Venkman
The constant 'what-if' I keep reading here is that the government is going to start abusing it's power if a background check is in place. The thing not being mentioned is that if the government came to be that way there would never just be a "background check".
Incrementalism. It's a wonderful thing.
It's assuming that somehow all of the gun laws get rescinded (as far as allowing legal citizens to own, carry, et cetera) save for a background check, and all of a sudden the government will hamper down on ownership by shutting down NICS or raising fees. Such a government would never have a 'just a background check' or remove all of the gun laws in the first place.
The background check is just an increment. It doesn't work. Well, yes, it does, but what it accomplishes is not its stated purpose.
Convicted felons (at the moment!) out on parole should not be able to own a firearm. Repaying their debt to society and getting out is another story. When you are out on parole, you are still part of the correctional system and your debt has not been repayed.
The structure of parole is wrong. Letting people out into the general population in the
hope that they'll be good, while proscribing ownership and certain activities, is folly. You still wind up with honest citizens having to prove they are not him.
Look.
If you let the guy out to wander the streets, then for God's sake
let him out already. Let him have his life back. Let him start over.
This "we're letting you out but not really" is
SO not working.
If you have concluded you can trust him outside, then
trust him. If he does more bad things, then deal with him appropriately, for real.
It's hard to achieve redemption if you have nothing to lose.
Make the rewards for real rehabilitation the full restoration of rights. Really.
Make sure everybody knows that when a man is released, he has been released because he's okay to have in society.
If you do anything else, you're punishing the wrong group and visiting restrictions on all the wrong people.
You want the redeemed felon back in the civilized framework. So make it really possible.
Really possible.
If you're completely convinced that rehabilitation and redemption are simply not possible, then don't even bother housing felons. Just hang them and get it over with.
If they're out, make sure we can trust them, and then trust them.
If we can't trust them, then don't inflict them on society.