TexasCHLforum.com

thatguyoverthere wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2019 9:07 pm

mojo84 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2019 3:34 pm Here is most of an email I received from Dan Patrick today.

<snip>
Currently, 80% of all gun sales include a background check. Of the 20% that don't go through a background check, we believe about half are transfers between family members. Federal officials estimate that the remaining 10% of guns sold are involved in more than 80% of gun crimes.
<snip>

I was recently involved in a private gun sale with a stranger.

I am highly offended at Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's accusation that the gun in my transaction WILL be used in a crime! Apparently he believes I am so ignorant (or sinister) that I do not have enough sense to conduct a private transaction in a safe and responsible manner without the government being present to approve and hold my hand from start to finish.

Yes, I do realize from the quote that he is attributing that statistic to the Federal government. However, I am confident that he has misinterpreted the Federal information. My only question is: was his misinterpretation based on ignorance, incompetence, or malfeasance?

Yep, 10% of firearm transactions occur between criminals and we need to create a law against it. That's a politician who is more worried about getting elected than defending the constitution.
I have kind of the same thoughts about, "just takes a few minutes at a gun store."
My county only has one gun store, which has limited business hours, and charges $35 for a transfer. Some dealers won't handle them at all. Is the Lt. Governor that out of touch with his constituency, or is it worse than just that?

Pretty worked up about it, isn't he?
I buy a lot of tools and equipment, used, from people I don't know. If I choose to purchase them through a used equipment dealer, then that offers me some amount of protection in case the item later turns out to have been stolen at any point in its past. I pay for that through the added cost, time, and travel of working with a dealer. The highest level of security comes from buying a new item from a retailer, which comes at the highest cost, and assumes that what I want is currently being manufactured.
It sounds like the lt. governor wants to impose his personal belief system onto me. The "family and friends" part doesn't make me feel any better. It shifts the transfer of a firearm from being lawful unless proven to be a crime, to being unlawful unless proven to be legal. We've seen this model somewhere else, haven't we? How is that working? Also, where does this 10-15% number come from, and how many of those transactions are between people who don't follow laws regardless of how you make them?