Additional background checks may be one of the keys to helping stem gun violence in the United States, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales tells
Newsmax TV.
"I, for one, would not be adverse to increasing the number of transactions, the types of transactions, that would be subject to background checks," Gonzales said Thursday on "The Hard Line" with Ed Berliner.
"That is not totally the answer, but most Americans don't have a problem with the idea of having legitimate background checks, from my perspective.
"One is we ensure the database is complete and that it's accurate. Two, we ensure the database cannot … be used for any other purpose. I don't want the federal government having access to this information – who owns guns – and being able to use it for some other purpose."
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Gonzales, dean of the Belmont University College of Law in Nashville, added a balance must be found between protecting a person's privacy and getting information to calculate whether that person should have access to a firearm.
He said he doesn’t believe the National Rifle Association’s ongoing publicity blitz against more gun control is an issue.
"It's primarily education, but even the NRA accepts the fact that the Second Amendment is not absolute. It's not a constitutional issue in term of background checks, for example," he said.
"The Supreme Court has already said the Second Amendment does allow reasonable restrictions, reasonable, for example, background checks, with respect to owning a firearm. So the Supreme Court has already answered that.
"This is not a constitutional question, it's question of policy. What is the right policy with respect to gun ownership in America?"
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