Survey: Gun Dealers Reject Instant Background Checks

The thing that is probably the most frustrating to the anti-gun crowd is, in general, they can't get any part of the gun community to turn traitor on the rest. That was the anti-gun modus operandi in Britain, for example, where gun owners were represented by several different organizations that were picked off one by one.

Here, despite sporadic attempts to establish quisling groups like the now-defunct American Hunters and Shooters Association, gun owners and the gun industry have generally presented a solid front, defying attempts to divide us.

If the antis were hoping that gun dealers would jump on the bandwagon for universal background checks, it appears they were mistaken. An online survey taken by the National Shooting Sports Foundation showed 85.7 percent of those responding opposing them. The responding dealers also rejected the concept that the checks might stop criminals from getting guns by a resounding 95.7 percent.

Retailers feared that a universal check system would mean a whole lot more work for them with low government-set fees that would not cover their costs, slower NICS check service and greater risk of license revocation for record-keeping errors.

In effect, a universal system would dragoon dealers — most of them small businesses — into doing the government's work at slave wages.

Universal check enthusiasts probably thought dealers would like the forced foot traffic such a program would bring in, but the last couple years of panic buying have probably made dealers yearn for a little peace and quiet.