Controll Guns

One seller in St. Clair County believes new gun control measures could end up helping his business. However, he doesn’t believe the regulations should exist.

“Free men don’t need permission,” Donnie Hammett said this week, quoting the words embroidered on the front of his hat while standing in front of his display of semi-automatic weapons — three AR-15s and an AK-47.

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Read what Republican officials had to say about the executive action here. 

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Over the last 25 years, Hammett has submitted more than 9,000 Federal background checks for his customers. As a Federally licensed gun seller, the owner of owner of Pell City Gold and Pawn keeps handwritten records of the transactions, always prepared for the possibility of an audit from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Hammett is meticulous, operating his business under the pretense that a mistake in his books could land him in prison. Because it literally could.

But with the Jan. 5 announcement by the White House that executive actions by President Barack Obama will make it more difficult to purchase a firearm without a Federal background check, Hammett said he isn’t concerned about losing business. Rather, he believes he might see more customers because of it.

The order, according to a summary by the White House, begins by targeting transactions that take place outside Federal requirements, focusing on sellers who rely on websites or gun shows — those most often accused of circumventing legal purchasing requirements. With the ATF increasing its attention on those sellers, Hammett said more buyers are likely to end up in his store.

“It actually helps me,” he said. “The truth is, if it’s more difficult to sell guns without a license, it will drive business to sellers who have one.”

But, regardless of the benefit he might receive, Hammett takes considerable issue with the President’s decisions this week. For one, the executive actions target persons with mental health disorders.

“Current law prohibits individuals from buying a gun if, because of a mental health issue, they are either a danger to themselves or others or are unable to manage their own affairs” the White House Fact Sheet reads. “The Social Security Administration has indicated that it will begin the rule-making process to ensure that appropriate information in its records is reported.”

That means more mental health data is going to be reported to the ATF and will appear during background checks. Proponents of the executive action argue that’s a benefit to the process.

It’s already illegal for people who have been determined by a court to be, as worded on the background check application, “mentally defective” or have been committed to a mental institution to own a firearm. However, Hammett said increasing the amount of data provided doesn’t increase public safety. He attested that lackadaisical enforcement by regulating authorities means people who want a gun without going through the proper channels will still be able to get one.

“There’s no gun law every going to pass, I don’t care what it is, that’s going to fix crazy or criminal,” Hammett said. “[Gun sellers] are licensed and restricted to death. We need to enforce the laws we already have instead of making it harder on people who are already doing the right thing.”

In the short term, Hammett said Obama’s executive actions have already done one thing for his business. With the announcement, gun sales in his store and across the country climbed rapidly.

“Mr. Obama might not know it, but he is the world’s greatest gun salesman,” Hammett said.

In-Store: To buy a gun from a licensed dealer, you must submit to Federal background check by filling out ATF Form 4473. The seller submits your form to the ATF, which will reply with a decision of Approve, Hold or Disapprove. The decision is usually immediate. If the ATF applies a Hold to the applicant, it’s required to return a decision within three days. If it doesn’t, the seller is permitted to sell the firearm.

At a Gun Show: Buying from licensed sellers at gun shows works identically to buying in-store. A buyer is required to fill out the ATF 4473, and the seller uses available technology, be it cell phone or laptop, to send the information to the Federal government. A pickup for the firearm is then arranged.

Online: Licensed sellers rely on each other for online purchases of handguns. If a buyer from out-of-state purchases a handgun from a website, the seller is only permitted to ship it to a local store for pickup. That store then submits the background check when the buyer comes in to retrieve the firearm.

From the White House Fact Sheet

“Over the past decade in America, more than 100,000 people have been killed as a result of gun violence—and millions more have been the victim of assaults, robberies, and other crimes involving a gun. Many of these crimes were committed by people who never should have been able to purchase a gun in the first place.”

• Clarify that it doesn’t matter where you conduct your business—from a store, at gun shows, or over the Internet: If you’re in the business of selling firearms, you must get a license and conduct background checks.

• Require background checks for people trying to buy some of the most dangerous weapons and other items through a trust or corporation.

• Ensure States are providing records to the background check system, and work cooperatively with jurisdictions to improve reporting.

• Make the background check system more efficient and effective by hiring 230 new examiners and 200 new ATF investigators and agents.

• Ensure that dealers notify law enforcement about the theft or loss of their guns.

• Issue a memo directing every U.S. Attorney’s Office to renew domestic violence outreach efforts.

• Dedicate significant new resources to increase access to mental health care.

• Include information from the Social Security Administration in the background check system about beneficiaries who are prohibited from possessing a firearm.

• Remove unnecessary legal barriers preventing States from reporting relevant information to the background check system.

• Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Department of Defense, Department of Justice, and Department of Homeland Security to take two important steps to promote smart gun technology.