Universal Background Checks… settled by Supreme Court in ’97

After passage of the Brady Bill in 1993 (our previous assault weapons ban that didn't do anything), it was challenged in court.  Printz v. United States reached the Supreme Court and they delivered a ruling in 1997.  One item the Supreme Court struck down were federally mandated background checks:

the provision of the Brady Act that compelled state and local law enforcement officials to perform the background checks was unconstitutional on 10th amendment grounds. The Court determined that this provision violated both the concept of federalism and that of the unitary executive ¹

As we stated in our previous article, the federal government simply cannot force states to mandate background checks on intrastate gun sales.