The Maryland native who is best known for his work on Discovery’s Dirty Jobs left his two cents on the newly proposed background checks on his Facebook page on Friday. Posting to his 3 million plus followers, Mike began by stating that he had received a request from the White House to share a few talking points with regards to expanded background check for those wishing to purchase a firearm.
He was quick to make sure everyone knew he was only kidding and then poked fun at himself, stating:
“The White House did not ask for my assistance, because they do not believe I’m famous enough to persuade anyone of anything.”
It went on to get a little more serious and in true Mike Row fashion, he backed up each of his points with statistics and sound reasoning. While he mentioned he does not oppose background checks, and I don’t believe many of us do, he said that he was simply skeptical that expanding a broken system is the best way to keep firearms out of the hands of wrong doers.
Once again, I think the majority of responsible gun owners would agree.
He highlights the facts that there are numerous holes already present in the National Check System, which does not register the thousands of mentally incompetent people, as deemed by the courts, allowing them easy access to firearms. He also stated that the ATF has said that the majority of states report less than 80% of their felony convictions to the national system, resulting in an estimated 7 million felons left out of the records.
Mike went on to attack the application process, and more importantly, the consequences, or lack thereof, of attempting to purchase a gun illegally.
“Lying on your application to purchase a firearm is a federal offense, but very few are prosecuted for doing so. According to Politico, the Feds have prosecuted just 1.5% of all those individuals who have attempted to purchase a gun illegally. If my math is correct, that means 98.5% of people who are NOT allowed to own a gun, have not been prosecuted for trying to buy one.”
Check out Mike’s post below and be sure to give this man a follow!
Hello FriendsI’ve just received a request from The White House! On behalf of The President, I’ve been asked to share...
Posted by Mike Rowe on Friday, January 15, 2016
