You'd be better off asking the NRA, McG... They hate 'um... That's why when they found out that the existing database was not up to the task in performing the backgound check in a timely manner and many in Congress were all for fixin' it in the early 2000s they fought keeping the system just the way it is...

But you are correct... It in itself is not the end-all-be-all but just one of the pieces...

BTW, there were 11 murders in Japan in 2008 compared to 20,000 in the US...

B~