Will do nothing to reduce crime or prevent criminals from getting guns. Criminals overwhelmingly acquire firearms through straw purchasers, black market dealers, or theft where there is no background check. The ones that go to retail stores or pawn shops can pass a background check already anyway. These sources accounted for 98% of gun all transfers to criminals in 1997, where the other 2% were at gun shows or flea markets. Do we really think background checks will help?
http://bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/fuo.pdf
On a side note, in the Philippines they have people that fabricate fully functioning firearms out of scrap metal. I bet they subject their buyers to background checks......
Backyard Gun Shops In The Philippines
Because I have little interest in dealing with the hassle of universal background checks if I'm not getting anything in return. (i.e reduced crime rate)
FFL's do not do these transfers for free and as a firearms enthusiast and collector it would hurt me every time I purchase a firearm from a private seller, not to mention the added time and hassle. Universal backgrounds checks would make my hobby cost more to me without any corresponding benefit that is demonstrable and/or tangible. I also don't want to lose the liberty of giving guns to family and friends (who I know are not criminals) without going through some BS paperwork process. The anti-gunners may say "Well Boo-hoo" but at the end of the day, I am giving up something for nothing and doesn't sit well with me.
I am also assuming by "Universal background checks" you really mean "Universal" or that all gun transfers must undergo a background check without exception. Well the only way to enforce this and make it "work" is with universal gun registration. Historically, gun registration has been a slippery slope to confiscation (New York City, Australia, UK, etc.) and often times worse (Germany, Ottoman Empire, Soviet Union, China, Cambodia, Guatemala, Uganda, Rwanda, etc.). In summary, Universal Background Checks and by extension Universal Gun Registration, exposes the citizenry to gun confiscation. If confiscation were to happen after a mass shooting like in Australia and the U.K. or otherwise, then the citizenry is now exposed to criminals, tyrants, invaders, or anyone with nefarious intent with no means of fighting back and if any anti-gunner accuses you being paranoid, just ask them for their crystal ball that tells them that tyranny will never come to America. Not in 50 years, 100 years, 1000 years, ever!
You really have to ask yourself, what exactly are we getting in return to warrant the hassle of a background check and risking our freedoms and means of protection?
California has universal background checks. I wouldn't exactly call it a resounding success as California has consistently had a higher murder rate than Texas and many other states w/o UBC over the past 15 years.
Murder Rates Nationally and By State | Death Penalty Information Center
And when I say murder rate I am talking about all murders. If people simply traded their guns for melee weapons then at the end of the day, what did we really accomplish? It is intellectually dishonest to focus on gun-violence while failing to address the violence problem as a whole which is a common anti-gunner tactic.
Now you're a master debater?
