2013-2024 Form

Start your preparation by at least 18 months earlier to your intended semester. You can follow these steps:Take a sample GRE test (Most preferably power prep I). If you score a total of 300 for example, then you can guess your final score to be in between 315-320.Then analyze your profile (take a note of all research papers you published, going to publish and project work).Go through the similar profiles in Stupidsid.com or Edulix and short some universities (around 4 univs).Then start preparing for GRE and make sure you signNow your target of 315. After the exam is done, select the 4 universities you shortlisted for Educational Testing Service (ETS) to report your scores to (by this way of selecting universities beforehand, you can save $100 here).Apply for TOEFL or International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and prepare to get the minimum score required by your department in the universities selected. (with TOEFL of IELTS – British Council you can save $72 by selecting universities beforehand)After you are done with these exams, start preparing your SOP. At the same time, signNow out to your professors asking for recommendation letters. Help them prepare recommendation letters on your behalf. Also get the required no.of sets of transcripts from your university.Once you are okay with SOP and required LORs, open the university website and fill out the online application. After completing this application, you'll be required to upload scanned copies of mark sheets.Complete the online application, pay the application fee, wait for university to send a mail with student id and finally courier the transcripts to those universities (Make sure you mention your student id on top of the cover).Wait for university to mail its decision.If accepted, they'll ask you to send bank statement showing liquid assets amounting to 1 year of expenses you are going to spend in that university along with affidavit of support (link to this affidavit will be sent to you in the acceptance mail) and also they'll ask you to get some vaccinations done.After approving your bank statement, they'll send you the I20.On receiving I20, pay your SEVIS fee and apply for F-1 Student Visas (US).Once your visa is approved, you are free to go.I guess, I have covered all the steps here. If needed further clarifications, you are free to pm me.All the Best.Edit1: sorry guys your have to start your preparation before 18 months, not 1 year.

Recently I have come across a possible scam about counterfeit/fake products in India. Counterfeit/fake products are nothing new to Indian Society. These products are easily available in markets like Pallika Bazar (Delhi), Fashion street (Mumbai) etc. You can get first copy products of many branded companies included Puma, Nike, Adidas, Reebok (shoes, t-shirts etc), Micheal Kors, Guess (hand bags, Purse). There are markets where you can easily get copies of branded wrist watches and even perfumes. But people who buy products from these markets are aware of the fact that these are duplicate products.No, No… This is not the scam I am talking about. The scam starts from next level. It involves giant e-commerce websites including Snapdeal. The people who lives in India are pretty much aware of this e-commerce website and the discounts which it offers on multiple products including clothing, electronics and many other things.Recently, I was surfing on Facebook, then there was an advertisement regarding sales on Nike Shoes. It obviously got my attraction. I was amazed to see the discounts on shoes. Some discounts were close to 60% of the market value. It was a great deal. I thought of giving it a try because I did not want to miss the deal. And I am sure many people like me might have got attracted to same deals and bought the shoes from the website. I received the product within 3 days. When I opened the package, I was shocked to see that the shoes were duplicate (I am a regular user). I showed it to one of my friends, he told that “Shi to hai yaar, tujhe aise hi lag rha h” - (It is good bro, you are having false doubts). But still I wanted to get it tested from official Nike store to confirm. I visited the Nike store and they confirmed my doubt. The shoes were fake. I contacted Snapdeal regarding this problem. They told me that I can return the product and they would be refunding my money. But then I asked, what are you going to do to seller who is sending fake products using your website. He replied with standard answer - “We will look into this matter. We take extreme care before onboarding any seller. Blah Blah…..!!!” He even told me that the seller was Authorised Nike Dealer.Then, I understood the whole concept behind the huge discounts on branded materials. These websites are full of such kind of sellers. The sellers provide huge discounts on branded products (though they are cheap fake products which are easily available in market at no more than Rs. 500–700). They sell these products at Rs. 2000–3000 by showing the original price equivalent to Rs. 6000–10000 (Equivalent to original prices in showrooms). This is how these sellers are looting people by selling them fake products. It it hard to notice if the products received are fake or original for new users as they look exactly the same in every manner. Since they are coming from a trusted channel (like Snapdeal), nobody sheds a doubt and may take them as original.Now, you must be thinking why these website allow such sellers on their websites. The reason is simple, it increases the number of sales on their websites and WHO DOES NOT WANT THAT. After all, the investors are looking for these sales figures.I hope you understood the scam. Beware when you buy such items from e-commerce websites. You might be their next victim.Here are few tricks to avoid buying fake products:When you are buying from these website, look at the original price on which discount is being applied and the visit the official website of that brand. If the price is same, then it may or may not be original but if the price is different, I would suggest you to stay away from that product.Whenever you buy expensive branded products, just get it confirmed from an official store (if you can). It is completely useless to throw away your money on fake products unknowingly.Here some photographs related to this incident:Link to the product on Website: Nike Air Max 2017 Running ShoesLink to the Product on Nike Website: Look what I found at Nike online.

For most situations, show your valid student ID card.For online situations, often signing up with your .edu email address works (sometimes needs to be accompanied by a scan of your valid student ID).When I used to purchase a student train pass, it was a little more cumbersome: I would have to fill out the student train pass application and then take it to my university registrar to have them sign it and stamp it with the school seal.The TL;DR - most places that offer student discounts will tell you what you need to present/do in order to get the discounts. 9 times out of 10, it involves showing a valid student ID card.

I was alloted a four sharing room in Hostel -13 during first year.This is what happened during the first dayEntered the room in the morning and was shocked to see the size of it. It reminded me of a photo a concentration camp at Nazi Germany.Upon entering I saw a curious looking guy standing near his bed and staring at the ceiling. While we were introducing each other, another guy entered the room along with his entire village. There was so much noise! Although I didn't want to, but I had to introduce myself to his entire village. After a while another guy entered the room and was shocked to see the crowd. He went back to the hall managers office to confirm whether that was indeed his room or not. After 2–3 hours the crowd left the room and only 4 of us were left inside. We started discussing about our GATE preparations and other stuff. I asked all of them whether they are non-vegetarians or vegetarians, to which all of them replied “Veg”. Being a non-vegetarian , the reply somewhat induced a mixed feeling in me, a combination of happyness and sadness, happy because I will never have to share non-vegetarian food with my roommates, sad because I will always have to pay the entire amount.During the evening, we all went out to buy mattresses and other necessities.After coming back to the room, I was feeling damn hungry, so decided to order chicken tikka Biriyani. Once the order arrived and as soon as I opened the box, the “village” roommate came to my desk and asked me about the dish, to which I replied “Non-veg Biriyani” the other two roomates also came up to my desk after hearing that. I asked them again “ You guys are Vegetarians right?”, to which they answered, “Yes,but only when we are at home”. As soon as they finished reciting that line, the Biriyani was gone.After that, I threatened them and told them to order kababs and other non vegs items for me. The four of us ate like crazy that night. That was the start of our friendship. The rest of my time in IIT was probably the best time of my life.You can connect with me on:> LinkedIn: http://Bit.ly/Shubham_LinkedIN> Facebook: http://bit.ly/shubham_facebookOne of my recent answersShubham Chakraborty's answer to What are the best online courses on blockchains and cryptocurrencies?

The FAFSA isn't as scary as it seems, but it's helpful to have the documents you'll need handy before you fill it out. It's available starting January 1 of the year you'll attend school, and it's best to complete it as early as possible so you get the most aid you'll qualify for. Be especially mindful of school and state deadlines that are earlier than the federal deadline of June 2017. Check out NerdWallet's 5 Hacks to Save Time on Your 2016 FAFSA. These are the basic steps: Gather the documents you'll need to complete the form by following this checklist.Log in to the FAFSA with your Federal Student Aid ID. You'll need an FSA ID to sign and submit the form electronically, and your parent will need one too if you're a dependent student. Create one here. Follow the prompts to fill out the FAFSA. This guide will help you fill it out according to your family situation. You'll be able to save time by importing income information from the IRS starting Feb. 7, 2016. Many families don't file their 2015 income taxes until closer to the deadline of April 18. But it's a good idea to fill out your FAFSA earlier than that. Use your parents' 2014 tax information to estimate their income, then go back in and update your FAFSA using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool once they've filed their taxes. More info here: Filling Out the FAFSA. 

Website : Google Summer of Code ArchiveGoogle Summer of Code is program to promote open-source development. It is organized by Google every summer since last decade. It runs for 12 weeks from mid May to Mid August. Students contribute to open-source repositories and get paid by Google in return. It's a great way to spend summer vacation.Eligibility You must be a student. That's it. No other criteria. Age, Country, Qualification - no criteria. If you have a student ID card, you are eligible.Edit:Turns Out You have to be 18 years old for participating in GSOC !Application ProcedureThis is not a program where you fill up a form and get selected.First, the interested open-source organizations apply. They are shortlisted by Google. The students will code for these organizations and the organization has to mentor the student. in GSoC 2014, around 190 organizations were selected including the big organizations like Mozilla, KDE, etc. The list of organizations selected is announced around mid-February.Every Organization had an Idea's Page or a Wiki Page in which they publish the list of possible projects. Some even have a to-do list. Students can browse through organizations and check out their projects. If they like any project, they can contact the organization or the mentor itself via the organization's Mailing List. One can come up with his/her own project, which is even better. Generally, each organization wants the student to show some background in the area of the project (fast learning abilities + keen interest is fine too), and familiarity with tools like version control system (GitHub is the most popular). One has to demonstrate his/her skills which can be achieved by fixing some bugs. Generally there will be a list of known bugs/issues in a repository and some of them are really simple to fix. One can even try to find, report and then fix a new bug. One has to install that particular repository on their system, get comfortable with it and understand (at least the basics) what's going on. Past Open-Source Experience is a big plus although not necessary.Student application period is between 1st to 3rd week of March. Once the student has demonstrated his/her abilities, they have to apply via Melange. They have to write a project proposal. This proposal should outline the project objectives, technical/implementation details, timeline and end deliveries. One can ask the concerned mentor to review his/her proposal before submitting. One student can submit up to 5 project proposals. However, at max only 1 project is assigned to each student.On an average one has to devote at least 35 to 40 hrs each week during the summer for their GSoC Project.BenefitsIn GSoC 2014 5500 USD were given to those who successfully completed their project.Learning a lot - Working with large code bases, debugging, optimizing, testing profiling, tuning, fixing bugs, etc. You can learn a lot.Work from Home - No office. No Attendance. No reporting. Work from anywhere, anytime.Even if your proposal is rejected, you can still continue contribute to the repository. You will miss on the money, but it's fine. You will still learn a lot.

A couple years ago, I was a junior supervisor at a medium sized company (name withheld for legal reasons) in the Netherlands.It was a nice company to work for. Then an American and Harvard graduate (let’s call him Asshole) bought the company and started running it personally. He thought by applying US tactics he could corner the market. The first thing was by decreasing costs. By costs he meant employees.In my country we have strict laws that protect employees. He thought he found a loophole. We never found if it worked because he never got the chance.His wife (The Bitch) started a new company (Bitch Company). Rented some office place. Flew some Americans in to run the upper, senior and junior positions. But there were no other personnel.The plan was to close down our company. That was possible because it was a private owned company. He would inform us during a meeting, and during the meeting a rival company (Bitch Company) would offer the ex-employees jobs for far lower wages etc.He and his American upper staff also needed help from some senior Dutch people. He offered them nice bonuses and good positions for their silence. They all agreed (Backstabbers) except one (Saint). He was the most senior. Worked in the company for 30 years. He said he agreed and he went the same night to the old owner (Old Saint). Told him what happened. The ex-owner was shocked. He and his family had that company for more than 50 years. He sold it only because his children did not want to run that company.He called his children over. Explained what happened and they came up with an idea. His son started a new company across the street. But there were ZERO employees. The building was fully equipped with all the equipment and furniture they needed.Two months later ALL the employees got invited to an emergency meeting by mister Asshole.He looked sad and regretful. He told us that, because of personal reasons, he was closing the company today. He did not like it but he had no choice. But he would make sure that we found jobs so all night long he called rival companies to find jobs for us and he managed to find one that would hire most of us today. He had invited the rival company CEO (Prick) and their HR over to the meeting.The Prick told us he was sad to hear what happened but not worry because he was here to help. But he had to be honest. He was taking a big risk by hiring so many people at the same time. So his hourly wages were far lower and this was an one time offer only. You could not later ask for a job. You had to take it NOW. Take it or leave it.Mr Asshole thought most people would be desperate enough to accept it. And by accepting the jobs immediately they would get no severance packages; otherwise, by Dutch law, to each person he fires he has to pay a large percentage of their monthly pay every month for a half year. But that only counts until one has a new job.IT DID NOT WORK!!!Old Saint and his children had invited me and around a dozen others of the company. We got informed what would happen and of their plan. We were the ones that were in key positions. Junior supervisors, HR, Payroll, Operations, ICT etc. We were the ones they needed. We all agreed.We copied all the customer files. We looked it up it was not against company policy. Our new owner probably thought we had that policy. We copied all the data, records we could get our hands on. It did not matter what it was about. We informed trustworthy customers about the situation and the plan. We slowly started informing trustworthy employees who we knew who could keep their mouth shut. Before the emergency meeting got called we had all the info we needed.Two hours before the emergency meeting we told all our employees what the new owner would do and what the old owner’s plan was.When the Prick told us it was a one time offer only and that if one wanted a new job they had to sign now, we ALL stood up without a word gave them the FINGER and left the room and building and crossed the street to the new company of Old Saint.The Asshole, Backstabbers, Prick, and his HR all came running after us to stop us. They even had security with them. They did not understand what was happening. At the entrance Old Saint stopped them and said they were not allowed to enter. The Asshole was confused and angry and demanded to know what was happening. Old Saint told Mr Asshole he was a smart guy so he had to find out himself.While they were arguing downstairs we managed to sign over 91% of the clients to our new company.The Asshole was livid when he figured out what happened. He even sued! But the judge ripped him a new asshole in nice legal terms.And that is not all. We worked the first six months in our company as unpaid volunteers and unpaid interns. By doing that Mr Asshole had to pay 70-90% of our monthly paychecks.And the funny thing is each of us got, each month throughout those six months, a white envelop in the mail. There was no info on it or any letter in it. But there was cash money in it in used eurobills.More funny is that that amount was the same amount we would have gotten if we worked at our new company as paid employees.After six months we ALL got permanent contracts.Mr Asshole lost almost all his money. He hired some new people and tried to get his customers back. None came back. The customers he had left started leaving him because he could not perform. He was then forced to sell his company. Nobody was interested. He had almost no employees and few customers and a bad reputation. He then sold all the equipment, computers, and furniture of the company. Most of the stuff we bought cheap through a shell company. His wife left him and took half of his remaining money. He eventually moved back to America.Edit: There are a lot of questions about what happened to Mr Asshole. How he did not know the Dutch laws etc.In my opinion a lot of expats have trouble adjusting to the culture and rules of the new country. They often know about the relevant laws but they have trouble believing them or they think they can outlawyer(not sure if this is a real word) them. Especially if they are rich and powerful.Closing the company was his last plan. Beforehand he tried lot of schemes to get rid of people, lower our wages etc but we were and are protected by the Dutch laws. The scheme with a new company was his last shot.Mr Asshole probably thought he could hire a bigshot lawyer and drag it out for years and win. He thought wrong.He eventually moved back to The United States. He started working at FedEx at a far lower function to make ends meet. My boss kept tabs on him.

I have struggled with math since it was introduced to me in grade school. I can do simple addition and some subtraction, otherwise, I just cannot do math very well. My strengths lie more with the creative stuff: writing, odd/out of the box thinking, and such.I was also very much a daydreamer, I preferred to come up with stories than learn how the Earth works. Where’s the fun in that? But I was also the quiet kid, never really talked much.And I was also in grade school in the 90s, when ADHD was all the rage of diagnosis because they came up with a new drug that supposedly works!So anyways. In first grade, as a quiet little girl who liked to daydream and tell stories, I was diagnosed with adhd and given medication for it.I was tested for something, I don’t know what. And I was doing well during practice tests! They didn’t tell me why they were taking me out of the classroom and showing me pictures of cats, apples, dogs and having me say what they were. And I got annoyed because nobody was saying anything. So I gave up, and I purposely flunked the test.I guess it was an IQ? test? I don’t know. I still don’t know. But anyways, with the diagnosis of ADHD and whatever the hell that test was, my teachers considered me stupid. From then on, everything I did and said was a lie, I must be cheating on everything.Well, I have discalculia.One of my brothers has always struggled with reading. He can’t focus, words look weird. His teachers stopped helping him learn to read.He did what he could to pass and graduate. He got mostly C’s, and refuses to seek higher education, which is fine!But he hates reading, he hates books.Basically: They don’t help you learn. They zone in on whatever they think is the smartest. If you’re only technical, you’re useful.I was being bullied very severely.Every teacher turned a blind eye. Nobody cared. It was the same for another girl. And then, someone else.And then, I signNowed high school. The bullying stopped because I found a group of friends, but there are people who don’t survive.One of my former bullies, her little brother became a victim. Everybody starts to care when there’s a body to bury, right?The no tolerance thing is absolute bullshit.A girl in my middle school was pregnant.A girl in my freshman year was dating a senior in college. Nobody batted an eye. “A problem child.” “It’s typical in her family.” He was a low life. It wasn’t her fault. But. It is, according to the teachers and faculty who knew. It’s her fault, according to our sex education system. A whore, used, dirty. Bad.Our sex education system is so abysmal. We have girls who don’t know how their own bodies work, adult men who still think periods can be held in. Nobody understands the proper use of a condom or birth control. If you teach abstinence, sex stops existing, right? Right guys? Right??? According to our system, as long as you teach little girls that they’ll be ruined for their husbands, yes!You’re expected, from the moment you hit high school to have an idea what you want to do for the rest of your life. They’re 13/14. This is the age where a week is considered a life long relationship.By senior year, your future has to be set in stone. You have to have been part of different clubs and sports, honor roll and AP classes or no college will want you. Oh, and teaching students that if they don’t go into high education, they will amount to nothing? They do that too.Except when, you know, you can’t do math. I was actively discouraged from grade school from even thinking of college. Isn’t that cool?I was severely depressed in high school. I was actively cutting myself.Oh well. I’ll just be another part of the government assisstance system! Just ignore me, I’ll go away.They only care when there’s a body involved.They were forced to care a few years ago when there was a body involved. The faux sympathy was so fucking hilarious, I laughed when my therapist told me.“Really?” I said, amused at how stupid that school was. “They’re finally pushing fo a GSA when a gay student killed themselves? God. God. They’re trying to cover up and say they’re so forward thinking!”My old US government teacher, after two of my friends started to transition, actively picked on them. Misgendered them. Kicked them out if they tried to argue. Hated that bastard.An old biology teacher was sleeping with his students. Everybody blamed the girls. He was handsome and well liked, so it couldn’t be statutory rape, right? Sorry guys, the law is the law.You get up at 7 am, 5 am if you’re in a sports team. Your day doesn’t end until possibly midnight because you have so much homework to do. Parents push their kids to also join clubs—though people do join on their own. Resumes always have to look good. God forbid you’e struggling, your day doesn’t end until your homework is done. If you don’t sleep, you don’t sleep.Teenage depression? They’re just being dramatic! Oh, he killed himself? How sad. Let’s write a thinkpiece on suicide is an epidemic among teenagers and leave sad notes on his facebook page! Move on. You’re just being overdramatic! Dead body. Rinse, repeat. Hey, let’s also write a thinkpiece on how teenagers just don’t care! Let’s forget how the millenial generation are actually close to their forties! Blame those stupid teenagers and their dumb rock music and their animez and their likes!Policing girls clothes.Sorry, Mr. Teacher, if your dick gets hard because you can see a 14 year old girls shoulders or because they’re wearing shorts, it’s definitely not them.We should think of the message we’re sending these girls, yeah?“If you get raped, it’s your fault. You were wearing revealing clothes.” Says the harpy old lady.“A boys education is more important than yours. Take your precious time out of class and put these on instead!” Says the male teacher, who doesn’t seem to realize that sexualizing a prepubescent girls body is definitely not normal.If you can’t monetize them, they’re useless.Welcome to capitalism, folks!A classmate of mine when I was in grade school was being severely sexually abused by her father and horribly neglected by her mother.The teachers knew, I knew they knew because I was friends with her.Nobody said a word. Nobody helped her.They only got their asses in gear when child pornography cropped up.They tell teenagers what to think, what to say, what to do. They beat the creativity out of them, tell them this or that isn’t right or good enough. You won’t amount to anything because you struggle at this or that. You’re punished if you don’t stand for a fabric that resembles prison stripes to other countries (god, and if you’re from another country? you better be grateful you’re here! according to my former US gov teacher. The irony was the student was from Germany, whose quality of life was probably way better than here), you’re punished because maybe you’re overworked and couldn’t do homework.They let the military try to recruit young kids to indoctrinate them in a system that will abandon them when their brains get sick from a war our government wants to wage against a small country because they did this or that. They say this in the name of freedom, just in case. A fleeting paranoia left over from the Cold War. They entice with big numbers, numbers you’re not even guaranteed. Look nifty in a uniform, be respected.If you want to serve, more power to you. Let teenagers be teenagers. If they wish to join, let them go to the recruiter. Everyone knows they’re there.They cut needed programs to fund football. They place too much pressure on 14 to 18 year old boys to do well in football. I have seem some cry if they lost the game. Why? Why does it matter?Why does it matter, in the end? We all end up dead, right? Only the strong survive, right? The weak will suffer what they must.And we’re willingly burying children’s bodies. I’ve heard them be called martyrs for gun rights. We don’t bat an eye anymore. “Oh, another shooting?” We sigh. Then we fight. We argue. And the bodies aren’t even cold. The parents are still in mourning, and they’re played everywhere. On every station.“What’s wrong with you?” The rest of the world cries out, alarmed. But it’s just another Tuesday for us. It’s okay because we can produce more children, right? They don’t matter in the long wrong because we have our constitution!! Freedom, RIGHT? Is it? Is it freedom because instead of tornado or hurricane drills, it’s shooting drills? Children are learning how to hide from an active shooter because that’s the thing in school now, I guess.And because our education is so broken, our country is broken. And it always will be.And nobody cares until they’re burying a body. And they will stop caring after two weeks because our system is broken, and empathy is slowly fading out.

Are you sure that the NRA is the problem?Oh, I know that the media and the talking heads are all making them out to be some 500 lb gorilla and the reason psychos shoot up school yards, but have you ever bothered to look into the matter beyond the headlines?I’ll give you an example. In 2017, the push was for a “Universal Background Check”. The idea was to be sure that people buying guns were not criminals. Believe it or not, the NRA wholly supports this and in fact was involved with creating the current NICS (National Instant Check System) that is used.But the bill that was proposed was not what you heard in the media. First, it would not plug any “Gunshow Loophole” because there is no such thing. The only sales at a gun show that the bill covered was private sales. Of course, private sales can occur anywhere, not just gun shows.But the bill didn’t make the NICS easier for private sales. They just required all private sales to be conducted through a licensed dealer. Had this actually passed, a gun show would be an ideal location for such sales as there would be access to many dealer. In effect, you would greatly increase the number of private sales at a gun show by this law.So, what is involved with a sale through a dealer? Well, the dealer would have to do the following:1) Record the transfer in their bound book. This is a book where all the transactions of a firearm is recorded via that dealer. The book is auditable by the BATF and many dealers have faced fines for poorly kept records, so many dealers go to great pains to keep their book neat and accurate.2) Fill out the federal form 4473. This is required by all dealer sales of both new and used guns. It asks for the buyer’s name, address, the make and model of the gun, serial number, and then asks a bunch of questions. The dealer can get fined if the person fills out the form wrong. For example, answering a question with “Y” or “N” instead of “Yes” or “No” is a BATF violation. So the dealer has to carefully examine the form for errors and have the person fill out another if errors are found.3) The dealer then calls into the NICS. NICS can come back with a “Proceed”, “Denied” or “Delay”. A delay can take up to 3 days. Typically this is a name that appears similar to a Prohibited Person and requires some research. If this happens, the transfer is on hold. The dealer has no idea when the result of the research is likely to finish. If you are at a gun show, the show could be over before the approval is made.4) All this paperwork, verification, etc takes time. Time is money. So dealers charge for this service. It is typical for a dealer to charge $25-$40 per gun, but sometimes multiple guns get a discount because the dealer can process up to 4 on a single form, but when more than one gun is transferred, the dealer has to fill out Form 3310 which is supposed to help with gun trafficking.All of this is well and good if you are buying a gun from someone you don’t know and many people will require sales be conducted at a dealer for the piece of mind such protections provide. But friends and family typically do not bother with the hassle and expense.One thing you need to realize is that to get a gun dealer license is not an easy process. Since the federal government cracked down on so called “kitchen table” dealers back in the 1980’s, you now must show a commercially zoned storefront with posted business hours to qualify. Many communities don’t want gun shops, and use zoning laws to make them difficult or unattractive. For example the city of Boston does not have any dealers. In fact, the nearest dealer is 3 towns away. Many rural areas don’t have the traffic to keep a dealer in business and you’ll find they are typically only open in the evening or on a Saturday as they work another full time job. Keep this in mind as we get into the next issue.But the bill didn’t stop at sales. It stated that ALL transfers had to be done in this manner. No exceptions. So, two friends out on a hunt would need to go through the whole process listed above just to swap guns for the afternoon. Oh, and they would have to do it all again to give the gun back. It is very common on a range to try out other people’s guns - such a thing would also require the full transfer and back process. Demo guns at a national event by manufacturers? Same thing.Basically any time a gun were to swap hands, the law would apply. There are private shooting clubs where guns are treated like library books and members take whatever they want. Families regularly swap guns. Heck, some shooting courses provide guns for students to use. All of these events would have been impacted by these new transfer requirements.The NRA balked at this. Essentially the rule would curtail many of the traditions and practices that are very common and virtually never result in any kind of criminal activity. In essence it would criminalize things that simply are not crimes.Not only would it create criminals where no criminal intent existed, but the cost to manage the volume of temporary transfers, the staffing needed to take the calls and do the checks would have cost millions each year. All money that would not go toward actually dealing with criminals.When the issue was brought up, many members of Congress agreed the requirements were too restrictive and the whole bill failed to pass. The supporters of the bill did not even attempt to listen to the complaints and work out a manageable fix.Did you hear any of that in the media?But what about catching criminals?Well, the bill didn’t change anything in regards to enforcing the rules to make sure the people who should not own guns were properly entered into NICS. In fact, other than maybe getting fired, there is NO PENALTY for failing to report a person. We have laws that will jail a teacher or coach that fail to report bullies. We have laws that put priests in prison who fail to report potential inappropriate behaviors in other clergy. But we do not have any laws that punish law enforcement agents that fail to do their job and make sure that dangerous people are reported to the background system. And this bill made no effort to change that.NICS is not open to anyone but federally licensed gun dealers. The left are so worried that the system might be used to check people for things other than guns that they refuse to create a means to allow people to verify someone they are selling a gun to. It would be easy to create an app that takes a photo of the buyer and seller’s ID (or just their faces and type in some data) and then return a simple “Proceed” or “Deny” with no other details. You’d have plenty of information to audit for illegal use. And if someone didn’t have an ID, they could then use a dealer. Heck, you can’t file taxes on-line without submitting some kind of ID, so this isn’t anything unique.And yet, the bill did nothing to address the issue of accessing the NICS for easier private sales.Here is the thing. We have 20,000 gun laws in this country. On the federal side, a prohibited person touching a gun could see them in prison for a minimum of 5 years. And yet, we still see cities with high violent crime rates that have virtually no federal cases. Why isn’t law enforcement using those stiff federal laws to get the violent people off the streets? Such a program called “Project Exile” worked wonders in Richmond, VA to reduce violent crime dramatically.OK, back to the “Universal Background Check” bill.I spent a lot of words above explaining what the bill would have required of people and why the situation would have been a nightmare. You never saw any of this in the news and the media pretty much ignored the issue.When the bill was defeated, it was never reported that a “terrible bill that would have cost millions and made criminals out of the innocent was defeated”, instead, all you ever heard was“The NRA used its influence to defeat the Universal Background Check bill that would have closed the gunshow loophole”Almost everything about that statement is false.So, be careful what you want to “Fight Against”. I suspect that most of what you think about the NRA is highly biased due to the way the organization is treated in the media. When you look at the actual facts, many times their concerns are quite valid. And, they have a lot of rank and file law enforcement on their side which helps them represent real world situations. I’ve found their positions in many cases very well presented. Most of the arguments you get on TV news are highly edited and taken out of context to promote an agenda, not facilitate a debate.Make sure you know what you are fighting for. You might be surprised.