Why do conservatives fear background checks for guns?

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

43. As usual with the NRA and it lunatic fringe acolytes...

the truth is a little different than propaganda.

In the wake of the Stockton school yard shootings, California based the Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Control Act in 1989, the first AWB in the nation. The law allowed legal owners of certain assault weapons to either register, render inoperable, surrender, or dispose of out-of-state their assault rifles. They had nearly two years, until March 31, 1992 to comply with the new law.

The deadline came and the deadline went.

In the meantime, Republican Dan Lundgren became the Attorney General in California, and Lundgren decided that the March 31 deadline was really just a recommendation by a majority of the California General Assembly. Lundgren assumed that he, as Attorney General, had the authority of create a "grace period" during which people who were currently in violation of the law could step forward and register their weapon. This unilateral action, where the Attorney General doesn't just reinterpret the law, but rewrites the law, was challenged in court.

In the mean time, word gets out that there's a "grace period" in California, so even though assault rifles can't be legally bought and sold there, we still have highways, right? And they lead to place like Nevada where there is no assault weapons ban, right?

Right.

People start crossing the border, buying assault rifles, sneaking them back home, and then stepping forward to say, "Hey, look at this brand new assault rifle that I found in my attic and didn't at all just buy last week at a Reno gun dealer." Right. Lundren's action, in addition to be flagrantly unconstitutional, basically created a massive loophole in the AWB.

Did I mention that Dan Lundgren is a Republican. But you knew that, right?

And so five years later, Lundgren is out of office and his successor complies with the court ruling that says a deadline is a deadline. If you didn't register your firearm by March 31, 1992, you are in violation of the law. And if you sneaked a gun across the border to take advantage of the loophole, you're REALLY in violation of the law. And so a bunch of people who thumbed their noses at the laws of the state and the will of the people ended up screwing themselves.

Boo fucking Hoo.

And the people who complied? Those who did it right the first time around and registered before the deadline? Assuming that they continued being law-abiding citizens, they still have their rifles.