BY FRANK HILL
Reprinted from TelemachusLeaps.com

The recent call from President Obama and advocates of stricter gun control laws for ‘universal background checks’ brought to mind this one unifying thought: Why not do this for everyone?

Think about it. Much of what separates us as a nation has to do with what any certain faction wants to do to another group of people in our society. ‘We’ think ‘they’ should be better regulated; restricted, prevented from having the same freedoms as we do, primarily because we think something is ‘wrong’ with them.

Right? Be honest with yourself. We have all done it at some time or another.

We are not trying to diminish the horrific murders at Newtown or Aurora, Colorado or any other place where a deranged killer has gotten a hold of a gun from his mother’s closet or stolen one from someone’s house. We do think it is somewhat impossible to predict who is going to go completely berserk at any particular point in time and hope ‘universal background checks’ will prevent them from gaining access to a gun of any sort.

Crazy people are simply crazy people. Our mental health laws were weakened in the 1980’s such that many people who were previously institutionalized are now living at homes in suburban neighborhoods without sufficient oversight or treatment.

If a mother or gun-owner is careless about locking up their guns in their home, chances are that a person with a serious mental illness in the family or neighborhood will find a way to get their hands on that gun regardless of how many ‘universal background checks’ we have on the national or state books.

But follow us on this point. If universal background checks are good enough to monitor and manage the right of people to own guns under the 2nd Amendment, why not use them to govern every aspect of our collective life together?

Photo ID has come under fire from certain circles as being ‘unfair’ to certain people in our population. Well, if EVERYONE had to be subject to the same background check, then who could be discriminated against? Use universal background checks to make sure everyone is who they say they are and they are legally registered to vote, just as they would be legally cleared to own a gun under the 2nd Amendment.

How about universal background checks to make sure every doctor who treats Medicare/Medicaid patients is ‘legal and honest’ and has never filed a false claim or reimbursement from either federal taxpayer-supported program? 1 illegal or improperly filed claim by said doctor and it goes on their permanent record to be constantly updated in the national ‘universal background check’. It would become the de facto equivalent of the credit bureau where every person’s personal credit worthiness is available at a moment’s notice.

What about controlling illegal immigrants and the companies that hire them without reporting them to the federal authorities? Use ‘universal background checks’ with spot audits on the job to make sure that everyone who is working on a job site is legally eligible to work in America. Employers who use them will be put out of business overnight with excessive fines and penalties. They will stop hiring illegal workers immediately.

There is a problem with welfare applicants falsely receiving benefits from a complicated welfare system between state and federal guidelines? ‘Universal background check’ them all to make sure they are 1) who they say they are and 2) have never received duplicative or falsified benefits anywhere else in the nation.

How about college athletes trying to cheat their way through college and staying eligible so they can help their team with a bowl game or the NCAA title? ‘Universal background checks’…make sure the work the athletes do is their own, not a tutor’s or a girlfriend. If negative, then throw them not only off the team but out of college. They are supposed to be there to learn something other than how to cheat in life.

Maybe we need to be thinking about how everyone can be treated on an equal basis once again. If a national database is deemed necessary and set up for gun owners, why not expand it to cover everyone in every controversial aspect of American life nowadays?

Treat everyone exactly the same. Isn’t that what the Founders wanted?

Editor’s Note: Frank Hill is the Director of the Institute for the Public Trust in Charlotte, NC. He is former chief of staff to Congressman Alex McMillan of NC and also served on the staffs of former U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole and the House Budget Committee.