Today, government agencies often grapple with the issue on both philosophic and practical levels. Most people would agree that convicted felons and the insane should have their right to bear arms curtailed. Massachusetts and other federal, state and local agencies have a great deal of important data available on gun ownership, and modern technology gives them the tools to put that data into a usable and quickly accessible form. While criminals can certainly purchase firearms on the street, it doesn't necessarily follow that the solution is to allow them to purchase weapons legally in a gun store. No instant check system is perfect, but the effort in Massachusetts may be a step toward keeping legal purchase of firearms away from criminals, while eliminating egregious waiting periods for law-abiding citizens.
Eternal vigilance is still the price of liberty.
Again, thank you for your interest in the project and for helping to promote education programs. Without federal measures to safeguard use of that identifier, we have criminals stealing identities for fraudulent purposes. People are being arrested, sued, dunned, harassed and their credit records ruined largely because the number is so easy to obtain and use to gather other personal documentation. Thanks for your note. We have followed the issue of privacy vs. access for a number of years and are very interested in how this issue will work itself out.