Mayors Try to Drive Wedge Between Manufactures, Dealers and NRA

I have been one that believes that 2013 is a different year than 1993, when Bill Clinton and the gun banners worked to drive a wedge between different segments of gun owners to pass the Clinton Gun Ban.  Back then, the idea was to pit shotgun owners against owners of semi-automatic rifles by saying "we're not coming for your hunting guns."  Now, with a large segment of gun owners (some 4 million by some estimates) owning modern sporting rifles for anything from hunting to self-defense, that tactic is likely not going to work.  But this Washington Post article points out one area where a wedge may still be able to be driven, so-called "universal background checks" (UBCs).

“That’s more the NRA’s issue,” Steve Sanetti, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), said in an interview. “From the commercial side, we’re already there, and we’ve been there, and we were the ones that have been the strongest proponents of an effective, complete background check.”

The Post notes that a group of mayors have used this opportunity to write gun manufacturers Monday, warning that their governments may begin using black mail to win support for increased regulation, including an extension of background checks. The mayors, whose cities spend gobs of money on firearms and ammunition each year for their police departments have decided to tell manufacturers that they will only spend their money with companies that support the mayors' agenda.

The NRA for their part is pushing back.  In a statement released Monday:

“Unfortunately,” ...the National Instant Criminal Background Check System “is currently incomplete and has inaccurate data. Rather than focusing on improving the quality of information contained in NICS, gun control proponents are advocating a significant expansion of a system that has gaping inadequacies.”

It appears that pro rights organizations may also not be of one mind on the issue of UBCs.

In Washington state last month, the head of a gun rights group offered to support mandatory background-check legislation for most firearm sales in exchange for a state commitment not to maintain gun records. It’s not clear whether the proposal will succeed but it has drawn support across the divide of the gun debate.

“This is a good compromise with real give-and-take,” said Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation and chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

But just how much can we trust such promises?