THE AURORA, ILLINOIS SHOOTINGS: Some have complained that shooter Gary Martin should never have been able to acquire a gun given his prior conviction and numerous arrests. (His Mississippi conviction for aggravated assault evidently failed to come to light at the time he purchased his gun (i.e. an existing law failed). Interestingly, he was later denied a concealed carry permit on account of his record ….)  I’ll leave it to others to sort out the facts here.

Here’s an issue I haven’t seen discussed yet: The EEOC discourages employers from conducting criminal background checks on job applicants and requires employers to hire felons unless they can show “business necessity” for not doing so. Under the agency’s logic, the refusal to hire a felon is a form of race discrimination, since such hiring practices have a “disparate impact” on African Americans.

Many employers have been bullied, against their better judgment, into taking a chance on a job applicant with a criminal record. I don’t know whether the EEOC’s policy had anything to do with the Henry Pratt Company’s decision to hire Martin. What I do know is that the EEOC’s policy is wrongheaded. Yes, integrating ex-convicts back into the economy is important.  But there are better ways to do it than coercing employers into hiring someone they would prefer not to hire.