Oh, I know I can't argue conclusively that the NICS is all bad but blowing up the good out of proportion to the bad isn't such a good idea either. That could lead to telling our grandkids that Hitler was really a nice guy because he managed to do a few good things. The NICS is a bad thing in spite of the few victories it might enjoy. I don't think anyone will tell you that filling out a 4473 and paying for the honor of waiting to get your clearance to buy a gun is something they've always wanted to do. Those of my age can remember going into a hardware store, buying a Model 99 Savage and the only paperwork entailed was in handing over the money! (I should never have sold that rifle!)
I know the NICS is here to stay. Not because it's such a wonderful program but becuase we (that's me and you and the guy down the street) don't have the 'nads to fight it the way it needs to be fought. Instead, we rationalize about the kids in school (a government school?), our 401k (in U.S. dollars - shrinking faster than than a cheap sweater in a hot dryer) and all of our responsibilities to our families, our neighbors, our communities, our towns and cities, our states and of course - the good ol' Yew Ess of Aye, few of whom seem to have any responsibility to us other than keeping track of us well enough to make it easy to extract their exorbitant taxes.
For those of you that think the program does enough good to warrant its continuance, let's look at some numbers (pulled strictly out of my nether regions but probably close enough to make the point.)
Let's suppose the NICS processes a million transfers on a weekend prior to Father's Day. Almost all of them go through with nary a hitch. Some are delayed and a very few are denied. Those that were delayed come through later and even some of those denied are appealed and subsequently approved.
So let's pull another number out of that dark hole and say that 5000 are ultimately denied. That's 5000/1000000 or .005 of the total. That may be good enough for government but I doubt a ballplayer could get a major league contract with such a batting average. But government agencies can get millions of taxpayers dollars with that kind of record because too many of us want to feel safe and to attain that feeling we're willing - nay, eager to give up our freedom - in small portions, of course - for the warm, fuzzy carress of a gloved iron fist.
As I said before: the NICS is here to stay but don't tell me what a great thing it is. I know better and so does anybody whose horizon isn't delineated by the cheeks of their butt!
