If universal background checks are a bad idea, why have background checks at all?

I have read a few articles that give a reasonable list of objections to enacting universal background checks. However, all of those objections seem to apply to ALL background checks. Do we want felons and incapacitated people to own guns, or not? If we do want them to own guns, it seems to me we don't need any background checks at all. If we don't want them to own guns, it seems to me we need universal background checks.