As far as the “Universal” background check goes, the media and politicans would want you to believe that there are NO background checks currently, and guns are as easy to obtain as a soda from a vending machine, this is NOT the case.
Background checks already exist, if you go to a gun store or go to a gun show and purchase from a dealer/vendor, you MUST fill out Federal Form 4473, and submit to a NICS (Nationa lInstant Check System) for a background check, this can take around 15 minutes to an hour depending on how busy the system is, there are three results;
Proceed; background check passed
Delayed; NICS needs more time to check, can take up to 3 days, if after 3 days no disqualifying issues are found, transaction is approved
Declined; background check failed, no reason is given to the customer, and often the decline is never investigated (which I think it should be, there’s a reason for decline, maybe it’s criminal activity, maybe it’s a clerical error, maybe erroneous data that needs to be fixed…)
Once the Proceed has been given, the sale can be completed, and you go home with your firearm.
buy a gun from a store? fill out the 4473, “Proceed”, pay and go home.
Buy a gun from a vendor or seller at a gun show, same thing, pass the 4473
what politicians refer to as the “Gun Show Loophole” is actually a “Private Sale” between two individuals that does not take place at a retail establishment, and even that has some rules (which must be voluntarily followed)
1; buyer and seller must live in the same state, buyer from state A can only sell to other residents of state A
2; buyer must not think seller is a prohibited person (felon, domestic abuser, of poor moral character, etc.)
3; both buyer and seller must both be of legal age to own a firearm (no selling to kids)
4; buyer must be the owner of the gun being sold, no selling other peoples property
yes, this is reliant on both buyer and seller following the rules (which are common sense anyway), and the sale is under the seller’s discretion in the first place, if i’m selling a gun face to face, and I don’t feel like the seller is trustworthy, i’m not going to sell it…
what the “universal” check seeks to regulate are private sales, transfers between family members, gift giving, and loaning a firearm to a friend/acquaintance/family member, and seeks to create a “paper trail” so the government knows the location of every firearm and who owns what…
right now, if I wanted to loan/sell/give one of my firearms to a family member, I simply do so… “here, mom/nephew/sister, I think you’d like this gun/here, try my new gun/etc”, if I was handed down a firearm from a family member as a family heirloom, or if I wanted to hand down a gun to a family member, I simply do so, if I wanted to sell /loan/let try out a gun to a friend who I know is a legal, law-abiding citizen, I simply do so, no paperwork is needed, no background check is needed, the government doesn’t need to know.
under a universal check system, every one of the above transactions would require the buyer and seller to go through some form of NICS style check system (perhaps family transfers might be excepted), it is creating a “paper trail”, could that trail be used in the future as a record for confiscation, easily. would it? who can currently tell, would you trust the government with that kind of information? what about data breaches, now criminals have a “shopping list” of where to find firearms and houses to burgle…
now, personally, if I was to sell a firearm privately, I would like to have access to a NICS style system to make sure that the buyer is not a prohibited person, but that’s for a selfish reason, I wouldn’t want to sell a firearm to someone with a criminal background or ill intent, I understand the responsibility of ownership, but do I want to mandate that EVERY transfer of possession be monitored by the Feds, no.
If I want to sell a gun to my Mom, I should be able to, she’s a law abiding citizen with no criminal record, of good moral character, and just as law abiding as me, the Feds don’t need to check that transaction, do I want to sell a gun to my best friend since high school and we’ve been in contact our whole lives, a person who’s like a sibling to me? yes, but i’d still like to check his background just to be safe (what, me, paranoid? who wants to know?! 
), however I don’t think the Feds need to have a record of that transaction…
a solution which would satisfy “Universal” proponents, and opponents? how about this…
a private sale accessible NICS style check system that returns only the three results to the private seller (Proceed/Delay/Decline) but retains NO information, the firearm isn’t even the issue, it’s a background check on the person, not a firearms sale/transfer transaction record, its a truly instant and temporary check that generates no paper trail, it’d give the seller peace of mind that the buyer isn’t a prohibited person, and would generate no paper trail
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