Could someone explain to me what the actual process when trying to buy a gun in the United States is? From the little I heard about Democrats trying to pass background check laws and Republicans trying to block them every time, it seems to me there are almost no such laws in place?
And how does the Second Amendment factor into this? I once heard that in some places you can just easily walk into a gun store and buy a gun on the spot. This certainly cannot be true, can it?
Also, there were plenty of shooters who should never have gotten their hands on a gun, so did they just obtain it illegally, stole one from a family member, or did they actually get one exactly because there were no checks performed? Certainly they would not have been able to pass the check after filling the form shown above, or did they simply lie?
Thanks. :)
What you have to understand is that the United States operates like 50 miniature countries. Ever hear the line in US Politics "Your rights shouldn't depend on your zip code!" That's because they literally do. In middle America and the Southwest primarily, the 2nd Amendment applies - you can go into a gun store and buy a gun. And a shotgun (the ideal gun for CTB) is not restricted like, say an AR-15. In fact, the guns ideal for CTB are pretty much the opposite of guns ideal for a mass shooting. No one is committing a mass shooting with a shotgun (unless they're really stupid).
Then you have specific states where legislation as a whole is batshit insane, not just on guns, like New Jersey, New York, and California. IMO New Jersey is the worst because not only are guns off limits if you've even had one Psychiatric Hospital stay - the Psychiatric Laws here are absolutely draconian. You can be medically abducted if so much as someone makes an anonymous call about you acting sus. You can be taken away, and even if you go through an evaluation acting completely cool and saying "I have no intent to harm myself or others" you can still be put under involuntary commitment, and that commitment has no legal limits - you can be held for years if they so choose. And once you have a Psychiatric record, you can be institutionalized repeatedly just on the account you have that record. For example: Police have access to that record - so if you're so much as pulled over on a traffic stop, they can choose to contact a Mental Health Services and have you taken to a hospital just to fuck with you, and once you're in a hospital you're not getting out for months.
I don't have the resources to move away anymore, but I've spent most of my adult life living away from this disgusting state because it's THAT scary here. I really don't know if any other US State operates like this, but the only one even close is Washington State.
You can't really talk about gun buying without talking about how utterly fucked the US Mental Healthcare (care is a misnomer) is because the two are intrinsically linked. The only thing gun laws prevent is Disabled people and those otherwise suffering from having a quick CTB. People committed to going on a mass shooting - they're going to find a way to get a gun illegally. Because they're not Disabled people with limited resources - they're people Hellbent on murder. If you're already in that state of mind...I can't see how laws would matter to you.
Also IIRC, some of the most infamous Mass Shooters just nabbed the gun they used from a parent or relative - Adam Lanza comes to mind. Plus most Mass Shooters were never recorded as having encounters with the Mental Health System - which kind of further proves my point that the Mental Health System is no different from the Police - a tool used for the oppression of "undesirables". Every single time I've been locked up in an institution most of my fellow inmates were other women and minorities.
I know I'm slipping on and off topic here, but, to understand ANY system of laws in America you have to understand those laws are going to be applied differently to white guys vs. women, minorities, the Disabled. Just look at those videos on Youtube where white guys film themselves open carrying and then have a black person film themselves open carrying and they immediately get harassed by cops.
TL:DR America is a shithole and gun laws, like any other system of laws in this shithole apply differently depending on your race, gender, and Disability status.