or denial. I actually got denials. This one mean-looking guy had a ‘nice’ temper and really made my day.

I believe the system is in place today. But what little I pay attention to in the political news lately gives me the impression that this system doesn’t exist.

skeeterhawk: It’s not that the system you describe doesn’t exist, it’s that it only exists for physical retail stores. There’s a loophole in the law (that Congress refused to close last week) that lets people buy guns online or at gun shows without any sort of background check whatsoever.

Where’s the shipping and handling charges?

It’s amazing how many of these strips are still relevant today. (and Nick Rhodes is still rocking the eyeliner, if not the lipstick).

Ottodesu: no you can buy a car or a hammer just about anywhere without a background check. Both those items have killed more people, by-the-way.

Qiset: You don’t get a lot of drive-by hammerings, however. And I’m pretty sure that most 2nd Amendment adherents are NOT members of a “well-organized militia” (unless they are card-carrying members of the KKK or the Friends of Timothy McVeigh). The U.S. HAS a well-organized militia — it’s called the National Guard. It also has police forces (local, state, and national). “Red Dawn” scenarios notwithstanding, no civilian “needs” an assault weapon.

@Bruno Zeigerts: To be fair, the ad called the Billie-10 an assault gun, not an assault rifle…

And assault rifles are any rifle that can fire in either full auto or 3 round bursts, and those sells have been strictly regulated for decades. Now the current administration is trying to dupe the uninformed that semi auto rifles are assault rifles, and of course backed by liberal media, the general public believes them, like most of the lies they spout on a daily basis. In case anyone does not know, semi auto weapons are one projectile per pull of the trigger, full auto you just pull the trigger back and it fires continuously.

After the revolution, the founders gutted the military, formed the predecessor to the Coast Guard to control smuggling, & depended upon gun owners for national defense. The marines were kept on merchant ships to fight piracy. None of the current arguments on either side relate to original intent.

Omnius, I guess you are calling all the Law Enforcement Officers in Boston cowards since the have “assault weapons” and large magazines. And they only had a numberical advantage of about 10,000 to 2.

The militia existed for 175 years before the formation of the National Guard. Every person reporting for duty was expected to bring their own weapon “of a type in common use for military purposes”.

The right to keep and bear arms has nothing whatsoever to do with hunting or sport. It exists to prevent government from usurping the other God-given rights of every free citizen. Sling shots are not appropriate for this purpose.

It is so sad that in almost 30 years nothing has changed. In fact they have only gotten worse. Now, since the Supreme Court bowed to political pressure and redefined “militia” far beyond the boundaries of the constitution, the NRA holds the entire nation hostage through cowardly politicians whose only concern is to get re-elected.

When I purchased weapons in the ’80s the only requirement was to answer a question on the form. Something to the effect of “are you a convicted felon, or have you been committed for mental health reasons”. Then there was a reminder that it is a felony to lie on the form. I quit carrying about 1992.

Focus. Guys focus! How ’bout that Jean Kirkpatrick doll?

Almost 30 years later……still funny and still true…