This week, I’ll be discussing the gun show loophole and waiting periods for gun purchases, why the former shouldn’t exist, and why the latter should be extended.

First, the loophole.

Many right wingers call out the loophole as being falsely perpetuated and grossly untrue, saying that all gun shows have policies of thoroughly background-checking every potential purchaser before being sold the gun. While a majority (two-thirds, in fact) of nationwide gun show sellers are federally licensed (and hence subject to the mandatory background check), a third are not! Neither are legal private sales without any supervision.

This unsupervised and unlicensed sale of guns is the driving force behind the mass shooting epidemic in America. Many shooters obtain their weapons through legal purchases, which calls for increased regulation in a way I’ll discuss later, but others get them from family members or friends. These are people that either give weapons as presents or sell them simply because they think the purchaser isn’t insane.

Now onto the rest of the show!

The Charleston shooting at the predominantly black Emmanuel AME Church stands as a crystal clear example of the failings of current federal regulations. In purchasing the murder weapon, Dylan Roof was subject to wait a total of three days in order to lawfully purchase the handgun in South Carolina.

These three days are supposedly plenty of time to process a background check, but time ran out for the responsible agency after the mere 72 hours. The mandatory waiting period to let the background check be processed by the government expired, and Roof was given the gun anyway.

Waiting periods are an essential part of “gun control” and don’t take away liberties or rights or anything that the right claims. If a citizen wants a gun, they go through a process to make sure they’re not crazy, and they are given the gun. Within the bounds of reason, it doesn’t matter how long that process takes. Whoever is responsible for ensuring that the citizen is a responsible and secure owner and operator of a firearm should be given as much time as they need to read through any minute detail upon which they stumble. God forbid a purchaser in South Carolina has to wait four, or even FIVE whole days for his or her godforsaken gun.

The person who just wants and needs a gun RIGHT THIS SECOND should NOT be given a gun, ever.

This pathological obsession with instant gun gratification is a bright red flag among bright red flags. The circumstances couldn’t possibly be more suspicious. Why do you need a gun by lunch time? Do you need emergency protection? Call the police! Don’t you always support the police and their duty to protect and serve? If you don’t already have a big or sexy enough gun on your basement fortress’s wall to defend yourself, then another big and sexy gun just won’t do. If situations are different, then you can wait for your damn gun.