Why I believe Back-ground Checks are a farce

[1-Old-Man]

A little over two years ago I went to buy my wife a pistol for Christmas. The hardware store in the closest town to us is also a gun shop, and a very well stocked one at that. So I went there and the lady behind the counter recommended a particular pistol;she, owned one herself and liked it a good deal. So I decided to buy it.

The first thing I had to do was fill out the Federal questionnaire that proceeds the background check. So I filled it out and then waited while she, the sales lady, called in the check. Probably because of the time of year, it being just a few days until Christmas, it seemed to take forever. But after about 20 minutes the check was completed and I was denied permission to purchase the gun. No reason was given. Now this stuck me as odd, not only because I knew of no reason why I should fail the check but also because I had bought another pistol just about a month earlier with no problem at all.

Anyway, as soon as the background check failed the lady said, 'don't worry, this happens all the time, just wait a minute. So then she picked up the phone and called the check in again. The second time the sale was approved in about 5 minutes.

[Shadowflash]

1. So

It's a farce because not everything works perfectly all the time.

I've been to the grocery store and used my debit card. Sometimes it doesn't go through correctly the first time. Does this make debit cards a 'farce'?

[Recursion]

2. It's designed to hold/deny on system failure

What she said was right: if the server is down or whatever, the system will say "deny". The point is to eliminate type II errors (false negative: person with a qualifying condition receiving a green light) at the cost of increasing type I errors (false positive: person with no qualifying condition receiving a red light).

[VOX]

3. Ah, Christmas...family, good food, a crackling Yule log, and a shiny new pistol.

What better gift to give -- or receive -- in celebration of the birth of the Prince of Peace? Nothing else in the world says "Merry Christmas" and "I love you" better than a new firearm glistening under the lighted tree.

The timeless gift of guns -- because you *care*.

[Hoyt]

4. What is Christmas without a bunch of guns? There are some sickos out there.

[1-Old-Man]

5. True that

I do not carry a gun myself, but my wife chose to and wanted one that was small so as to fit in her purse. When the lady speaks I listen. That is what she wanted and that is what I got her, and if you don't care for it that's just the way it is. Prince of Peace my ass, by the way.