I agree that we need universal background checks, but Im guessing we disagree as to the reason why we haven't passed such a law federally. The sticking point and the reason why the Manchin toomey bill failed is the requirement that private sales go through FFL to get background checks. If we open up the NICS system to private sellers for free online or by phone, there would be very little opposition to the idea of universal background checks. The issue is that FFL have limited locations and business hours, and charge fees for their time, and are required to keep records which some people see a de-facto registry. Because of that, pro gun interests see an FFL mandate as a burden on a constitutionally protected right. The GOP actually proposed a universal background check law that would be acceptable to most pro gun individuals and NRA backed lawmakers, but harry Reid didn't allow it to come up for a vote. So the way I see it, the reason we don't have the universal background checks that 90% of the country desire is because the gun control advocates refused to compromise on the implimentation. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/04/27/do-it-yourself-background-checks/2088479/

As far as mandatory safety classes, those exist in some states like mine (CA), but I think the best and less controversial way of handling that is to make it part of high school education to give everyone gun safety training unless they opt out. Much like sex ed, abstinence only is not effective and is quite dangerous and sometimes deadly.

AK47 may not be necessary, but they also don't kill many people. Rifles of all types are responsible for less than 1% of gun deaths. Banning them won't have any significant impact on gun deaths, as the DOJ already showed when they studied the 1994 assault weapon ban.