How background checks for guns should work.

I'd like to see some serious reform of the background check system. As it is a search of the FBI data base for felony crimes and a search for involuntary mental care is about all there is.

This is how I'd like to see the background checks be made more effective:

Include a 'permit to purchase' issued by the nearest local law enforcement department. These people are nearest to the purchaser and if there are concerns they will be the ones who know about them. Is this person a scofflaw, causes disturbances not rising to the level of felony, a repeat minor offender or someone who is often in the attention of law enforcement for disturbance of the peace? Shouldn't that be grounds for increased scrutiny and at least a temporary prohibition? Include interviews with relatives and others close to the person to see if there are concerns about maturity and stability in that 'permit to purchase' process.

Include a search of public social media. How many times have we heard of a 'Manifesto' or outright threats found on social media AFTER a tragedy? Shouldn't a threat to 'put a bullet' in the head of Nancy Pelosi be grounds to refuse sales and temporarily remove firearms from someone?

Expand mental health prohibitions to anyone treated for a condition that would indicate a possibility of harm to themselves or others even if not rising to the level of an involuntary committal for care.

Beyond that those who know me know I favor the prohibition of all semi automatic firearms that have interchangeable magazines of any size. I see that as the only way to reduce the volume of deaths and injuries--make it harder to shoot fast and reload fast. If we can't prevent people from killing other people shouldn't at least make it inconvenient to kill a lot of them?

Remains of those killed in 1985 Move bombing in Philadelphia serve as ‘case study’ in Princeton-backed course


The bones of Black children who died in 1985 after their home was bombed by Philadelphia police in a confrontation with the Black liberation group which was raising them are being used as a “case study” in an online forensic anthropology course presented by an Ivy League professor.

It has emerged that the physical remains of one, or possibly two, of the children who were killed in the aerial bombing of the Move organization in May 1985 have been guarded over the past 36 years in the anthropological collections of the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton.

The institutions have held on to the heavily burned fragments, and since 2019 have been deploying them for teaching purposes without the permission of the deceased’s living parents.

To the astonishment and dismay of present-day Move members, some of the bones are being deployed as artifacts in an online course presented in the name of Princeton and hosted by the online study platform Coursera. Real Bones: Adventures in Forensic Anthropology focuses on “lost personhood” – cases where an individual cannot be identified due to the decomposed condition of their remains...

The gun group is facing a New York state lawsuit that alleges "fraud and abuse."

By Lucien Bruggeman
February 22, 2021

...Judge Harlin Hale of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas is now weighing motions filed by James' office and others to dismiss the NRA's bankruptcy case claim. Legal experts interviewed by ABC News posit that the chances of a dismissal are strong, particularly given the NRA's insistence that the organization remains financially viable -- a position that undermines the traditional purpose of a Chapter 11 claim.

Adam Levitin, a bankruptcy professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, said the NRA's plan to seek bankruptcy protection amounts to little more than a "Hail Mary pass."

"If the alternative is that the New York attorney general shuts down the NRA, what do they have to lose with this strategy?" Levitin said. "They are out of ammo."

But another scenario could pose an entirely different threat to the beleaguered gun group: If Hale allows the NRA's bankruptcy claim to march forward, he may then choose to appoint a trustee to investigate allegations of fraud -- or even assume control of the organization...

There are currently 165 separate pieces of legislation pending in 33 states to restrict access to the ballot. The three states with the most proposals — Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Georgia — were carried by Biden in 2020, but are Republican-controlled

Andrew Feinberg Washington DC https://twitter.com/AndrewFeinberg

With Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial in the rearview mirror, the Biden administration is moving forward with an aggressive legislative agenda. That starts with relief from the coronavirus pandemic. But with the House poised to take action on a sweeping ethics and election reform package next month, current and former Congressional staffers and experts are warning that legislation to strengthen democracy needs to be pursued with the same vigor as any infrastructure or stimulus package.

In a letter to House members on Tuesday, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said the House will take up H.R. 1, the For the People Act, during the week of March 1, after spending the last week of February on passage of the Biden-backed American Rescue Plan, a massive wilderness protection bill, and the Equality Act, which bans discrimination against LGBT Americans.

“This legislation, which the House passed in 2019, is the centerpiece of Democrats’ agenda to make government more transparent and accountable to the people it serves,” Hoyer wrote. “From protecting voting rights to reforming campaign finance, from requiring higher ethical standards for public officials to engaging in nonpartisan redistricting reform, H.R. 1 aims to renew Americans’ faith that their government will always work for the people.”

Sponsored by Maryland Representative John Sarbanes along with all but four members of the House Democratic Caucus, the For the People Act was House Democrats’ signature piece of legislation during the 116th Congress. The sweeping 791-page bill aims to “expand Americans’ access to the ballot box, reduce the influence of big money in politics, strengthen ethics rules for public servants, and implement other anti-corruption measures for the purpose of fortifying our democracy.”...