Background checks ineffective

I respectfully disagree with Shawn Vestal’s Aug. 17 column stating that universal background checks on all gun sales would be a good thing. Such laws would preclude giving a firearm to a relative such as a son, daughter or grandchild without the recipient going through a licensed dealer and background check for the recipient. This would be expensive, cumbersome and wouldn’t do a thing to protect the public from lunatics who want to do terrible things with guns.

There is no way to enforce such a law without universal registration of all firearms. History tells us that in most cases confiscation inevitably follows registration. Vestal also says that there would be put in place a law that the government couldn’t confiscate private firearms.

Wait a minute: don’t we already have a Second Amendment to the Constitution that prevents that? I, for one, do not trust the government not to abuse its power. We have already seen examples of that many times recently. Can we say “Fast and Furious”?

Terry Kjolseth

Colbert