How the NRA tried to stop a member from conducting gun-control research

[Karee 4,191]

A UC Davis professor received an email from leading US gun rights lobby aiming to discredit his work

Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images

The National Rifle Association reportedly advised its members against participating in a study released this week that shows a majority of gun sellers want tougher background checks for gun buyers.

The NRA apparently was unaware that the University of California professor behind the study -- himself an NRA member -- received the email discrediting his research.

Garen Wintemute, director of the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program, conducted a survey of 1,601 federally licensed gun dealers and pawnbrokers across the country in 2011. Fifty-five percent of respondents supported comprehensive background checks.

But when Wintemute started interviewing gun vendors for his study, he received an email essentially advising him against himself.

"If you are a federally licensed dealer in firearms, you may recently have received a survey questionnaire from gun control supporter Dr. Garen Wintemute, of the University of California, Davis," said the email, obtained by Al Jazeera.

"Why is Dr. Wintemute sending the survey?" it continued. "Consider the source. Over the years, he has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from anti-gun organizations to conduct 'studies' designed to promote gun control."

Wintemute said he never received any money from anti-gun groups. "I've turned it down, in fact," he said.

Wintemute said he did not respond to the email. "The positions taken by the leadership of the organization," he said, "don’t represent NRA members."

The NRA was not available for comment at time of publication.

Wintemute completed the study, despite the opposition. In 2011, he found that a majority of gun shop owners supported comprehensive background checks that include provisions barring people from purchasing firearms if they have a history of everything from mental illness to alcoholism-related crimes.

"I suspect that the levels of support we got in 2011 would probably be higher if they were published today," after mass shootings in Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn, he said.

Steve Schneider, owner of firearm vendor Atlantic Guns in Silver Spring, Md., pointed out that "the federal background check is already in place," though he would not talk about his personal views on gun-sale regulations.

According to the report, only 16 states nationwide have laws mandating background checks for private purchases -- mostly at gun shows and over the Internet. Private vendors, who Wintemute estimates sell some 40 percent of firearms, are not required by federal law to perform background checks.

Wintemute said that, although it would mean more paperwork, a majority of vendors support a system where "private purchases would have to be routed through a licensed dealer" for paperwork to be done.

"The last thing they want is for a gun to go out of their store to be used in killings and suicides," he added.

But gun-control advocates suggest there may be another reason for licensed gun vendors' support for background checks.

"Because of the loophole on background checks still, (the licensed dealers' private) competitors don't have to comply with the same laws that they have to comply with," said Monte Frank, the legal counsel for anti-gun-violence group Newtown Action Alliance.

Last December, 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where Frank's daughter once went to school. Twenty of the victims were children.

"If you go to a gun show," Frank said, "and at one table there's a federally licensed gun dealer who has to comply with federal law, if someone goes to that dealer and fails a background check, they can go to the next table, with no license, and they would not have to conduct a background check."

Source:

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/9/24/how-the-nra-triedtostopamemberfromconductingguncontrolresearch.html

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

The NRA fighting to ensure that felons and nutcases have easy and ready access to firearms? Say it ain't so.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Interesting. And not surprising that this thread didn't get the attention it deserved.

[mota bhai 2,675]

All you commies can go to hell.

[RGinWA 816]

The NRA protects our rights to arm the mentally ill and felons. Why do you commie left wing nuts hate freedom?

[Penny Lane 8,159]

The NRA protects our rights to arm the mentally ill and felons.

Just like the constitution intended!

[Harsh_77 718]

The NRA protects our rights to arm the mentally ill and felons. Why do you commie left wing nuts hate freedom?

NRA can do whatever they want, as per the current law felons and mentally ill cannot make a purchase, if FBI denies an application there is nothing NRA can do.

FBI needs to have better database of felons and mentally ill and I don’t think majority of gun owners object to that.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

NRA can do whatever they want, as per the current law felons and mentally ill cannot make a purchase, if FBI denies an application there is nothing NRA can do.

FBI needs to have better database of felons and mentally ill and I don’t think majority of gun owners object to that.

Yes. The FBI checks all purchases made between private parties.

[Novembro 1,763]

Shock me, shock me, shock me with your deviant (NRA) behaviour.

Edited September 26, 2013 by Novembro

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

All you commies can go to hell.

Which way do I turn? Left?

[Harsh_77 718]

Yes. The FBI checks all purchases made between private parties.

I have heard this from anti gun lobby, they don’t understand that the % of such transaction is very small. Most of the vendors at the gun shows are the gun shop owners who are lic dealers.

[RGinWA 816]

NRA can do whatever they want, as per the current law felons and mentally ill cannot make a purchase, if FBI denies an application there is nothing NRA can do.

FBI needs to have better database of felons and mentally ill and I don’t think majority of gun owners object to that.

You're aware gun shows only check a persons age? This is where your "theory" loses all it's wind.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Yes. The FBI checks all purchases made between private parties.

He still doesn't understand that there are private transfers where these rules do not apply. Gun dealers know this and they know that every person that have been rejected via the background check can walk across the street and buy that gun in a private transaction anyways. Again, it's the same thing as allowing alcohol and tobacco sales to minors in private transactions while requiring liquor and tobacco store owners to check ID. Doesn't sink in with the gun aficionados.

[Harsh_77 718]

You're aware gun shows only check a persons age? This is where your "theory" loses all it's wind.

Are you aware most vendors at the gun shows are gun shop owners, who are lic dealers and lic dealers cannot sell a firearm without background check, failing to check would lead to them losing their lic.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

NRA can do whatever they want, as per the current law felons and mentally ill cannot make a purchase, if FBI denies an application there is nothing NRA can do.

FBI needs to have better database of felons and mentally ill and I don’t think majority of gun owners object to that.

You must be smokin' something because felons can get guns. The crowd of felons on VJ likes to brag that they legally own guns. Please get informed. Lives are at stake.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/us/felons-finding-it-easy-to-regain-gun-rights.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Under federal law, people with felony convictions forfeit their right to bear arms. Yet every year, thousands of felons across the country have those rights reinstated, often with little or no review. In several states, they include people convicted of violent crimes, including first-degree murder and manslaughter, an examination by The New York Times has found.

While previously a small number of felons were able to reclaim their gun rights, the process became commonplace in many states in the late 1980s, after Congress started allowing state laws to dictate these reinstatements — part of an overhaul of federal gun laws orchestrated by theNational Rifle Association. The restoration movement has gathered force in recent years, as gun rights advocates have sought to capitalize on the 2008 Supreme Court ruling that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to bear arms.

Edited September 26, 2013 by Harpa Timsah