I'm amazed, and disappointed, at the number of knee-jerk reactions to my post by people who clearly didn't bother to read its plain language. Some guys on our side are as obstinately emotionally driven as the antis.
I do see and understand your point. Two levels of personal scrutiny involved: 1) What *do* I know about a person that would legally require me to *not* transfer a gun to them, and 2) What *should* I know about a person that, having passed the minimum legal requirement, would lead to to chose to transfer a gun to a person.
The latter is the “reasonable man” kind of idea, but society is in great disagreement as to what is reasonable. Aside from a “needs” based approach, some states add that level of discretion to local authorities above and beyond a NICS check. That being, to know that if there was something to know about the transfer recipient, that there is nothing known “of concern.” A local law enforcement agency would know if there had been calls, visits, etc., suggesting there may be a “concern” that *might* be amplified with a gun involved. Once civil rights are allowed to be exercised based on arbitrary discretion, they are not rights. Some States, like MA, add more extensive checks with local mental heath authorities to see if a name is in their database, and why.
Private transfers to someone you personally know give you the greatest information upon which to base your choice. But even those range from the guys you’ve met at a club, sports, etc., and exchanged some words with, to a lifelong friend. The opposite extreme is somebody you’ve never met who drives up in a car. How did they connect? Usually answering an advertisement of “gun for sale.” Maybe they drive up, out-of-state license plates, buddies in the car, face tattoos, and you make some assumptions. Maybe it’s a Ronnie Howard young adult driving up in a Honda Civic, having told you he lives three towns over in Mayberry. Who’s a gang member, who’s a straw purchaser, who’s a regular Joe buying a used gun? You’ve read that former drug dealers are now running guns as MJ is legal? What does a gunrunner’s strawmen and mules look like? You just cannot know.
I usually indicate in a “Gun for Sale” ad that I’ll ask to see a NH-DL and NH Pistol & Revolver License, just so people know the qualifications. I’ve never had to ask to see them - they’ve been offered. Maybe forged - dunno. I don’t make copies or asked signed receipts, etc. I just log that gun sold with date and valid NH-DL/PRL checked in my records - no name. My choice to know (or think I know) beyond what is required by law.
The gap between legal and moral/ethical is almost imperceptibly narrowed by NICS background checks, and would not practically differ if made Universal. *You* might not sell a gun to someone on a list, but *they* would almost never come to buy your gun anyway.
Upwards of 400 million guns in the USA. About 40,000 firearms death in the USA annually. That’s 1 in 10,000 guns at most at the other end of a lethal bullet. For you manufacturing folks, that’s 100 in a million - better than 5 Sigma “defects” which is 230 defects per million. These aren’t airsoft or BB guns - if they cannot kill they are not firearms. It’s amazing something designed to kill is *so* defective that, handed out wildly nilly to anyone who wants one, only 1 in 10,000 kills someone!