You have to love the gun grabbers: they’re happy to blow off the 4th Amendment as they assault the 2nd. Here’s Charlie Kirk and John Chachas losing their minds in the USA Today
Parkland shooting spurs information age solutions for gun violence
Big data already knows everything about us, so couldn’t it have stopped Nikolas Cruz’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School slaughter in Parkland?When you call your favorite Chinese take-out today you usually are addressed by name; asked if you have the same address when you placed your last order in November and if you want “the usual with extra soy sauce and four spring rolls?” Similar questions from your favorite pizza joint. When you dial into your airline from your mobile phone, the automated system asks, “Welcome back, John, where are you traveling today?â€
Virtually every piece of your personal, health, financial and travel data, even beer preferences are available to somebody somewhere. So much for the individual right of privacy and personal freedom, the erosion of which essentially began in 1946 with the invention of the ENIAC computer.
And given the national gun debate raging in America with all manner of suggestions such as armed teachers, metal detectors in schools and churches — can metal detectors and armed guards at McDonald’s be far behind? — it is time for Congress to move into the 21st century and require the harnessing of integrated data to better equip American law enforcement.
No. We’re stupid enough to give up a lot of this data, and sometimes the companies take it, but, quite frankly, I do not care if Chilis knows that I prefer the Ranchero Chicken Tacos with potato soup, and to put the bacon, cheese, and onions on the side rather than mixing them. Or, if I get the burger, same with the soup, and do not put mustard on the burger (makes me break out, plus hate mustard). This is none of Government’s business. Literally. It’s not the Government’s job to have access to this information without a warrant. They have no need to know if I drive down to the beach, nor if I go to the gun range to shoot off a couple hundred rounds.
We are both lifelong conservative Republicans and gun owners. We live in a remarkable age of information and in the interest of young people, we need to turn the national conversation to procedures that might have helped avert recent tragedies.
We are neither gun proponents, nor gun control zealots.
Having said that we must allow authorities to have available knowledge about excess purchases of weapons and ammunition; knowledge about persons with mental illness or at-risk behavior; and the intersection of these categories in a manner that offers tools for law enforcement to intervene.
The Chinese take-out, the pizza restaurant, airlines, the credit card companies, Google, Amazon, iTunes and every other American enterprise has moved forward voluntarily utilizing such data.
It is now time for Congress and policy makers to retire the worthless empty phrase “common sense gun laws†and equally worthless “Gun Show Loophole†and actually pass meaningful legislation. Millennials and kids are at risk so enough of the vapid talk.
Well, first you’ll have to do away with the whole 4th Amendment thingy. If you were truly “conservative Republicans” you’d know this. Let’s look at their specific proposal
- Establish a central data base at the FBI and Department of Homeland Security for future gun purchases to take effect upon enactment of legislation.
- The statute would mandate that before the purchase of any gun or ammunition, the buyer must present a valid state driver’s license or a U.S. passport and a social security number. Furthermore, every purchase must be by credit card — not by cash or trade-in.
- Any party that purchases more than one gun or three 24-round boxes of ammunition within the same calendar week will be flagged by the database for further review.
- Flagged buyers shall, following further review, be subject to additional data scrutiny including readily available public information on traffic violations, reports of domestic violence, public intoxication from drugs or alcohol, postings on social media, obituary notices, employment terminations and the like. This additional review will be established by the FBI and Homeland Security with appropriate help from Silicon Valley creating a “risk scoring” of data associated with flagged persons.
- Cross references will highlight concerns raised about a person’s health status, treatment or behavior combined with flags for multiple purchases of firearms or ammunition.
They’re proposal sounds more like a gun banner’s delight, along with being Big Progressive (nice Fascist) Government watching your every move.
