Hawkins: Universal Background Checks Unenforceable Without Gun Registry

President Joe Biden continued his push for universal background checks Tuesday but did not mention such checks require a gun registry in order to be viable.

He directed Attorney General Merrick Garland to move the U.S. as close to a universal background check system as possible without Congressional action.  Breitbart News reported Biden bypassed Congress with this push, choosing to use the executive branch to secure that which the legislative branch has refused to condone.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) indicated Biden announced his executive actions during a speech in California, a state which already has universal background checks yet is a leader in active shooter incidents.

Something else that is important to note: California not only has universal background checks but gun registration requirements as well. This is because universal background checks cannot work with a registry.

Think about it: Universal checks are a mandate that every gun sale, private or retail, is to be preceded by a government check on the would-be buyer’s criminal history. The only way the government can know citizens are complying with such a universal framework is to know where every gun is at all times. Elsewise, citizens could be selling guns to neighbors, in alleys, or in parking lots, without the government’s knowledge.

Hawkins in 2021: Universal Background Checks Are Dems’ “Guiding Light” to More Gun Control

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Universal background checks are simply unenforceable without a gun registry. And a registry is rife with problems, as it leads, historically speaking, to confiscatory action.

This is true whether one looks at world history to see how registration allowed Nazis to erase private gun ownership in the lead-up to World War II, how China’s pre-1949 Communists implemented gun registration that was used to disarm citizens during the Communist revolution, or how California’s universal background checks were complemented with registration, then confiscatory policies, at the state level.

Thus Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) responded to Biden’s Tuesday gun control push by saying, “Universal background checks are a precursor to registration, which is a precursor to confiscation. That’s exactly where he’s going with this.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.