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but I can foresee problems with this as well. If NICS were opened up to anyone wishing to sell a firearm, I would be more inclined to accept this type of requirement. However, if the transaction must be performed through a dealer, I would be opposed to it. This could too easily lead to heavy fees being applied to providing this service, and can also lead to accessibility problems. There are parts of the country where there simply are not any licensed dealers within reasonable distances to people.
Then the problem of government involvement of intrastate commerce has to be addressed. It is my understanding that this type of requirement would run afoul of laws preventing this.
And finally, the most difficult part...How would it be enforced? How would the government know whether or not a firearm was sold without a background check being completed? If the answer is a federal database, forget it. you will never get support for that idea, and I am also pretty certain that it has been ruled that such a database would violate the 2nd amendment. I see no other way to enforce this requirement. Perhaps a better solution would be to simply open NICS to individual use, on a voluntary basis. I think that most people who are "pro-controls" would be quite shocked at how many individual sellers would take advantage being able to screen potential buyers.
JW
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