If it needed any confirmation, the Brady Campaign released a report today detailing 20 years of Federal background checks since the Brady Bill became law in 1994. And guess what - turns out, background checks work:
Since February 28, 1994, the Brady law has blocked more than 2.1 million gun purchases, according to data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. That is 343 purchases blocked every day. More than one million of those attempted purchases were by felons. Another 291,000 denials were to domestic abusers. And, 118,000 gun sales to fugitives were blocked thanks to background checks.
http://www.bradycampaign.org/...
If I were a Republican running for office this year that voted against background checks — and I thank my lucky stars I am not — I would be sweating bullets thinking about the message that will be used against me: "You're soft on crime. You are supporting criminals and domestic abusers." And the many variations there within.
More below
You can see this message taking shape in Colorado:
According to data provided by the Department of Public Safety, 4,792 background checks on private sales have been performed since the new law took effect in July.
Of those, 72 sales “were blocked because the would-be buyer was convicted of or charged with a serious crime, or was under a domestic restraining order,” said State House Democratic spokesman Dean Toda.
http://kdvr.com/...
Now, this Colorado data needs to be take with a grain of salt because:
Supporters of universal background checks for gun purchases in Colorado say 104 denials in the first six months of the law show that the regulation is working.
But the number alone doesn't present a clear picture of the law's effect.
Private-seller transaction data don't separate checks conducted at gun shows — which have long been required — from newly mandated checks on private and online sales.
http://www.denverpost.com/...
The fact remains, however, that background checks stop violent and dangerous people from getting their hands on guns, so it stands to reason the newly enacted BC legislation in Colorado is weeding out those who should not get a gun as well.
And that message will also be used in Missouri:
The [background] law’s repeal was correlated with a 23 percent spike in firearm homicide rates, or an additional 55 to 63 murders annually from 2008 to 2012, according to the study conducted by researchers with the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research and to be published in the Journal of Urban Health.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Now, of course, the gun safety legislation passed in 2013 at the state level was much more than background checks, but in the big picture, after all the back and forth about who voted for what and whose rights are being trampled, and the dust settles, the fact will remain that background checks work and if you voted against them, you voted to support criminals and domestic abusers.
It seems to me, that's a powerful rhetorical message that should be repeated ad nausea on the campaign trail.